While working at a nonprofit that provided HR, finance, and technology support to community-based programs, the light bulb went off for Susan Kreeger — other small nonprofits and for-profit businesses need similar services. Kreeger’s specialty was HR. She started her company, RealHR Solutions, in 2005. Jill Krumholz became a partner in 2010. Her expertise is talent acquisition and employee development.

RealHR provides customized HR services to those organizations with limited or no previous HR infrastructure. RealHR manages all employment-related activities from pre-hire to post-retirement on an ongoing or on a project basis.

I’ve watched Susan and Jill grow their business for a long time. I’ve also had Susan share her insights on the growth and differentiation of her business with theFastTrac GrowthVenture class that I teach on behalf of NYC Small Business Services at the Levin Institute.

Like many small businesses, RealHR competes in a bigger market space that includes much larger companies. Professional employer organizations (PEO) perform employee management tasks, such as employee benefits; payroll and workers’ compensation; recruiting; risk/safety management; and training and development. PEOs do this by hiring a client company’s employees, thus becoming their employer-of-record for tax and insurance purposes. This practice is known as co-employment.I’ve watched Susan and Jill grow their business for a long time. I’ve also had Susan share her insights on the growth and differentiation of her business with the FastTrac GrowthVenture class that I teach on behalf of NYC Small Business Services at the Levin Institute.

So what’s a small business to do when it’s up against the big boys? Differentiate itself, of course. Here are four ways that RealHR accomplished that.