As part of our work with Staples, The Office Superstore, we have been presenting our “How to Be a Big Fish in Any Pond,” small-business marketing seminar around the country. During the last six months, we have met more than 1,000 people who run businesses as diverse as aquarium servicing and massage therapy.

Through talking with these seminar participants, we’ve noticed some similarities among those who consider their businesses to be successful. Each is willing to take chances, they have positioned themselves to stand out among their competitors and they know how to let their customers and prospects know what makes them unique. Finally, they have identified their best customers and concentrate their marketing efforts on them.

We’ve distilled these similarities into four keys for marketing the small-business and will discuss each in greater detail during the coming weeks. We kick off the series with this column, which concentrates on the importance of expanding your comfort zone.

As human beings, we’re governed by habit. We brush our teeth the same way each morning; we drive the same route to work, listen to the same station on the radio. When we get to work, we follow the same routine. For business owners, that often means doing the same things as your competitors. What separated people like Sam Walton of WalMart and Ray Kroc of McDonald’s from the rest of the pack was their willingness to be different -- to step outside their comfort zone.

The willingness to take chances is what distinguishes true entrepreneurs from small-business owners. The typical small-business owner views their business as a way to support their lifestyle as opposed to the entrepreneur, whose primary focus is growing their business and taking its performance to the next level.

Virtually all of an entrepreneur’s growth comes from his or her ability to do things that others are either afraid of or unwilling to do. They believe they can do anything that anyone else can and they’re convinced that what happens to them isn’t as important as what they do with what happens.

We’ve found one of the best ways to help small business owners and entrepreneurs grow their business is by helping them stretch their comfort zone a little bit at a time. If you’re just starting out on a strength training program, you’re not going to go to the gym and try to lift 250 pounds. Likewise, it’s best not to make a sudden dramatic shift in the way you market your business. But by starting out with just a few significant changes and making your new way of marketing your business a habit, you can help get yourself into the entrepreneurial mindset.