Am I official yet?

People say "congratulations" when they hear you've just started your own business.

I suppose that is the standard thing to say. It IS quite exciting, and ultimately it brings the promise of future success and personal fulfillment.

But "congratulations" now is quite premature I think. I'm not ungrateful to the people who offer me support and kind words...I just don't feel like I deserve it yet.

Starting a business is easy, it's just a matter of following instructions to fill out endless government forms, choosing a name, printing a few business cards, and then opening a checking account. Anyone can start a business.... I've gotten it past this point just by basically stumbling around, making mistakes, and then trying again. I might have had similar results just tossing phone numbers in the air and just calling random strangers on what to do.

Running a business past the point where it can support itself, better yet, support ME with a regular salary is probably a bigger challenge. At that point, I've proven myself. I've somehow managed to demonstrate that I've met the challenge of making an actual "business" out of nothing...and it will survive.

I think that's probably a better point to accept "congratulations" on my business, don't you think?