“When a lot of small business owners like me would draw a Venn diagram of themselves — if they were to draw a circle representing themselves and a circle representing their business — the two circles would be so overlapped as to appear as to only be one.

“And, especially in the first decade, I desperately told people I wanted to somehow build a business that could be separate from me, but everything I did put that, put that to a lie. I mean, I clearly did not want the business to separate from me in any fashion whatsoever. Any personal, slight, any fight against the business was a personal slight.

“Any reward for the business was a personal reward. My identity was so wrapped up in that, that I couldn’t separate myself. My business was my identity.”

Conversation with Adam Hommey at Business Creators Radio Show about ego, identity, and small business mindset. (Original air date: January 27, 2022)