Before you decided to embark on your business venture, you have likely been working for someone else. This simple fact means that the lower you have been on the structure of your former employer’s organization, the more likely you have been spared not only from the need to constantly make decisions, some of which have the potential to make or break your business, but you have also been freed, at least to a degree, from having to take full responsibility for the decisions that you had to make. Fundamentally, this is not much different than living under the roof of your parents’ house vs. staking it out completely on your own—no monthly allowance checks, nothing.

To get hired and continue working for someone else, you had to suppress certain aspects of who you are and how you prefer to do things to comply with your employer’s expectations. In your business, you are the boss and nobody and nothing, except for the more or less urgent need to earn a living, will force you to do things differently from what you consider your way of doing them. For better or worse, who you really are is going to permeate every aspect of your business. Unless you have a partner who takes on this role, you are now the face of your business…and its rear end too. You will have to make sure that both look pretty and are in good shape. This does not mean that you should not contemplate starting a business, unless you exude royal confidence and your business skills and poise are second to none. Starting and running a business is a journey of continuous improvement, but you must be ready to work with yourself first—including all the shortcomings and unique talents that make you who you are.