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I was ready for the initial drop in income. I believed I was rationally ready for business ownership. I’ve not even been surprised how hard I’ve worked over the last nine months. What I hadn’t bargained for was the time it took me to fully take on the emotional side of business ownership.

I am not sure if you can prepare mentally for the transition that you must go through when you leave corporate life and start up your own business. For my regular blog readers, you may be wondering why this sudden reflective post from myself?

I was working with my client today, an ex-lawyer who is setting up her own business, and now doing something that she loves and is truly passionate about. After our last coaching session I set her some homework, which forced her to face how her professional identity had changed, and the brand she now wanted to outwardly and inwardly portray. In the session today, my client confessed how hard this had been for her. After 20 years of mentally and physically working towards being the best lawyer she could be, it is difficult to emotionally redefine what you are about and what you do. My client, in her working life, may now be at her most authentic. That still doesn’t make this transition from employee to business ownership quick or easy.

After working with my client today, I realise that I am still struggling with my identity as a business owner. One of my projects, the executive village, has suddenly taken off and is gathering more and more momentum with each week that passes. My difficulty is I’ve only just got my head fully around being the founder of The Efficiency Coach, and the patter and identity that goes with that. Today, it dawned on me, that I am not just the founder of The Efficiency Coach, but the founder of the executive village. And, the awareness that I needed to once again step out of my comfort zone, and be prepared to be the founder of the executive village as well as the driving force behind The Efficiency Coach.

As you go through life, you, often willing go through large changes of personal brand and identity – child to teenager, student to career professional, singleton to couple, couple to parents. Becoming a parent is perhaps the biggest identity change that you will go through in a life time – but you normally have nine months to prepare for this. The business world moves at such a pace, that you never normally have the luxury of nine months to prepare for a change – you are often expected to make large identity changes at a drop of a hat. A friend of mine is currently retraining as a patent attorney, and has left behind fifteen years of being a scientist. Has she made the full transition to her new corporate identity? I doubt it.

Your brand and identity is more than just how you dress, or what you put on your business cards, or e-mail signature – it’s what you feel inside, and how you portray that to the outside world. A personal brand and identity takes time to build, and truly live and breathe it. I truly believe that it is worth taking the time out to build your own brand and personal identity. In my experience, a strong personal brand and sense of your own identify gives you the inner confidence to go out and achieve truly great things.

Has this post struck an accord with you?