Get Yoda's Wisdom

I love when I read or hear about advice given to entrepreneurs about industry best practices.  First of all, best practices for a small business are those things that work for them, as I noted in a previous blog post awhile back. Second, most of these so-called "best practices," typically come from major corporations (usually developed by Booz-Allen-like consulting firms) as the best way to get things done through their labyrinths of bureaucracy and mind-numbing process.

Not exactly role models for agile, fast-moving, often resource-constrained entrepreneurial operations.

So when your small business is presented with some potential best practice, study it, embrace it, if in some way it makes sense for you, but most of all, improve on it by modifying it to fit your business.  Don't just try to implement it because some industry guru tells you it's the "latest and greatest!" Because at the end of the day, best practices are relative.

No two entrepreneurial companies operate the same way. What is my best practice may be your administrative nightmare.   What is your best practice may choke my "just in time" operation.

Look at "best practices" as models.  See how the model fits within your specific business model.

"The Entrepreneur's Yoda" knows these things. He's been there. May success be with you!