Jimmy Vee is no stranger to the word small. An Orlando-based entrepreneur, he specializes in helping SMBs make big money.

More than a consultant, however, Vee is also a business owner. Along with his partner, Travis Miller, he runs Orlando-based Gravitational Marketing. Co-authors of Gravitational Marketing: The Science of Attracting Customers, they don’t just talk about small business — they live it.

They also love it, and not in spite of their size, but because of it. “We use our size as a positioning tool and as a perceived benefit to potential clients,” he says. “People want to feel like they are in competent hands. We use our size to give them what they want.”

Vee and Miller don’t censure their size, but they embrace it. Being small allows them to be efficient, authentic and, ultimately, profitable. “It’s really the law of supply and demand,” Vee says. “The smaller you are, the less of you there is to go around and the more desirable you can become.”

For that reason, Vee insists, size-conscious companies should focus less on everyday challenges and more on strategic opportunities.

1. Speed

A small company’s greatest strength is its ability to adapt to market changes, says Jennifer Kluge, president of the National Association for Business Resources based in Warren, Mich. When you’re small, you can respond at a moment’s notice to changes in your industry, in the market and even in popular culture, where trends create short-lived opportunities for quick-to-act businesses. Even more importantly, you can react quickly to problems among customers and employees, finding and implementing expedient solutions.

2. Flexibility

Not only are small businesses fast, but they are also flexible. “Small business owners have so much agility because there’s no bureaucracy, no board of directors, no shareholders,” Miller says. “There’s no one to answer to but yourself.” Small business owners can make major decisions — about hiring new employees, for example, or investing in new technology — during an hour-long meeting. They’re free to chart their own course, choosing their own markets, building their own messages and making their own money.

3. Service

More than anything else, SMBs are known for giving great customer service. SMBs can build authentic, one-on-one relationships with their clients. “People do business with other people they know, like and trust,” Miller says.

More than that, they do business with people who make them feel good. “Customers, deep down inside, are looking for that kind of relationship,” Vee says.

4. Resourcefulness

What they lack in cash, small business owners tend to spend in creative capital. Indeed, without some of the resources that larger companies have, SMBs must be more innovative when it comes to things such as marketing and communications. For instance, because they can’t afford prime time TV ads, they pursue publicity with local media or create print ads and marketing tools from their own offices. “Being a small business forces you to become more resourceful,” Vee says. That resourcefulness isn’t a handicap — it’s an opportunity.

5. Community

SMBs might not have national presence, but they definitely have local influence. “Small businesses can really integrate themselves into a community and dedicate themselves by driving personal relationships and getting involved in local activities,” Kluge says.

Vee suggests that when small companies get involved by supporting local schools, donating to local charities and publicizing local causes, it positively impacts both their reputation and their bottom line. “It’s the small business owners in individual cities and towns who are movers and shakers,” he says.

No matter your size, Vee says entrepreneurs have many strengths. “You have to remove your size from your mindset,” he says. “Find out what’s unique about you, and exploit that to its fullest.”