Small Business - To use an I or a We?

Photo: CFAGELNYC

The following post is a follow up to an original entry returning to the question “should single employee small business owners refer to the company’s work as an I or a we?”

I before We, except after…

Alright. You’ve decided to jump into the world of small business ownership. Whether you’re a C-Corporation, S-Corporation, Limited Liability Company, or just a sole proprietorship, if you’re the sole employee you’re going to have to face a tough question: is the work my company does the work of an I or a we?

At first glance this question may be simple, and borderline preposterous. After all, if the work is a collaboration, then it’s a we. Otherwise its an I. Right?

Unfortunately, the more you start to think about it, the murkier the water becomes: what if part of the work was subcontracted? What if you’re looking to expand in the future, start with a we now or later? What if the company doesn’t carry your name, will it confuse clients to use an I?

Ultimately there isn’t a one-size-fits all answer. But in the following article I’ll outline some of the important considerations for both, from a few different perspectives. So read on, and let’s start clearing things up.

Assumptions

In the following article, I’ll be assuming your small business is not a sole proprietorship. Why? Sole proprietorships are almost always in the individuals name* (e.g. Chris Laskey), making the question of pronoun moot.

*If you assume a different name, including an addendum to your name (e.g. Chris Laskey Design), its likely you must first be approved by your state’s Chamber of Commerce. There may also be restrictions about what impersonal names you are allowed to assume under a sole proprietorship.

[I’m not a legal expert, nor assuming legal expertise. Accordingly you should always refer to a legal representative and your state’s Chamber of Commerce for what laws apply to your specific situation]

What’s in a name?

Alright, so let’s dig in. There are two different choices for the name of your company, personal or impersonal; a personal name carries the owners name (e.g. Chris Laskey Design), whereas an impersonal name is autonomous from the ownership (e.g. Spark Creative).

Nothing surprising there. It shouldn’t be much of a shock then to realize each name carries certain assumptions about your small business. Personal names are single person companies, and impersonal names are a team of people.

Assumptions may not always be right, but understanding the role they play is important for running your small business. Take for example,

You start Bright Bulb Marketing, a fully incorporated, brand new marketing company. Your website proudly declares ‘we do the best work in all of Benton County’, and you have a portfolio full of examples. A few months of small clients pass when you finally land your big break at a big Iowa Corporation.

You show up at your first meeting with some companies employees, they applaud your work, explain their goals and time-line. Then they ask when will they meet the rest of the Bright Bulb Marketing team. You tell them the truth and explain you do it all on your own. The response is mixed, with a few perplexed faces in the audience.

You keep the client - after all your work speaks for itself - but you spend rest of the meeting addressing their newfound concerns over the time-line, and expertise required on specific details.

The moral of the story isn’t that labeling your single-employee company a we is wrong - in fact, there’s nothing wrong with the ‘corporate we’. Rather, the problem lies in the assumptions clients make. And as much as we’d all like assumptions to not exist, its important to recognize that they may occasionally become a force of friction in your interactions with clients.

Unfortunately, clients form assumptions about your company on very little information, and that’s unlikely to change - save perhaps, your company becomes so popular that its name is as ubiquitous as Microsoft or Google.

Although we can aspire for such a high level of success, in the meantime its important to understand the pros and cons of your pronoun decision, and be prepared to deal with situations as they happen.

Legally Speaking

Ah, the legal system. Depending on your disposition, the legal position will either weigh heavily on your decision, or not matter much at all.

A corporation is created by filing the required paperwork to your State’s Chamber of Commerce (I can only speak of small business laws in the United States, though I imagine the process is similar in many other countries).

Once your corporation is approved by the State, whether as a typical C-Corporation or specialized S-Corporation status, it exists as an entirely separate entity from yourself. This is a crucial point, corporations in the United States are distinct from the individual who created it.

You may be the lone share holder, sole member of the board of directors, and the single president of the company - but in every case, you are a member of a separate entity, the corporation.

Because of this legal standing as a separate identity, some people take this to mean it must be referred to as a ‘we’. Technically that argument may hold water for you. But in everyday parlance, the truth of the matter is that you can identify your company however you like (barring legal documents, of course).

And in case you were wondering, Limited Liability Company with one employee may exist without the same separation (technically referred to as a ‘disregarded entity’). So in such a case, the legal code doesn’t give you much ground to base a decision on.

Professionalism

When I started my own company, I posed this ‘I or we’ question to my father, a small business owner of almost 30 years. His answer was short and simple: you’re a corporation, you’re a we. Case closed.

Being my father, and also somebody whose been knee deep in dealing with the corporate world for decades, I took his advice about corporate professionalism to heart. In fact, the very first website of Chris Laskey Design assumed a ‘we’ - it’s an I now, if you weren’t sure.

But I had a change of heart. Why? I started asking other people with years of experience in the corporate world and I quickly learned that professionalism is entirely subjective.

Some people view a corporation run as an I as professional blasphemy. Others are inclined to agree an I is the correct term for a single person company. Not surprisingly then, there’s no quick and easy answer. But there are a few good reasons and a few bad reasons to consider before deciding for yourself.

One good reason is that you run your business like… a business. If you’ve spent long hours creating a business plan, subcontracted a CPA and a legal advisor, planned an alloted work schedule, bought planners, date books, etc. and feel the ‘corporate we’ reflects how you run your business, then its probably the right choice.

Another good reason is planned expansion. Some companies start with one owner and quickly expand to a small army in only a few months.

But one of the worst reasons is the allure associated with using the ‘corporate we’: it appears to lend some instant credibility to your company. It seems to take your small business from being run out of your parent’s basement, to spacious corporate offices with a team of highly qualified workers dedicated to your client’s beck and call.

Such an idea is nothing but fools gold - the mark of a superb company is in the quality of its service, not in its office space or in the illusions of grandeur. In short, relying on a facade is no way to run, or take pride in, a business.

Be Honest

The only wrong answer to this question is to be dishonest. If your company consists of just you, don’t lie to a clients face and say something along the lines of ‘my team will be right on it’. Have confidence in your abilities, be honest, and the work speak as your assurance.

The door swings both ways, and assuming an I could potentially lose you some clients. After all, who is Coca Cola more likely to hire at first glance: Light Bulb Marketing or Marketing by Joe Smith?

But its important to keep things in perspective: the first assumption/impression of your company is like your resume. Sometimes your resume isn’t going to get you an interview. But you’ll find more than enough people willing to look past initial thoughts and interview you. And its you and the quality of work you produce that gets you hired, not the resume.

To reiterate the point: have confidence and don’t lie. Resumes with lies on it have a bad habit of coming back to haunt people.

Personal Addendum

I admit, of the laundry list of important questions to answer in launching my own small business, the pronoun I should use didn’t seem so important. But once the site went live, and I started sending links to everyone I knew, I started to second guess my choice of going it as a ‘we’. It was then that I realized I wasn’t too happy with it - going so far as to dedicating one of my first blog posts about that very choice.

But I never quite felt right about my decision. I felt it came more out of obligation to some illusory standard of professionalism, than what was actually best for me. After all, I did all the work on my site, all the work in my portfolio, and lawfully wasn’t a s-corporation yet. Why water down what I was doing? Ultimately it took a month before I switched back to an I, a decision I’ve been pleased with ever since.

So if you’re a small business owner or just considering starting one up, the pronoun-conundrum is something worth thinking about. And with a little forethought, you won’t find yourself in the same position as I did, a month into business before settling on an identity.

Conclusion

Okay, so maybe after all that the water isn’t crystal clear. But hopefully by now you have a better idea what path is right for you and your small business. And if you’re not sure what to go with, follow your gut.