One of the biggest mistakes women entrepreneurs make is to operate the business as if they are the business!
Here are 4 important reasons this thinking leads to disaster:
(1) When you can't separate yourself from your business neither can anyone else and when it comes time to sell buyers will believe the business cannot stand on its own without YOU. It will be very difficult for you to exit the business.
(2) When money gets tight the first thing entrepreneurs who see themselves as the business do is stop paying themselves. WRONG! If you are working for yourself and doing the best you can, the business needs to find other ways to cut expenses. If that isn't possible then you really don't have a business and it's time to cut your losses and close the doors.
(3) If you have employees and they observe you and the business as the same they will operate with the idea that what you do outside of work is what they can do inside of work. This is not just an issue of behavior but overall image. Business and pleasure are separate times for you and employees. Remember, you are an employee of the business and they need to respect that. Even management has a right to privacy outside of the business.
(4) The business is immortal - YOU are not! Yes, you have an expiration date and although, hopefully, you have years left to enjoy being an entrepreneur and successful grow this business and perhaps many more at some time you will expire. The business can live on and on and provide income and opportunities for generations of employees, vendors, and product and/or service for years and years of customers.
Yes, the business you bootstrapped to get going and spent your blood, sweat and tears to launch could and should last several lifetimes. So, just as you want your children to outlive you and flourish even after you are gone, your business deserves the same freedom.
Begin today by saying over and over to yourself: I am NOT my business - I am NOT my business....and watch how quickly THE business will begin to have a life of its own.
Begin to Plan Your Exit Strategy today with a free 30-minute consultation....