John,

>It is entirely topical and on-point. The question by Mr. Buch was how to deal with very small mom and pop operations. IMO, that was symptomatic of the bigger issue given the other particulars he had in his post.

But his question was about how others deal with small firms, not about WHY he's dealing with them. Why not answer HIS question and offer him the benefit of your experience in dealing with Mom and Pop operations?

>Don't confuse hi-jacking with picking up on what clearly was a non-obvious but relevant point.

It's not relevant to his question. Debate over.