This week’s column finds the Startup Junkie pondering just why startups are so alluring. They aren’t exactly known for stability or high pay. One company I worked for featured neither. It took five months, three paychecks, a handful of cash, and several IOUs before this particular startup wore out its welcome.

This isn’t the 1990s anymore. Gone is the mystique attached to a couple of guys writing code in a garage. VCs are no longer waving wads of cash at any business plan with “.com” slapped on the end. The tech bubble burst long ago; long live the housing bubble.

So, what’s so great about starting your own business, or going to work for someone who is? Do you really think you’re doing it for stock options? Why do so many commercials (most notably banks and wireless providers) try to convince you that they treat their customers like smaller businesses do?

Marketing guru Seth Godin may have hit on some of the answer. If you’re the least bit interested in selling anything to anyone, you should be reading his blog. This weekend I stumbled across what he claims is his most popular post ever. In it, he points out that small businesses:

• are more agile to respond to market needs;
• command more customer loyalty;
• outsource the overhead (manufacturing, shipping, legal, HR) while focusing on the tasks and ideas that make them great.

I’ll add a few things of my own to the list. Successful local businesses:

• are seen, not just as a source for jobs, but as valuable members of the community;
• are more open to change from within as well as without;
• offer more opportunity for the individual to make a difference in the company;
• are not hamstrung by policy, tradition, or investors.

If you’re thinking of starting or helping start a new business, make a promise to yourself and your customers that you’ll keep these points in mind. Seth said it best: “small is the new big only when the person running the small thinks big.”

So what’s your definition of success going to be? An IPO, more money than you could ever spend, and the loss of the freedom to do what you really want? Or will you settle for being the hands-down best at the services you offer? Chances are, if that’s your goal, success will find you anyway.

Or at least that’s what we’re hoping around the Colaspot office. See you next time.