There Is a Place to Stay Small and Still Do Big Things

{ overdue LoriTalk🫶... blame the eclipse }

There was a season of my business life where I had 150,000 followers, a big team, sponsors, an advisory council... and I never felt lonelier or more taken advantage of.

Which is probably why I'm extra appreciative these days of the people who stick around.

The long-haulers.

The clients. The team members. The friends I met in some random program 9 years ago.

The people we may not talk to for 9 months, and then pick right back up.

Or the ones we're texting every day.

There is something only time can build

Someone who walked beside you in 2015 understands why something happening in 2026 hits differently. They saw both versions of you.

(And seriously... how is 2015 more than a decade ago???)

I've been in business long enough to recognize the people who pop in to grab a slice of whatever is hot right now... and the ones who stay after that season is over.

I've always wanted the second kind of business.

Not: how many people can we serve as fast as possible?

More like: how deep can we go? How much can we actually help? What can we build together over time?

I never did the precise math, but my average client stays in my universe 1-3 years. I had an assistant for 10 years. My Filipino VAs tend to stay 3+ years, which is practically ancient in the online-business turn-and-burn world.

And this matters because I think the world is shouting one thing while a quieter truth is sitting over in the corner minding its business.

The world shouts: SCALE

And of course it does.

The people who are good at scaling are usually also very good at shouting. 😂

But you guys.... there is a place to stay small and still do big things.

(And we NEED YOU TO FOLLOW YOUR PURPOSE!)

Scale isn't everything.

Not everything can be scaled.

Not everything should be scaled.

And I think a lot of people are actually better at depth.

Staying longer.

Getting better at the thing.

Knowing the client so well that the work gets sharper instead of more standardized.

Honestly... if most people had 100 great clients over 3 years, they'd have a very full business and maybe a happier life.

Some businesses absolutely need scale

If my AC dies in August, I don't want a soulful relationship with the HVAC company. I want someone answering the phone and a truck in my driveway. 😂

That requires more capital, more people, more systems, more risk and a different kind of leader.

But there is also more room than ever for the solo-ish business owner.

The sweet little business.

$300k revenue. $200k+ to the owner. Maybe even pushing toward $1M with a very smart AI assist and a tiny team.

That kind of business wins differently.

Because when the work is highly personal, nuanced, strategic or trust-based, you cannot just turn-and-burn people through a funnel and expect the same result.

What people are actually looking for

This week I talked to 3 people with people-service businesses like this. All were looking for some version of a co-founder, successor or buyer.

And all had been approached by the loud scalers offering pieces of the solution: affiliates. Tech. Marketing. Systems.

But that wasn't really what they were looking for.

They were looking for someone they trust to walk beside them through the transition.

That's a very different offer.

And a very different business.

It's noisy out there. And a lot of the advice isn't wrong.

It's just built for a business you may not actually want.

LoriTalk🫶 lessons for anyone who made it this far

1. When someone is shouting a business need at you, ask what makes their model profitable.
2. Now is a very good time to build a sweet little business.
3. Deep 1:1 or small-group services have more value in an AI-saturated world, not less.
4. These businesses grow differently, so you can ignore a surprising amount of shouted advice.

This is basically how I'm spending my Back Porch AI summer sessions.

Just a few people.

Lots of depth.

No topic left unturned by the time we're done.

Which is much more my speed than joining the internet's daily contest to see who can shout the loudest.

But if this eclipse energy keeps up... you're going to be hearing more from me.... the 2026 version who doesn't beat around the bush as much.

If this is the business you're actually building, I wrote the longer version of it here: The Sweet Little Business.