Also though for the Greek colonies I can understand it not making the Greeks a world power like the romans at the middle stages or the Ptolemai or Seleucid states. Carthage and it's Phoenician colonies did become a rather large power. Was the difference just the inherent indepence and separate city states of the Greeks?
That is a really, really broad question. Can you narrow it down a little? Are you asking to compare and contrast how Greek and Phoenician colonies worked in general in relation to one another? Are you asking how such colonies were typically founded? Are you asking systems of government?
The main difference between the Greek and Phoenician colonies is the opposite of what you suggested in another comment: while Greek colonies tended to be established for the settlement of civilians, Phoenician colonies were very bare-bones trading posts, for merchants to acquire trading goods. Both the Greeks and the Phoenicians wanted to go west to acquire certain trading goods like minerals, evidenced by settlements on the Iberian Peninsula by Phoenicia and at Marseilles by the Greeks.1 However, Greek colonialism was much more focused on larger agricultural settlements, while the Phoenician colonies were solely focused on sustaining the trading network to the Atlantic, to the point of not even being cities. The Greek colonies, such as in Sicily and Southern Italy, were definitely cities, and some historians don’t even consider it a debate any more. However, the majority of the Phoenician colonies do not fulfil the criteria for a city. While they show evidence of urbanization, they are barely at the limit for the number of people in a city (1000-1500), and they show no influence on the surrounding area’s culture.2 While the Greek colonies were a method of establishing a “Greekness” in native lands, the Phoenicians did not care about the civilizations they encountered. The Phoenicians didn’t even trade the inland civilizations, evidence only displays the Phoenician culture. However, they did trade with other networks, such as the Greeks and the Etruscans. One mythical example of how the Greeks viewed colonization is how Aeneas treats his “colonization” of Italy, where he comes in with the full intent to establish a city, takes up arms against the local inhabitants, and generally interacts heavily with the native population.3 In contrast, in the founding myth of Carthage, the Phoenician settlers only wanted a small area of land to do their business, and Dido killed herself rather than get involved with the native population.4
To sum up the economics of the colonial business, the Greeks intended to make full blown colonies to establish their empire. The colony of Syracuse remained a Greek presence in the region through the Punic wars, and was a major power on its own. However, the Phoenician colonies were established with the sole intent of supporting a trade network, making no attempt to influence their surroundings. The Phoenicians only wanted to reach the Atlantic and beyond, as seen in Hanno’s Periplus.5 One thing to note is that religion did play an important role in both modes of colonization. On the part of the Greeks, they consulted an Oracle before they settled new territories, and then also brought their religion with them. On the part of the Phoenicians, they tended to establish tophets, places of ritualistic infant sacrifice.6 However, there is no evidence on either side of proselytizing in the manner of Chrisitian missionaries. While we do have evidence of syncretism across the Mediterranean, this appears to go in all directions. The Greek myths trickled into Italy, particularly with the legends of Herakles, and began appearing in the Etruscan and Roman mythos.3 The extremely similar Phoenician deity Melqart also began appearing in Etruscan art, and Etruscan mirrors tended to portray Hercle with Phoenician aspects.7
Lancel, Serge. Carthage: A History. p. 79
Niemeyer, Hans George. “The Phoenicians in the Mediterranean: A Non-Greek Model for Expansion and Settlement in Antiquity
Livy, Book 1. Look around 1.1 to 1.6
I used Justin’s Epitome of Trogus History, found here http://www.livius.org/sources/content/the-founding-of-carthage/
A copy of Hanno’s Periplus is found here http://www.livius.org/articles/person/hanno-1-the-navigator/hanno-1-the-navigator-2/
Moscati, Sabatino. The Phoenicians p. 52
The best source for this is apparently Erika Simon’s chapter in The Religion of the Etruscans. While I have not read this, and cannot corroborate, the leading historian Prof. Alexandra Carpino, an expert on Etruscan mirrors, assures me that this is the best interpretation.