Scroll through your LinkedIn feed and you are bound to come across any number of articles about millennials. How they work differently, how they think differently, how to harness their tech-savvy, why they’re great, why they’re awful… the list goes on and on.
What’s it all mean for your small business?
There is a lot of talk about how Millennials are impacting today’s business world. They care about issues facing the world today, they care about work-life balance, they care about learning from those with experience. This class of young professional is set apart by their priorities and how they choose to work. This fresh crop of professional is changing the landscape of small business.
Here are 5 things you need to know:
- They have an entrepreneurial spirit
Millennials aren’t choosing the same career path as the generation before them. They are creative in the way they make their living and careful about the impact that career has on their lives as a whole. For this reason, millennials have more of an entrepreneurial spirit than the generation before them. In a small business environment, that means they are willing to carve out a unique role and develop a sense of ownership to take the business to the next level. Harnessing this desire can be a defining move for small businesses.
- They are redefining success
What does it mean to be successful? Millennials have a different idea of success than the generation before them. They care about adding value and what a brand stands for, not just the dollar signs. If they are working for a company with a good brand standing and they are making a difference, they are successful. When millennials work for small companies, they are able to really see the value they individually add for the customer and for the company. They also feel personally invested in the brand they work for.
- They demand authenticity
Authenticity is important to millennials. This is true for the millennials who work for a small business and the millennials who are the customers of a small business. Creating communication and brand standing that is genuine isn’t always easy, but it’s what resonates with millennials. Small businesses are able to do this in a way large companies cannot. Standing on your grass roots and values gets you far with millennials.
- They have a unique perspective
If it wasn’t already abundantly clear, millennials look at the business world in a different way. They look at opportunity holistically, they look at the impact a company makes on the community and the world, and they look at the way they can be a part of that difference. Taking on millennials and harnessing their perspective will help small businesses thrive like never before.
- They’re pretty easy to make happy
Once you understand millennials, they are actually pretty easy to please. A small business is in a unique position to do so because millennials want work-life balance, flexibility, and the ability to carve out their own career path. That means company culture should be a top priority. Small businesses have a way of creating culture where large corporations cannot. The rules are the rules at a large company, but a small business can be flexible with policies and change with the times. It is easier for a whole company to feel like a team at a smaller company, and millennials thrive in that atmosphere. Look at the company culture of your small business because this is what will drive millennials to be successful for you.
