Among the best attributes for small businesses that are successful and should be modeled – not that many businesses have or needarily need all of them – are that:
1. The business can be operated from home (ie no giant additional rental overheads).
2. The business does not require a large inventory of product (another financially crippling overhead).
3. The business has several income streams (eg service as well as sales – this is how car dealers survive).
4. The business involves a product / service that buyers pay for immediately and not on a 30-day / 60-day / 90-day / 120-day basis (late payment of accounts has sent countless small and large businesses under).
5. The business relates to the owner's existing skills / expertise.
6. The business has a significant / total cash-in-hand sales element.
7. The business earns income when the owner is away (eg vending machines).
8. The business is not too reliant on finding good staff (finding and keeping quality staff is one of the biggest issues for all small business operators).
9. The business is not based on too small a number of clients (eg an agency agency with only 1 client) – this gives the client the power and not the business!
10. The business appeals to human needs that demand constant fulfillment rather than occasional wants (the food retail business is far more bankable than many other 'tertiary' service businesses eg people have to eat but they do not need to have their tarot cards read ).
11. The small business has a clear point of differentiation from possible competitors eg it is faster; it is open after hours when others are closed (like an 'after hours' beauty salon appealing to executives who work late); it comes to the client's home; it caters to a specialized niche such as the disabled or gay or senior market; it is much simpler than existing competitors; it is in the best possible location; or it is much cheaper than obvious competitors.
Without such a characteristic, a small business will probably struggle.
12. The business is one that the owner clearly enjoys or has some natural affinity with eg a car enthusiast importing and selling used Jaguars from Britain.