Are you your on boss, or is there someone else of higher authority that you must report to?

Entrepreneurs have two "bosses" - yourself, to meet your business plan goals and high standards of professionalism, and each and every one of your clients (and potential clients): you need to treat them as the most important person(s) in the world, as they are that to you, and you need to know their needs, desires, objectives and goals, time and other resource commitments, and other expectations. You need to keep your clients aware of your activities, how and when you meet benchmarks and objectives/goals, and the challenges you've faced (and results you've achieved in meeting these challenges). And, in a related way, you have one more "boss" - the government - you're running a business and you need to keep current with local, state and federal laws governing your business - corporate laws, taxes, reporting requirements, etc. One of the first important investments you need to make is to hire an excellent CPA. Good luck! You're asking the right questions!

Hi,

The answer to this question is not as straight forward as it would seem. There are a number of situations that you may find yourself in that affects if you are your own 'boss' or not. Let's dive in to the 4 cases.

1) You may start your own business by yourself and have no one else working with you while you are starting to build your cash flow and product. In this case you are working off of your savings or maybe splitting time between a day job and your true passion, which you work on at night. In this case, provided you are living independently and single, you are your own boss and have no one to answer to but yourself. However, one really needs to be sure that he or she has the will power to stay on task and not get distracted without some kind of 3rd party motivation.

2) You may start a business with a friend or with someone who you trust (very important). You may initially decide that both of you are equals and no one reports directly to anyone else. While this is not a sound way of dividing responsibility it can last for a few months. Now in this case, yes you don't technically have a boss, but you are putting your name and credibility on the line and because of that in some ways you will be held responsible by your partner(s). This isn't a bad thing, as you get to hold them accountable to certain things as well. The first few years of your business you will spend a lot of time together so make sure you like each other.

3) You start a business and you raise money (get investment) from friends, family, or professional investors. In this case you are riding high as you have your own business, you are the boss and you have people who have given you money because they believe in you. Here is where it starts to get tricky. By taking other people's or company's money, you now have a responsibility to them to manage your spending and business in a way that maximizes their and your returns. Depending on how much money they give you and the sophistication of the group, they may request that you add them to your Board of Directors. Board of Directors is a group of people whose job it is to oversee the management of the company as done by the CEO (you most likely) and other senior executives. Technically these people are your bosses as they have the ability to set your compensation (salary and bonus) as well as potentially removing you. How all of this can play out can get complex so I won't go into it. That being said, a board of directors and the senior management usually have a fairly collegial relationship based around mutual equality and respect. So I wouldn't necessarily call this a Boss-Subordinate relationship as the situations vary so much.

4) You of course are responsible to the people that you are close to. If you choose to become your own boss and start a company, your family, significant other and friends will all have to adjust to the new large commitment in your life and changed schedule. It may not be easy for them to understand what you are going through and it is up to you to provide some stability and guidance for them. Additionally, if you have employees, you do have a responsibility to take care of them as they are relying on you for their livelihoods and professional success.

Hope this helps.

I've been an entrepreneur many times over.

Entrepreneurs usually have two different kinds of “bosses” that they need to always keep in mind – but they’re not the traditional kind of “boss” that comes into your office and tells you what to do and then checks in on you from day to day. The first type of “boss” is usually the person, people, or bank where you borrowed money in order to get your business off the ground. Those people usually want to see their money increase in value over time, and they’re trusting you to make your business succeed so they can get a return on their investment. So you have to keep them in mind all the time. You can’t just do anything you want – you have to make sure your shareholders are happy and that they believe they’re going to make their money back – and more. The second type of “boss” is your customer. The customer is always right – that’s a saying that goes back more than a century. If you’re building a business, chances are you have customers who are buying your products or services. If you sell them a product that doesn’t work, or if your service isn’t useful or reliable or accurate, then they’ll get upset and they won’t recommend you to other people, and they won’t buy from you again. So you have to keep all of your customers happy, as often as you can. So even those investors and customers aren’t “bosses”, they still are very important higher authorities that you need to keep in mind at all times.