10 Ways to Know You Own Your Own Business

This may seem like a real "duh" topic, but there are still a lot of people who tell me they own their own business only to find out they're really self-employed... and there's a major difference. So, to take the test, see where you fall.

Ten ways to know you own your own business:

1. Clients call the office to speak with people other than you.
2. At some point in company history, a total transaction took place (pre-sales, order placed, fulfilled, invoiced, and paid for) without you even knowing about it.
3. Someone could actually buy your business from you today and run it without you.
4. You can leave for a month vacation without your cell phone ringing daily.
5. You return from your vacation and get introduced to "the new guy" that was hired while you were away.
6. Other bloggers write about your company without naming you by name.
7. The bank didn't require a personal guarantee the last time your line of credit was increased.
8. You've actually forgotten how to forward the office phone to your cell phone.
9. You created a replicable product/service... and so an employee struck out on their own as a self-employed replicator of it.
10. You've ever told your marketing manager, "Hey, I like the new website. When did you change it?"

That's my list. What about you... when did you realize you no longer were self-employed?