A Love Letter to Staying Small

This Small Business Saturday, I’ve been reflecting on what it really means to run a small business in a world that seems obsessed with “big.”

Everywhere you turn—podcasts, interviews, business gurus—the message is the same: scale as fast as possible. Grow. Explode. Become the next SKIMS or whatever the buzzy success story of the moment is. The dream, apparently, is to get huge.

But… why?

Why isn’t it enough to simply be excellent?

Why isn’t it enough to create something meaningful, do it well, and keep your integrity intact?

I’ve been running Happy Habitat for going on 15 years now, and the more time passes, the more I’ve come to realize something: staying small can be its own kind of triumph. Actually, it can be a beautiful triumph.

If you’ve built something that supports your family, keeps a roof over your head, doesn’t require mountains of debt, and still lets you wake up excited about the work you do—how is that not success?

We don’t celebrate that enough.

We don’t talk about the businesses that quietly endure for 10, 12, 15 years… the ones without investors, without overnight hype, without pressure to sacrifice their soul for scale. The ones that grow slowly, intentionally, sustainably.

Small isn’t mediocre.

Small isn’t settling.

Small can be the sweet spot.

Small means you still know your customers.

Small means you get to keep your vision yours.

Small means you make choices that feel right instead of chasing endless “more.”

And while big companies often get bigger just for the sake of being big, small businesses get to define success on their own terms. Not by venture capital, not by viral numbers, not by someone else’s scoreboard.

Just by creating a good living rooted in meaning, quality, and connection.

So on this Small Business Saturday, I’m celebrating the small businesses—mine included—that are still here. Still making things with care. Still supporting families. Still proving that “enough” is a perfectly honorable place to be.

And to everyone who has supported Happy Habitat in any way over the years—thank you. You’re part of what makes staying small not just possible, but powerful.

Here’s to small.

Here’s to steady.

Here’s to the kind of success you can actually feel.