Do you use “we” or “me” when speaking for your MicroISV or one-person small business? Is it better to act as if you are bigger than just one person? Or, is the fact that you are one person actually a distinct business advantage?
Yaro Starak discusses his thoughts on which way to go on his Small Business Branding site.
I agree with Yaro completely. For years my company’s website advertised the services I provide as though Outer Level comprised of more than just me.
Over the past year or so I’ve slowly changed my ways — especially once I started keeping my blogs: Make Mac Games and this company blog you’re reading.
One of the biggest problems facing workers and small businesses today is the risk of being outsourced or replaced by cheaper off-shore labor. My search for a way around this dilemma lead me to the conclusion that it’s not my skill set or my price that is going to help keep my job and clients, it’s my reputation, experience, and results.
So why hide these things behind a corporate facade? Revel in the fact that you are a one person show and that when someone hires your company, they are hiring you. Not only is it okay to be a one-person company, it’s an advantage.
Comments
4 responses to “Corporate Army Or One-Person Business”
Jon, I agree about being real when it comes to describing staff. What worse thing could happen then a client ask you about your other team members, when you haven’t any? 🙂
I suppose calling a firm a “group” or “team” if you regularly work in collaboration with a constant team of people is accurate. If you are constantly working with the same crew (more or less) then in many senses this is your team, whether they work directly for/with you or not.
But if one always works alone and uses “we” that’s much fuzzier, and I think not worth the effort to appear bigger, when it may be no big deal at all.
You are right about being chosen for skills, expertise and results — that seems a key item when clients choose you over someone else.
Thanks for commenting, Mike.
It’s all easier said than done, for me at least. I find that I still have the tendency to use “we” sometimes. It doesn’t take much effort to find the word “we” on my company’s site.
Hi Jon, thanks for mentioning my article. It’s amazing how many blogs are out there that you never know about until they ping you. Keep up the blogging! Cheers, Yaro
Yaro, thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment… and congrats on your purchase of “Small Business Branding”.