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Small Business, Big Lessons

Small Business, Big Lessons is a podcast from Buffer that goes behind the scenes with inspirational small businesses who are truly driving innovation and redefining how work happens.

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Part of the journey of small business ownership sometimes involves letting go, branching out into new areas and trying out new things. This could be letting go of areas of responsibility as your business grows, letting go of expectations as you respond to customer demands, or letting go of previously held beliefs that are holding you back. While changing and rethinking how you work can be exciting and fulfilling it can also be a source of stress and uncertainty. So how do you navigate these changes when your heart is telling you one thing, and your head another?In this episode we’re bringing you stories about letting go, taking that leap and moving forward.This podcast is produced by Buffer, an affordable and intuitive social media marketing software used by over 160,000 small businesses to build their brand on social media.

Episode 8: Letting Go

By standing still and not speaking out on the issues that matter to you and your customers, you run the risk of alienating your audience. But when doing anything public as a business owner it’s important to make sure that you’re approaching it in the right way for you and your business.So with so many worthy causes and important movements that need support, how do you choose to focus your energy? Should you be responding to these issues or baking in ways to proactively avoid your business being part of the problem? Or should you do both? And how do you best communicate the work you do? How much is enough?In this episode we’re going to bring you stories about taking a stand. When to do it, how to do it and when to not do it at all, and just listen.This podcast is produced by Buffer, an affordable and intuitive social media marketing software used by over 160,000 small businesses to build their brand on social media.

Episode 7: Taking A Stand

Starting and running your own business can be incredibly stressful. This is why having a good support network is invaluable for entrepreneurs. Having a space to share the ups and downs of small business ownership and having people around you who get it can help make you more resilient and able to weather the storm that is small business ownership. In this episode we’re going to show you great examples of how having a network of support can help keep you in a good, healthy place as a business owner, and we show you the importance of asking for help when you need it.This podcast is produced by Buffer, an affordable and intuitive social media marketing software used by over 160,000 small businesses to build their brand on social media.

Episode 6: Getting Support As A Small Business Owner

How do you go about increasing the weight and reach of your impact as a business? How do you measure impact and know if you’re on the right track?In this episode we’re showing you examples of incredible businesses who have impact built into their business model, and we’ll offer practical advice on how you can turn your business into a force for good.This podcast is produced by Buffer, an affordable and intuitive social media marketing software used by over 160,000 small businesses to build their brand on social media.

Episode 5: Growing Your Impact

How do you know when to say ‘yes’ to opportunities for growth and ‘no’ to the things that will lead you from your path?In this episode we bring you success stories of businesses that got better alongside getting bigger, entrepreneurs who scaled without compromise and we offer practical advice to those thinking about how to retain their identity while building their future.This podcast is produced by Buffer, an affordable and intuitive social media marketing software used by over 160,000 small businesses to build their brand on social media.

Episode 4: Growing Your Business

Does success always have to equal growth? As businesses get bigger they will inevitably change what they do and how they do it. So what if the whole reason you want to start your business in the first place is inherently tied to being a small business? How do you get better at staying small? And how do you keep sustainably small?In this episode we’re telling you stories of when businesses decide they’re big enough and that they can more effectively achieve their goals by staying small.This podcast is produced by Buffer, an affordable and intuitive social media marketing software used by over 160,000 small businesses to build their brand on social media.

Episode 3: Intentionally Staying Small

Would you turn down a nine figure offer to buy your business? We hear from Buffer CEO, Joel Gascoigne, who did just that, along with stories from incredible small business owners and entrepreneurs who have turned down big money for their business. In this episode we’re bringing you stories about saying yes to the right opportunities and saying no for the right reasons.This podcast is produced by Buffer, an affordable and intuitive social media marketing software used by over 160,000 small businesses to build their brand on social media.

Episode 2: Turning Down Big Money

Community is at the center of many impactful small businesses. Whether we’re talking about the people who work with you to build your company or the people on the other side of the counter, having a community around your business can play a number of important roles.But how do you cultivate a flourishing community that grows with and supports your business? How do you build that community? We speak to small business owners who have built meaningful communities, they share their insights and the big lessons they’ve learned from creating communities. This podcast is produced by Buffer, an affordable and intuitive social media marketing software used by over 160,000 small businesses to build their brand on social media.

Episode 1: On Cultivating Community

Small Business, Big Lessons is a podcast from Buffer that goes behind-the-scenes with inspirational small businesses to explore how they are questioning the best ways to build a business and uncover the big lessons we can learn from their journeys (so far). The eight-episode series tells business stories from extraordinary small businesses and the people behind them, examining how they’re doing things differently and what we can learn from their journeys.These stories prove it’s possible to build a business and do good along the way.

