Hi qoh422. You can use CEO, COO, President, Director, Managing Director, Founder. After 25 years of running your business, you deserve the title you want. The title in this case brings self-esteem and pride to you and your company, which is a great thing. One thing I would add is to make sure your title does not turn off your potential customers. Is being perceived as a small company an advantage or a disadvantage? A person with a high profile title, who does all the leg work and answers phones is a sign of a small company. Do your customers want the feeling of working with a small we care company or the big strong corporation? If you care about this aspect, try to match the title with what the customers want. Of course, you can have more than one title.

I have an interesting dilema  I have 'managed my husband's sculpture business' for 25 years.  When I say that, the immediate reaction is to discount what I do as just the wife helping out.  The reality is that he sculpts and I have built our business over the 25 years by doing marketing, sales, administration, finance, PR, customer service, etc.   We have been very successful and have sold over 2,000 bronze sculptures.  Our success is largely due to my efforts (he does do brilliant sculpture but was a starving artist living in a garage when I met him).  I want a title that says that I am the one who runs the business and that I am responsible for our success.  At present we are only a two person company.  We have had as many as 6 employees at different times.  Does CEO sound too pretentious?  Does Managing Director sound strong enough?  I need a title for myself as well as the people that I meet.  I want to be taken seriously as an executive.  Any ideas?

It is also appropriate to give some of your employees titles, such as office manager or warehouse supervisor. It boosts the esteem of the employee and it lets other employees know who has authority in different areas of the business. Message Edited by BizResearcher on 01-06-2010 11:31 AM

Thanks everyone for the very helpful feedback.    

BusPlanMaster and gjosephus - Thanks for your detailed replies! I personally did not consider the exporting implications... very interesting newzee - I hope you found their advice helpful. If you have additional questions, please post them here. Anyone else have insight to share?

Hi Newzee - Your question 'Is it silly to have the title.......', indicates that you may have taken the leap from employee to business owner very recently, and possibly even that you were with a larger business. There is absolutely nothing silly about titles, and it may be very appropriate in some situations, and not so appropriate in others. It also depends on the clientele. In some industries titles are very important, and in others they are viewed with a certain discomfort and awkwardness. If you are starting off, and if you are also in charge of sales, you may want to keep your titles 'low profile', as most often clients want to think that they are smarter than the salesmen, unless ofcourse you are dealing in intellectual or scientific products, where PhDs, and professional certifications help. As the contributor before me has put it, there is absolutely not issue with titles, in the government circles, as it's often needed, and appreciated. I just wanted to add one other comment, and that is titles are a big thing in Asia, and Europe. So if you have any plans to get into Export (which is a hot topic right now), you may want to print a separate set of cards with titles on them, just for your European or Asian clients.

Will, You can give yourself as many titles as you want. Use whatever works best for what you will be doing. If you are the finance guy, then President and CFO is not out of line. If you are doing the admin work, then CEO might be appropriate. Your title and function will often be determined by corporate minutes or partnership agreements. And there is no reason at all that you need to put a title on your business cards. You will need to sign as 'President' or whatever on your taxes and formal docs, but business cards are a whole new ball game. In fact, if you don't put a title on your business card, there is a strong communication to your employees that you are all on the same team, and that is a good communication to make. MaryAnnBusiness Plan MasterStart and Finance Your Business Now ---This post was edited to remove a commercial link. Read our discussion policies for more Community best practices.