Signpost at the Cape of Good Hope
I remember well what it was like to find myself without a job, not able to get one and with the prospect of “getting on my bike” and earning a living as a self-employed person. I had not planned to be self-employed; it was a matter of survival, which I have discussed before.
In the corporate world of larger organizations we have the concept of status. We know our place, and we have worked hard to get there. I had various titles such as “Manager”, Senior Manager” and “Senior Consultant”. Once I thought these had some sort of cachet; I guess the main purpose was to define our roles, and so that we knew who to report to and others knew that they had to report to us. There are other reasons for titles of course. In the accountancy world, especially in larger partnerships, the title of “Director” is dished out to those who think they should be partners but haven’t been offered this status; it helps them feel better than being a senior manager but really doesn’t have any other meaning.
In the small business area titles are irrelevant to the clients and customers, and one has to get on with building a business. Just the same, if someone had been made redundant it takes a while to recover the self-esteem had when he or she had a designated title. It is bad enough feeling unwanted when made redundant, but not even knowing by what title to call yourself is very hard indeed.
Strangely, many people find it very hard to see themselves as the boss and in charge, and it may be a completely new experience. Of course being in charge has a lot of responsibility, not least in earning a crust to live on, but new business owners amongst those who have lost their jobs need to recognise the freedom they have to make their own decisions. It should be liberating and invigorating, and even if we make the wrong decisions sometimes at least we can change our minds. In the corporate world it can be very frustrating implementing someone else’s wrong decisions.
Running one’s own business can be so much more satisfying than being an employee in someone else’s business. We just have to throw away the conditioning and forget the grand titles we used to have. Just call yourself the Boss. Don’t you agree?
