Self employment is at an all time high in the UK. The hardest part of owning your own business is being able to manage yourself. Here are a few stereotypical traits of a good business owner. You may already have some of these. Think about what your business needs you to be, based on this list and make an assessment of what you need to work on.

Risk-tolerance

Being employed means that you wake up, go to work and get a pay check at the end of the month. Unless you lose your job or quit you know that income is expected. When you are self employed it is unknown when the next piece of work will be coming in or how long until you win the business.

Influence
As the owner of the business, you personify your company. You need to be able to sell yourself and your skills in order to influence people and convince them to invest in your products/services. Concentrate on selling yourself and having an impact on your audience based on your skills and expertise.

Relationship-focus
Networking and relationship building is part and parcel of being self-employed and having your own business. It’s not just an element in running your business; it’s one of the requisite skills to ensure success. If you don’t enjoy – yes, enjoy – networking, then your pipeline of work will be thinner and less healthy than it should be.

Multi-tasking is at the heart of self-employment
You have to enjoy working on several tasks/projects at once as well as doing all the things you need to do to run the business.

Willingness to accept new challenges
Not only as part of your move to being your own boss, but as a permanent part of your new life. There’s less continuity of employment and income, and the constant challenge of the next hurdle, the next prospect, the next re-invention of your talents

Self-development has to become a constant element
The work you do to continually develop your knowledge and skills will determine your employability and how marketable your skills are. This is far easier if you get a kick out of your professional development rather than just tolerate it. Some great businesses have been built on finding a niche area of knowledge and establishing yourself as the niche guru.
You need lots of self
You must be self-starting, self-inspired, self-directed. When times are difficult and inspiration gets thin, the ability to bounce back and get out there again is vital.
Finally, you need humour and perspective. You must retain your objectivity – and sanity – which can easily be distorted when you work alone. Humour helps you see the comic as well as the tragic in running the business.