So you want to start a small business…

What’s the big deal, right? Seriously, how many small businesses are there out there already, all over the place? Coffee shops, dry cleaners, convenience stores, bike shops, etc, etc, etc. It can’t really be all that tough, can it?

Actually, it can. Let’s just skip the obvious things you might be taking for granted: Creating demand, maintaining supply, coordinating vendors, securing credit. Oh yeah, and lets not forget keeping the lights on and taking out the trash, of course. 

But ask yourself this question, because it’s an important one: are you a people person? If you want to succeed at small business, you better be. Doesn’t matter if you want to work on cars, walk dogs or paint houses. Cars, dogs and houses aren’t your customers: people are.

And customers aren’t the only reason you need to be a people person. An equally, if not more important reason, is your workforce. With the exception of any head butt-prone employees, the most valuable asset of any business is its workforce.

So ask yourself not only what are you are like face-to-face, dealing with a customer. Ask yourself what you are like shoulder-to-shoulder, in the trenches with your staff, making sure those all important customers are being satisfied. Are you professional? Are you courteous? Are you patient? Are you fair? Are you honest? Are you respectful? A people person is all these things and more.

However, a successful small business owner is all these things PLUS passionate about and good at what they do for a living. And a really, really successful small business owner makes sure that employees feel respected, valued and engaged in business success. (Of course, the UC loans scandal is an example of going a little bit overboard.)

If you’re hiring someone to represent you and your business, you better feel confident enough in their abilities to respect them and engage them. If you don’t, it might be time to reveiw your interview and hiring process.

At the end of the day, you want to be able to feel good about your business. But the most important aspect of any business venture is not goods and services and accounts payable and receivable, it’s the customers who keep it open, and the employees who keep it running.

In the case of your employees, you don’t have to let them nap on the job, but make sure you are treating both your coworkers and your customers the same way you want to be treated, and you’ll have lots and lots of continued success to look forward to.

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For insider tips and tricks on starting, managing and growing a small business, check out GrowMyBusiness: THE home for Small Business.