I came across a survey of business executives in a magazine. Fully 65 percent said that they would not want to start their own business. I can understand, though not relate.

I’m now old enough, and have been running my own business long enough (13 years), that men and women, usually younger than me, occasionally come to me seeking advice about their own business aspirations. They hope I have some answers, hope my graying beard makes me sage-like. I initially disappoint them when I say I don’t have any answers. I tell them I think I’ve got a pretty good handle on the questions, though:

If you want balance between work and family, are you willing to kill yourself for it? If you’re going to run your own business you have to be dedicated to it 100%. There’s no room for lopping off, say 10%, for your family. That doesn’t mean you can’t be equally devoted to your family – of course, anybody who has read Blogenberg realizes I am. But you have to kill yourself to do it. About two to three times a year I get sick, simply because I work, travel, and tend to family so long and hard, my body decides getting sick for a day or two is the only way to get some rest.

Can you live with the frustration (pain?) found in the gap between striving for perfection and realizing you can only do your best? Are you committed to endlessly working to shrink the gap? Recently, my company has made a few mistakes. Fortunately, they were small mistakes, having mostly to do with process that in no way affected the client or the product. But it sent me through the roof. I expect perfection for clients. When we don’t hit it, I’m depressed. As a result, we work harder. I also go to the gym to throw weights around.

Are you happy to hog the blame and give away the credit? If you are not comfortable, happy even, to say to a client, “Any problem is my responsibility, nobody else’s,” then don’t go into business for yourself. It takes tremendous ego strength and if your ego requires deflecting blame and hogging credit, take your ego and go work for somebody else (just not me).

Can you just be about the work? Is the bank statement your most important confidant? Here’s what I tell my staff: I don’t care if anybody thinks I’m smart. I don’t care if anybody thinks I’m dumb. I care that clients truly feel that our shop is where they can turn for very good work done in time, and thus they feel comfortable paying us (on time).

What makes you and your business different, other than a belief in yourself? Last Blogenberg I mentioned our own internal efforts to differentiate ourselves from the competition. It’s constant, as we change and our competition changes – for us, we’re competing more and more with “big boys” in Washington PR. This is what we are arriving at: we’re a learning organization, constantly investing time and resources to learn how the communications world is evolving, and helping clients apply what we are learning to achieve their communications objectives.

Do you understand the difference between success and failure? This is always the final piece of advice I give – know the difference. There is no failure in working hard to build a business and the business, either in the short or long term, just doesn’t work. As long as you give 100% to it, you didn’t fail. Because only 35% of business executives even dream of trying, and much, much fewer actually do give it a shot.

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