Career Tip #1: Act Like You Own the Place

Ive owned my own company since 1988, and often hear people say theyd like to own a business. When I ask why, they give answers such as So I can set my own hours, To make what Im really worth, or So I wont have to answer to anyone. I tell them not to go into business for themselves, because they dont understand what owning a business really means.

While it allows the freedom to come and go without permission from anyone, it doesnt allow the freedom to come and go anytime the owner feels like it. Most business owners work more hours than their employees. The owner of a medical device manufacturing company in San Antonio recently told me that he can leave work any time he darn well pleases after he puts in his 80 hours a week.

The desire to achieve financial independence is certainly a good reason to go into business. In their book The Millionaire Next Door, Tom Stanley and William Danko revealed that self employed individuals are four times more likely to be millionaires than those who work for others. New entrepreneurs hear stats like these and think theyll be the next Henry Ford or Walt Disney. What they forget is that Mr. Ford and Mr. Disney both went bankrupt before they achieved such stunning success. For every Donald Trump, there are thousands of business owners taking cash advances off credit cards to make payroll. Some estimates have placed the average annual profit of small business owners in the United States as low as $10,000 a year. While owning a business greatly increases the owners odds of becoming a millionaire, it also greatly increases the owners odds of working for less than minimum wage. I caution people who say that owning a business will help them make what theyre really worth, because they might not realize how little that is.

While business owners dont have a supervisor to answer to, this doesnt mean they dont have people who hold them accountable. There are creditors who expect to be paid, customers who often demand the impossible, and sometimes a spouse who questions why they still cant pay the mortgage despite putting in 100 hours a week.

Hollywood has painted an unrealistic image of business owners. The mention of someone who owns a business conjures up images from greedy bank owner Mr. Potter in the 1946 movie Its a Wonderful Life to nuclear power plant owner Mr. Burns in the television show The Simpsons. Owning the company doesnt mean sitting in a leather wingback chair all day and counting piles of money while all the workers bees make more; it means quite the opposite. Youll never hear a business owner say Thats not in my job description. Business owners refer to themselves as the chief cook and bottle washer because they have to do whatever needs to be done whenever it needs to be done.

Employers have become accustomed to employees who do the least they can to get by, which is usually whats printed in their job description. Because of this, companies add ...and all other duties as needed to every job description. But those who excel in their careers dont need a job description to tell him what to do. They do whatever needs to be done, whenever it needs to be done, without waiting until theyre asked. In other words, they act like they own the place.

Glenn Shepard lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and is the author of the #1 Best-Seller How to Be the Employee Your Company Cant Live Without. He publishes a free weekly newsletter titled Work Is Not for Sissies to help people excel in their careers. You can get a Free copy of his newsletter and his special report How to Avoid the Four Deadly Sins that Can Kill the Most Promising Career by going to http://www.glennshepard.com/free-resources.html

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