Most small business owners I know are like me, they love what they do. I bet you do too. That’s one of the main reasons many of us chose to go out on our own. We also like the flexibility, the opportunity to be creative, and the possibility of shaping our own future.

Business owners fall into two categories—the self-employed and the entrepreneurs.

The self employed are those who have a talent or skill and they know there are people willing to pay them for their time, product or service. So they employ themselves rather than work for someone else. They get business cards, stationary, possibly an office. They begin marketing their services and after a while they have some customers. After a while, they find themselves working too many hours, constantly trying to fill the pipeline with new prospects, and sometimes wondering if they’ve bought themselves a glorified j-o-b. They can’t take too much time off because without them there is no business or income. Even franchisees, who have the support of a proven system, can find themselves in this category. Certainly many home based businesses, consultants, coaches, infopreneurs and service professionals end up on this treadmill. We’re talking about talented professionals—people who, like you, work hard and deserve success! Unfortunately, a majority of business owners fall into this category.

The entrepreneurs, on the other hand, are the business owners who seem to grow their businesses effortlessly, and maintain steady growth. You talk to them and although they work hard, they’re off for a three day weekend at the beach or a European vacation. They do charity work and participate in activities with their kids. What do they know that the self employed do not?

They have gained the Entrepreneurial Mind Set. An entrepreneur is a great strategist and a master at getting others excited about helping them grow their business. They know they need to develop multiple profit centers in their business, not just one or two, so they’re constantly looking for creative opportunities to do so. And some of those profit centers need to be passive income that is not dependent on their time. In other words they’re not always selling time for money. In addition, the entrepreneur knows how to make the most of ever opportunity to bring in new prospects, convert them to paying clients, and get them to buy repeatedly. That means carefully planning, strategizing, measuring results against expectations and re-adjusting. It means taking calculated risks and learning from the ideas that fail—and there are always ideas that fail.

Once this Mind Set is mastered, small business growth usually explodes. These are the people who achieve a Big Vision for their business and life.

If you find yourself thinking you don’t have the time to put together the plans and strategy you need to achieve this mind set, try thinking about where you’ll be a year or two from now if you don’t. I can tell you where you’ll be—self-employed.

Become obsessed with the potential of your business. Become determined to think like an entrepreneur.