You are your business.

What do you think of when you here the name Home Depot? Well you may think of a warehouse hardware store but NASCAR will probably think Tony Stewart or Joey Logano. The name McDonalds may conger up images of Ronald McDonald or one of the other characters that they have had over the years.

Big companies spend millions of dollars on sponsorships, spokespeople and other marketing gimmicks in order to give their customers something they do not have, a face of the company.

You on the other had are the face of your company which you need to use as an advantage. You're not some faceless corporation that needs to spend millions of dollars to create a face.

There are good points and bad points to this.

The major good point is that your company is more personalized because there is a human face running the company. If a customer has a concern they can come directly to you and know that they are dealing with the top person.

On the other hand, this means that you need to be ready to be that voice. As I have mentioned many times you may want to consider joining a public speaking club like Toastmasters in order to make you a more effective communicator.

It also means that if you do anything to tarnish yourself it could bite you much worse than in normal circumstances so be sure to stay above it all.

For more see the Start Up Spark Blog.

You are the face of your business, use it to your advantage.