The Business Owner and Business Separately

Lily Llewellyn
May 5
3 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

The Business Owner and Business Separately

Working with business owners, I sometimes hear the following…

…often said by business owners who struggle to get clients, struggle with time-management, struggle with self-esteem and who are burnt-out!

Statements like these above are faulty because the business owners do not separate themselves from their business. These statements suggest the business owners believe they are their business, and their business is them. These beliefs often lead business owners down treacherous paths, even illegal paths. The saddest part of all is the reality that the business owner who keeps themselves intertwined with their business does not create an intimate, person-like business. Separating yourself and your identity from your business, which gives your business its own identity, is the healthiest thing for you and for your business. It creates a business that feels – paradoxically – human. The human-like feel of a business is explored more in The Life of a Business.

Before looking at the life of a business, I need to make the nonnegotiable point that you are not your business and your business is not you regardless of the type of business you own.

Here’s why…

You have separate finances

• Your money is not your business’ money

• Your business’ money is not your money

You have separate time

• You can only work for a finite number of hours a week

• Your business is always working (with your team or on automation)

You have separate needs and wants

• Your business may need extra funding.

You may have enough money.

• Your business may need to stop growth. You may have great ambition.

• Your business may need updating and adapting. You may enjoy the current way of working.

• Your business may need to expand into a new market. You may dislike the change.

• Your business may need marketing. You may want to shy away from marketing efforts.

You have separate likes and dislikes

• Your business is designed to satisfy your clients’ likes and wants, which may not be what you personally like or want.

You have separate skill sets

• Your strengths are not automatically given to or necessarily needed by your business.

• Criticism towards your service is not criticism about you intrinsically as a person.

You have separate purposes

• Your business provides relief to a client’s pain point. You, personally, don’t provide.

• Your business has the purpose to make a profit. Your purpose in life is not to make profit.

• Remember – your business is the way in which the business owner services the community of clients. The business is the vehicle in which your complete your purpose. Your business is your tool, an extension of your hand – it is not you.

Your business has a personality, which is sometimes called a face.

• Your community and market want to know that their favourite business has a face and is ran by a person who cares.

• But ultimately, they want the service and product you provide, not you.

The belief that you are your business, will trap you in it! Every inevitable stumble your business takes, would become a personal failure of yours. Every personal challenge you face, would put your business under risk. Your business is going to fail, need to change, be rejected and be loved! The good news is that these good, bad and ugly moments may reflect your business and your effort as the business owner, but they don’t reflect you as a person.

Where do you, as the owner of your business, end and your business begin?