Why Is Most Small Business Advice Given by People Who Don’t Work at a Small Business?

If you’ve ever looked up advice on running a small business, you’ve probably noticed something odd. The people giving it? They don’t actually run small businesses.

They write for big business publications, work for big consulting firms, or they’re “thought leaders” (which, let's be honest, is often code for someone with a LinkedIn following but no real-world accountability). They may have never had to decide whether to pay an overdue vendor invoice or fix the office printer—because they have departments for that.

And yet, here they are, confidently doling out advice for businesses with fewer than 250 employees, where the CEO is often the HR, IT, and janitorial department all at once.

Let’s take a look at why this happens—and why their advice might not actually work for you.

Because "Small Business" Means Something Different to Them

A lot of business advice is written for what we call small businesses—but here’s the catch: the SBA considers any company with up to 500 employees a small business.

Some industries even stretch that definition up to 1,500 employees.

That’s not exactly small to most people who are actually running a business where they know everyone’s birthday and are still figuring out if a ping-pong table would boost morale or just take up valuable space.

When the advice says, “Assign this to your HR team,” and your HR team is you, or it says, “Consult with your legal department,” but your legal department is a frantic Google search at 10 p.m.—it becomes clear that their definition of small business and yours are not the same.

Because They're Writing for Scale, Not Survival

A lot of mainstream business advice assumes you have a growth-at-all-costs mindset. They’ll tell you how to “scale efficiently,” how to “onboard at scale,” and how to “optimize workflows for rapid expansion.”

But for a lot of small business owners, the goal isn't endless growth. It’s stability, profitability, and not working 80 hours a week just to keep the lights on.

Sometimes, the best advice isn’t about scaling—it’s about building a strong, steady foundation where employees aren’t burned out, compliance isn’t a ticking time bomb, and no one is googling “how to file an LLC” in a panic because someone sent the wrong paperwork.

Because Big Business Consultants Have Big Business Solutions

Ever noticed that a lot of small business advice comes in the form of expensive systems, complex strategies, and multi-step frameworks that sound great in theory but require a full-time specialist to implement?

Yeah. That’s because many of these experts work with businesses that have entire teams dedicated to handling this stuff.

• “Just implement an HRIS and payroll automation system to streamline your compliance efforts.”
  (Great! Can it also take out the trash and fix the WiFi?)

• “Make data-driven hiring decisions with our predictive analytics model.”
  (Or… I could just hire someone who seems competent and hope for the best?)

• “Outsource your non-core functions to optimize efficiency.”
  (Fantastic. I’ll let my one other employee know they’re being outsourced.)

Because They’ve Never Had to Fire Someone They Know Personally

One of the biggest disconnects between big business consultants and real small business owners is how personal everything is.

In a small business, when you fire someone, you’re not just removing an anonymous name from a payroll spreadsheet. You might be firing someone you’ve had lunch with every day for two years. Someone who knows your kids' names. Someone who will still be at the same community events as you for the next 10 years.

It’s easy to say “make objective, data-driven decisions” when you don’t have to see the person you just laid off at the grocery store.

So Where Do You Get Advice That Actually Works?

If traditional small business advice doesn’t fit, where do you go for answers?

• Talk to other small business owners. Nobody understands the reality better than people who are living it.

• Look for consultants who specialize in actual small businesses. Not ones who give cookie-cutter corporate advice, but ones who get what it’s like when HR, finance, and operations are all squished into one overwhelmed person.

• Trust your own instincts. If a piece of advice sounds like it was designed for a business with 10 layers of management, it probably was.

At Peopleish, we get it—because we work with real small businesses every day. We are also a small business. We don’t believe in oversized, impractical solutions. We believe in HR that fits your business, your budget, and your reality.

So the next time you read an article that starts with “Just implement a strategic restructuring plan with robust change management protocols,” go ahead and laugh—then come talk to us instead.

Need HR solutions that actually work for a small business? We’re here for that.