Years ago, building a company meant buying a storefront on a corner in your neighborhood. Your loved ones spread the word and loyal friends and family members kept you in business. You had to be physically close to your customers to provide products and services for them.

Some family businesses have been around long enough for that kind of business-running to work still. But most often, you’re not running your father’s old business. Which means that you’re probably running things a little differently than they used to.

Your community doesn’t define you anymore

Don’t get me wrong, the community where someone grows up plays a huge role in the kind of person you grow up to be and the type of perspectives you have. But nowadays, you can live wherever you want and make things work where you please. Even if you grew up in a small town in Wyoming, you can buy a storefront in downtown Seattle if you so choose, and no one will think anything of it.

Old money, new money, no one cares anymore. We aren’t living in The Great Gatsby. While your roots will always be a part of you, you aren’t tied to them – and you can be a successful entrepreneur with or without a loyal, familiar community.

Generic factories are out

Business owners with original ideas used to be able to buy a factory and get their product marching out in bulk. But now, there’s so much competition in any field of interest that pushing out generic products aren’t going to get you anywhere.

Instead, business owners are focusing more on customer satisfaction than short-term product. Customer satisfaction means customer loyalty. And these days, it’s so easy to hear what customers have to say even if they live across the globe. Specializing in customer satisfaction is the best way to get yourself ahead of the game.

You need more people

If your dad opened a restaurant, he needed a chef, a waiter and maybe an accountant. Chances are, most of his staff members were family members. Now, you need so much more – social media, marketing, taxes, bookkeeping, human resources, payroll, collections, the list goes on and on. Things are a lot less simple than they used to be, but that also means that you’re giving a lot more people employment opportunities. So look on the bright side!

I’ve barely scratched the surface of how much things have changed for business owners. The biggest difference between you and your daddy’s company is you have to be able to change at a moment’s notice. Our world is constantly changing and every day entrepreneurs are learning to juggle something new. So keep it up! Every day you prove that it can be done.