Delusions of Grandeur

You are a "Business Owner". You know it in your bones. You live and breathe it each and every day.

Others know it too - they can see it in the number of your Clients and in the number of your Employees ...and so how could they, or anyone, reach any other conclusion?

Well, not so fast. Maybe you aren't. Not really.

Bursting someone else's bubbles is not fun ...unless you are a kid. And many times the other people involved do not take it well when you burst their bubbles. So I make this next statement while beating a hasty retreat to a safe distance...

"If your business cannot keep operating without you actively working in it, for at least 30-90 days, then you don't truly have a proper business where you are the business owner.

You are really just self-employed ...but with a lot of Clients and Employees.

Not a bad accomplishment.

Yet you are running a MUCH bigger risk than freelancers do ...a slight softening in the market, or you lose a key Client or a deal that you thought was in the bag ...then you can quickly be in loss making territory.

One lawsuit or a personal illness can also go so far as to destroy your company ...and then not only was everything for nothing, but also all of your loyal employees suddenly find themselves without a source of income.

What is the other key difference between the business owner and the self-employed business person?

The business owner has a valuable asset in their possession. Their profitable business. It can easily be sold to another party who can keep running it without any problem or reduction in profits.

The self-employed business person? Not so much. Their business stops working without them being there to work in it ...so no one is going to pay anything for that. At best someone may pay something for the Client list.

If you are brutally real with yourself ...can your business survive 3 months without you there? If not, then your business is NOT an asset, and it is certainly NOT your nest egg.

But, at least you are no longer in the dark about the true state of affairs. At least you are (hopefully) not in denial. You just have some work to get done!

More on that in another post....