ESB is Engineering a Small Business, our proprietary framework to lead the small business development process from conception to moving across fundamentally redefined size-related categories avoiding frequently observed risks. 

ESB is the backbone of a 10-step system for the small business development process at rize.

Survivorship bias (Wikipedia article) is a logical error of studying a group of events with certain features whereas events with other features are neglected. 

Building a successful small business is about accepting the business environment as is, being able to observe, and drawing reliable conclusions. This is why rize is very cautious about cognitive biases (Wikipedia article) that affect what we think, how we think, and why.

Likewise, every major recommendation provided to our customers is built on an objective choice of literature about both successful and failed small businesses and small business owners. This guarantees we not only know what would make your business successful, but also understand what we should avoid doing.

There are mainly 2 types of them:

The first group teaches you marketing and other subjects as if you are a college student. Not so bad but this knowledge is excessive or way too general, therefore irrelevant. You lose time instead of gaining practical knowledge and taking care of your business.

The second group talks about small businesses but implies a scalable business at an early stage. There is nothing wrong with becoming another fast food chain, a social network, or a delivery business, but small business is not about scaling globally.

In a word, the major difference of rize is that we treat the small business as your endeavor to monetize your professional skills. We see a small business as just another layer of skillset over your experience, skills, hobbies, and, finally, your unique personality.

This is what we create here at rize - a truly fundamental understanding of what you’re building, what it takes, and an actionable plan to build it.

The foundation of rize is hundreds of research papers of outstanding scholars since the 1960s, and our own research and analysis wing to dive deep into the problems of small business development.

The research papers we mentioned help us build a core understanding of small business development issues from different angles - personal, social, financial, organizational, and many others. Gathering these perspectives gives you a unique opportunity to understand who a small business owner is and where this person should be aiming at.

Firstly, make sure you do not get these concepts from non-specific mass media that introduces concepts in business-related publications. 

For example, the value of an article on a website called ‘Cobbler Business Problems’ with publications on the same subject is much higher than some articles on customer retention on a website called ‘Businessly’. 

Cobblers’ resource will probably explain the term in application to the industry with vivid examples and actionable - and very realistic - plans. 

Can we expect the same from ‘Businessly’ which survives with an advertisement format selling either your data or your time to a major ad network offering you a business loan? 

Secondly, rize will never teach you the concepts without real-life practice. Actually, it is even more interesting: first, you will experience the situation, and then you will come up with a theory on what and why. 

This approach will guarantee you are gaining practical knowledge, and you explore real-life concepts once you have enough experience through provided and constructed situations.

No, our experts are not teachers, they are researchers. Their job is to make sure you follow actionable plans according to the ESB framework. They strive for objectiveness and are free of any previous business experience bias. A rize expert will be supporting you to explore, discover, and understand your resources, your business, and your perspectives. 

Under the ESB framework you are not taught, you learn by your own actions meticulously studying the business environment.

Our experts are scholars and researchers whose top priority at rize is being objective. Expert Code of Conduct describes their duties as providing correct explanations of the ESB framework, remaining free of biases as much as possible, and helping our clients identify those cognitive biases to fight with and reach clarity - as much as possible.

They will help you ask the right questions, and will motivate you to doubt status-quo, and will lead you to a better, deeper understanding of your small business and your opportunities.

rize will be equally good for starting a new small business or working on an existing one, purchasing a small business, or buying a franchise.