[scrozier]

I have spent a good deal of my career trying to figure this out. I love small businesses and not-for-profits (not to muddy the waters, but they pose similar challenges). I've reached the same conclusion as you. To a small business, every dollar is critical, so they are compelled to micromanage. Many small business owners are very smart, but not well educated, so they tend to lack some perspective and try to substitute their "street smarts," which doesn't work very well with technical/creative work. As much as I'd love to serve this market, I've never figured it out.

[mgkimsal]

> To a small business, every dollar is critical, so they are compelled to micromanage.

We'd need to define 'small business' size, but more importantly, who you're working with. Working with the owner of a small business... every dollar effectively comes out of their pocket (at least, that may be the mentality). Working with a small business that has enough folks to have a team, they're more likely to have some actual budget to work with that isn't 'their' money. They have to achieve business goals and have money to spend.

Who you're working with and how small 'small' is are the critical factors, I've found.

[scrozier]

Absolutely. I was talking about what would probably be called "very small businesses," in which I was almost always working directly with the owner. Probably in the range of 5-50 employees. 300bps has an interesting take on the size issue, elsewhere in the comments.