Small Business & Alcoholics Anonymous

Naturally, this is the first rule of Fight Club, err, Alcoholics Anonymous, which is that you don't talk about Figh...AA. But think about this. The organization's speedy expansion from two men chitchatting at a table in Akron, OH to an international non-profit corporation is all the more noteworthy because of its particular structure.

Established in 1935 by 'Bill W.' and 'Dr. Bob,' the group increased to 100 members in just a couple of years. The following stage of development came about when alcoholics who were recouping through the program moved to other cities and began new meetings. AA's emergence was almost entirely self-funded and distributed through word of mouth -- as a matter of fact, the organization doesn't advertise, hold fundraisers, accept charity donations, or any celebrity endorsements.

Today, AA currently stands at over two million members and continues to keep on growing. Its total earnings mostly streams from money collected at the end of meetings, which comes to approximately $100 million a year. That buys a lot of coffee and donuts, which they keep at every meeting.

As the growing number of people becoming successful testimonials to the 12-Step Program, small business owners can learn much from this organization. From what I've seen of the program, eight principles come to mind.

* You don't have to make up something new to be successful -- bettering on an oldie can work just as well. 12-step programs have been around eternally, but Bill W went far into something that stuck around.

* Do something that assists the world. This can pay off huge in plenty of goodwill and even karma.

* Don't over-hype your merchandise. People won't anticipate a holy miracle, and they might even be loyal to it.

* Make a product that actually works. People will be happy, and they might even love it.

* Trust in word of mouth to get around, even if it goes softly and quietly. WOM marketing is the best marketing technique you can use. Almost every business owner knows how important it truly is.

* Turn your customers into dedicated members. And let your members become the leaders of your business. Make them feel accepted, happy, and valued.

* Stay sober -- that is, work through your failings and learn from them.

* Be anonymous. Or at least be modest. This allows you to think and gives time for others to share their own opinions about your actions.

In closing, below is a quote from the movie Trainspotting, which is a pretty good watch if you ask me.

"I quite enjoyed the sound of it all. Profit, loss, margins, takeovers, lending, letting, subletting, subdividing, cheating, scamming, fragmenting, breaking away. There was no such thing as society and even if there was, I most certainly had nothing to do with it. For the first time in my adult life I was almost content." - Mark "Rent-boy" Renton