Big Things Start Small

Big Things Start Small

I was watching a documentary on Jeff Bezos, the legendary founder of Amazon, and what inspired me most was his quote at the end, ‘big things start small’. These four words changed my approach to observe things. It wasn’t coming from a theorist, but from a person who practically lived it. He started his online venture to sell books only and today Amazon is the world’s largest online marketplace of all kinds of products.
He is an inspiration for millions of entrepreneurs because when someone like him says that big is nothing but a sum of smalls, it motivates people to start small and keep on building block-by-block. There is nothing wrong with big dreams, but the gigantic size of the dream makes it look unachievable. Most of us fail to realize that ultimately every big thing was once a small thing. A passionate dreamer works smartly to mobilize resources to create a perfect ecosystem for growth.
When you start small, you have the advantage of progressive learning and re-calibrate strategies according to developing situations. With growth come added responsibilities, so when you start small and eventually get the growth momentum you become better prepared to manage those responsibilities effectively.
I can say from my own experience that people underestimate seed stages of business and lose patience when they unreasonably compare with successful businesses. One common mistake most of us make is the wrong-benchmarking without even considering the time invested by successful people in making things big.
As the saying goes, “the reason we struggle with insecurity is that we compare our behind the scenes with everyone else’s highlight reel”. In the same spirit, Airbnb co-founder Brian Chesky also said that the best advice he got in business was that just find 100 people who love you. In his words, it sounds easy but very difficult to execute. Because people might like you but making them love you takes a lot of good quality services.
Unfortunately, we don’t take care of those few people who are there for us but waste time in thinking about those like us. Again, it is all about ‘start small’ and remaining focused on those people who are there for you. All you need to do is to take care of them and give them the best quality service.  Those few satisfied people will do wonders in making your business grow exponentially. This is one of the most effective organic growth strategies of all time.
According to Jeff Bezos, the secret behind the success of his company was thinking long-term, keeping customers at the center of the universe, and inventing. Emphasizing the need for passionate working, he says that one should be very aggressive and passionate about taking every small step. You need perfection at the micro level for creating a valuable masterpiece.
These small early steps work like seeds and one needs to nurture them in suitable conditions to let it shape into a giant tree. All successful people show a common trait of a deep understanding of timing, meaning they know it very well that seeds take its natural time to sprout and be a giant fruit-bearing tree. In simple terms, it is patience, perseverance, and watchfulness that make small things big.
If you are trying to shape your dreams, you should have a long-term vision because all things take time to materialize. If you are expecting things to happen instantly, then you are inviting undue stress and frustration. It is also a fact that you can’t cross the sea by seating idle on the sea shore. So, be in high waters to learn the art of sailing and wait for favorable winds to cover maximum distance most efficiently.
In the life-cycle of a business, it is the timing that matters most. You might have a great idea and good execution plan, but if you aren’t timing it well with efficiency then it will be rough ride full of avoidable challenges.  Acknowledging the time aspect of maturity and growth is the first step towards glory. This keeps you motivated and focused to execute each small step with perfection. This is how something big is created with a healthy bottom-line. Ultimately, all big things are the sum of several small things.