Small-business owners, what are you doing to stand out from the crowd? Each week, we focus on an entrepreneur who has lessons to share that we think will resonate with other small-business owners.

Coleen McKenna, Dave Lippman and Guild Copeland, founders of web design firm, Sisu, answers our questions:

What are you doing to stand out from the crowd?
Despite being profitable from day one and experiencing 30% revenue growth every year since, we've resisted getting big. Big agencies lack the focused attention and personal touch that clients often crave. Rather than follow that path, we've worked hard to stay small, which allows us to be nimble and react quickly to industry and larger economic changes.

What's the best part about owning your own business?
Deciding which projects to pursue and how to make them happen.

What's the biggest challenge of owning your own business?
Running your own business means you take on all the risk. You are responsible to yourself, your partners, your team and your clients at all times.

Name: Coleen McKenna, Dave Lippman and Guild Copeland
Business: Sisu, a web and mobile design firm.
Industry: Web Design
Location: Culver City, Calif.
Year founded: 2002
Number of employees: 9
Web address: www.sisumedia.com

What's the biggest hurdle you've overcome?
We didn't exactly land clients like Sony, ABC and Paramount Pictures overnight. Initially, some companies were a little hesitant about the size of our company relative to the scale of work we do. However, we allayed those fears by proving to clients that we can deliver consistent results as a small shop without getting overwhelmed and that they will get more senior level attention than at a large firm.

What's the biggest mistake you've made?
When one of our first big clients exhibited clear warning signs -- failing to call us back or paying invoices on time -- we ignored them. That, of course, came back to hurt us, as the client ended up disappearing without making good on payments. From then on, we've learned to protect ourselves with signed contracts and enforcing them.

What's the best business advice you can offer?
Figure out who you want to be and what you want to do, then gear your processes and communications toward achieving that.