Are You a B or a C?

Guest Post by Michele Golden :: Did I just ask your bra size?  Don’t worry – it hasn’t come to that.  I was really asking if you’re a Business or a Consumer(business consumer).

We’re all business consumer in our personal lives, buying toilet paper at Costco and ordering too many shoes on Zappos.  As a business consumer, it’s just you.  But in our entrepreneurial lives, we gals often act like consumers rather than businesses.  I’ve met so many women who can’t even call their business a business.  “Oh, I’m just a one woman show,” they’ll say.  Or, “I’m just a freelancer, it’s really not a business.”  I’ve done it myself.

Do you think men talk this way?  Hell, no!  They act as though the tiniest venture is just about to go global.  They should.  It’s this grand thinking that helps men stuff down their fears and go for it.  A guy will describe his business as big time, even if it’s just him and his laptop.  He’ll spend money to make his business succeed, on a kick-ass logo, on an über-functional website, on whatever it takes.

So let’s make a pact to snap out of it.  Let’s act as though our businesses are viable and valuable.  Let’s spend the money so our businesses will grow.  Let’s be Bs.

Michele Golden runs BrandNew Consulting and helps overwhelmed startups simplify their marketing into manageable — yet awesome — activities.  She also started The Reinvention Network, a meetup for SAHMs who have crazy-cool career dreams, and she blogs about information overload on Data Sort.  While she’s spent most of her career in the glamorous (ha!) field of marketing, Michele (curiously) has a Masters in Social Work, which comes in handier than you’d think.  She lives in Oak Park, IL with her husband, two kids, and a willful puppy, all of whom can probably give her elevator pitch.