To be in small business, you have to  have big brass ones. Small businesses aren’t for sissies. If you aren’t willing to take fortune by the horns, be bold, be brave, and take giant risks, go back to corporate. You’ll never make it.

It takes balls just to open your own business. I should know–I don’t yet have enough balls to do that. But even to work in a small business is hard: you’re a jack of all trades, whether it’s writing blog posts, designing websites, or cleaning up cat puke. It’s uncertain, never knowing when it’ll be a banner month, or when you just scrape by.

Then, you have to be  gutsy enough to take on a challenging client. Or being brave enough to say “no” to a client who just isn’t right. Or being confident enough in yourself to raise your prices because you’re worth it, dammit.

Or knowing when to cut your losses and stop offering a service, because it’s not profitable. Or you aren’t passionate about it. Or because you just aren’t very good at it.

It’d be a lot easier to take a “normal” job, that’s for sure. But then we’d never get to help steer the ship of our businesses. We’d never have a chance to do what we think is right, even if it doesn’t follow conventional wisdom. And if I was in corporate, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t get to incorporate orgasms on a treadmill into a blog post.

For all of you with the balls to own your own business, rock on. To those of you with the guts to work in small business, kudos.

What’s the bravest thing you’ve ever done for your business?