In business, bigger is often seen as better. Growth, expansion, and scaling are considered markers of success. For many small business owners, there’s an unspoken pressure to constantly expand – because that’s what success is supposed to look like, right?
But what if that’s not the path you want to take? What if staying small is not a sign of limitation but a deliberate choice that aligns with your values and goals?
I’m proud to be able to tell you that my positive impact web design studio, Made for the World, is deliberately small – by design. But it wasn’t always this way. For years, we followed the traditional growth path, hiring more people and expanding our operations – only to find ourselves questioning if this was the right direction for us.
Here’s our story of why we chose to scale back and stay intentionally small – and why, for some businesses, bigger isn’t always better.
The expectation trap
In 2016, after years of on-off collaboration, Chris Wolf and I formalised our creative partnership and went into business together. We were in start-up mode – meeting with our laptops in South London cafés and pubs to get our design agency off the ground.
We’d both come from agency backgrounds. We’d seen the inner workings of design studios and knew what we wanted to learn from them – and what we wanted to do differently. But ultimately, our vision was to build something from that same blueprint: a physical space with a growing team of creatives, fostering collaboration and culture.
And that’s what we did.
Studio 1, first hire.
Studio 2, second hire.
Studio 3, hires 3, 4, 5 and 6…
Within three years, we’d become an 8-person team with a bespoke London studio space and a roster of positive-impact clients.
So why, then, were Chris and I starting to feel unfulfilled? This is what we wanted, wasn’t it? Well, the real question became: “Is this truly what we wanted, or was this just the expected path to take?”
From practitioner to manager
Although an 8-person team wouldn’t be classed as ‘big’ to some, to us it had become big enough to mean we were no longer enjoying our work like we once did.
The reality was that we went into business as designers and ended up as managers.
Don’t get me wrong – there were many great times with our team, and we don’t regret reaching that stage. But my and Chris’s roles had morphed into something far from what they once were – and the combination of being experienced designers yet inexperienced managers meant the quality of work started to suffer as a result. It wasn’t sitting right with us.
Some people thrive in management – nurturing talent, delegating tasks, giving feedback… We learned these skills over time because we had to. But during those soul-searching days mid-pandemic (we all had them, let’s face it), we realised that, above all, we still wanted to be designers.
The design world is a funny one, where often the better you get, the less design you actually do… for some it’s the dream to become a ‘hands-off’ creative director who has the ideas and sees the team bring them to life. But for others (Chris and me included), the hands-on craft is where the joy lies.
To get back to being practitioners, we knew we needed to scale back. And it being 2020, factors outside of our control put the wheels in motion on our behalf… But we now had an opportunity – a chance to redetermine what success looked like for our company, and how we wanted to achieve it. And for us, the answer was staying small.
Small, by design
To say we’re back to where we started might sound negative – but in a sense, that’s where we are. Just me, Chris, a few trusted freelance web developers, and a love for the craft.
Saying goodbye to team members and packing up our studio space was hard, and for a time it did feel like failure. But we knew that if we’d been too proud and simply carried on down the road we were heading, it wouldn’t have ended well.
Older and wiser, and with lived experience, we were ready to accept being small and staying small. But even then, we still struggled with expected perceptions. Can we claim to be an ‘agency’ without a team, or a ‘studio’ without a space? Are we a ‘duo’, a ‘partnership’? Will clients still want to work with us, knowing it’s just the two of us?
The truth is, as long as you solve your client’s problems and deliver exceptional work, none of that really matters. It’s all about setting the right expectations and delivering high-quality work (sometimes even on time..!), no matter the size of the team. And anyway, the world has changed. Expectations have changed. And, sped up by the pandemic, the way we all do business has changed.
Tips for staying small and thriving
Prioritise what you love
If you enjoy hands-on work, don’t feel pressured to grow beyond that – your passion is what drives your best output.
Stay focused on quality
A smaller operation can often maintain higher quality control. Use this as a strength and highlight it to clients.
Embrace flexibility
Staying small can give you the flexibility to pivot, adapt, and respond quickly to changes – something larger organisations often struggle with.
Build strong partnerships
Surround yourself with trusted freelancers or contractors who can support your work, without the need to manage a full-time team.
Be transparent
Don’t feel the need to hide behind a false facade with clients. Make it clear that your size allows for direct communication, personal attention, and dedicated service – something that many clients appreciate.
By leaning into our size, we’ve turned it into a strength. Clients know they’ll work directly with two experienced designers throughout the entire process, guaranteeing high-level expertise at every stage – not the typical ‘Finder, Minder, Grinder’ model where senior team members disappear once the work begins.
It took a while to realise it for ourselves, that growth – in its traditional sense – isn’t for everyone. There are many ways to grow as a business, beyond the number of ‘bums on seats’. So, whatever you may hear, bigger isn’t always better…