Season 2 Trailer: Small Business, Big Lessons

What does it look like to stay true to your "why", and how can it lead to better business decisions? Finding your why and building a business around that is something we hear a lot but how does it work in reality? Features Stephen Tracy, a data strategist who left Google to build a B-Corp-certified and sustainable scented candle business Keap.This podcast is produced by Buffer, an affordable and intuitive social media marketing software used by over 160,000 small businesses to build their brand on social media.

Episode 2: Staying true to your why

What does it mean for a business to act sustainably? Using greener materials and manufacturing processes as well as changing consumer behavior are vital steps to tackling the climate crisis. But how do we actually work towards a circular economy? Should this be left to the world of big business or can small businesses contribute? Phantila Phataraprasit, co-founder of sustainable furniture brand Sabai, takes us through how her business is driving change and redefining an industry. This podcast is produced by Buffer, an affordable and intuitive social media marketing software used by over 160,000 small businesses to build their brand on social media.

Episode 7: The circular economy

What does it mean to build a business in public? Should you share business decisions in real-time and admit to your mistakes publicly? Is there value to involving your audience in the creative process? When Becky Okell and Huw Thomas first started dating, Becky stole one of Huw’s one-of-a-kind vintage jackets. The pair decided to remake that jacket and started sharing the whole journey on Instagram. This led to them founding Paynter Jacket Co. Their limited-edition jackets are only available four times per year and sell out in minutes, so their online store has only ever been open for 95 minutes.This podcast is produced by Buffer, an affordable and intuitive social media marketing software used by over 160,000 small businesses to build their brand on social media.

Episode 3: Building in public

How can small businesses drive real societal change? As the founder of Gullybean, a hemp farm in Hudson Valley, New York, Damian Fagon is part of a small but growing number of non-white farmers in the U.S.. But after three years of growing crops — and many ups and downs along the way — Fagon decided to take his knowledge and build a non-profit to help fight for restorative justice, agricultural education, and better representation of Black and brown farmers. This podcast is produced by Buffer, an affordable and intuitive social media marketing software used by over 160,000 small businesses to build their brand on social media.

Episode 8: How small businesses drive change

What does the future of work look like? What would happen if work was less about businesses and what they need to grow, and more about people and what we need to live meaningful lives? And what would happen in a world where we didn’t actually need to work? This episode dives into the world of people-first business and the post-work economy with Wildbit co-founder Natalie Nagele, looking at what happens when people come before profits, and purpose means more than productivity. This podcast is produced by Buffer, an affordable and intuitive social media marketing software used by over 160,000 small businesses to build their brand on social media.

Episode 5: People-first business

Since Zingerman’s first opened its doors in 1982, it has become an institution in Ann Arbor, Michigan. On the surface, it’s a collection of food-related businesses, each with its own specialty, all located in the Ann Arbor area. But dig a little deeper and you’ll realize that Zingerman’s is an incredibly unique business. Named “The Coolest Small Business in America” by Inc Magazine, it was the inspiration behind Bo Burlingham’s book Small Giants. In this episode, Zingerman’s co-founder Ari Weinzweig shares how its commitment to sharing as much information as possible with everyone in the organization has helped its community of businesses to thrive.This podcast is produced by Buffer, an affordable and intuitive social media marketing software used by over 160,000 small businesses to build their brand on social media.

Episode 6: Open book management

Can small businesses have an outsized impact? Is there a way to stay small and push against the cultural conditioning of ‘scale at all costs’? What makes a business truly great? Shawn Askinosie left a successful career as a criminal defense lawyer to start a bean-to-bar chocolate factory. Askinosie Chocolate has provided over a million school lunches to malnourished children in Tanzania and the Philippines, and recently named by Forbes as “One of the 25 Best Small Companies in America” - living proof that small companies can do good and still be profitable.This podcast is produced by Buffer, an affordable and intuitive social media marketing software used by over 160,000 small businesses to build their brand on social media.

Episode 1: Getting better at staying small

What’s driving the growth of employee-owned businesses? Can employee ownership solve the tension between employees and owners? How does it benefit SMBs? Trident Booksellers & Cafe, a globally known, one-of-a-kind coffee shop in Boulder, Colorado (USA), takes us through how and why they became an employee-owned company.This podcast is produced by Buffer, an affordable and intuitive social media marketing software used by over 160,000 small businesses to build their brand on social media.