Hey small business owners...what is your title?

[Hooman]

So, being that I am the only PERMANENT employee in my company, I'm wondering what I should call myself...

CEO,
Owner,
President,
Founder

?

I mean, technically, I'm all of those, but which one would be best suited for my business cards, email signatures, sales letters, and so on?

I almost have this feeling that if I say I am the VP or another lower position, I would give more "oomph" or a more professional appearance to potential clients reading a sales letter. Because doing everything myself, as the so-called CEO, would appear tacky/cheap. Since most established businesses have a few people handling different tasks, so I would appear more successful by saying I am just the director of some division (of course if they looked up my name they would see that I'm actually the registered owner...)

Does that make any sense, or am I just deluding myself?

Any suggestions from people who have been in this position would be appreciated.

Thank you.

[babyjoy214]

i prefer President, that's if you have a lot of division in your company and lots of employees, but if its a small and starting one, you should choose Owner..

[BusinessAdviser]

Under which type of entity are you operating your business?

[pboychuk]

I normally use owner/operator, for an LLC what is correct?

[capforge]

Don't call yourself VP, because then you might be caught in the embarrassing position of having to explain you were lying when someone asks who is the CEO?

I agree, president is best for this case. But honestly, don't worry about it too much- you are the only one that cares- your customers just want solutions to their problems, it doesn't matter too much what you call yourself as long as you provide them.

[BusinessAdviser]

You know, you can call yourself whatever the hell you want to! However, my thoughts are that if you use incorrect terminology, some, maybe not many at all but some, may question your credibility.

For our LLCs, we use the term "Managing Member" to describe the owner/manager/president/CEO/big cheese/head honcho/whatever. When I see those descriptions of "President, X LLC" or "CEO, X LLC," I immediately say to myself, "This person has no real understanding of their business, and is trying to act like something they're not."

[Cole Taylor]

I normally use owner/operator, for an LLC what is correct?

You a trucker?

I prefer HMFIC.

[GonnaBthere]

What type of business do you own?

[usakos]

President is more appropriate, although some use titles such as General Manager, Managing Director, etc.

The title President is also referred to as Officer of the corporation or in this case, company. The title President may also be regarded as the original founding member of the company, while the title CEO may be someone brought in from the outside by the President.

What is best to do is to search for LLC companies that you like the most and then look at their management structure and their titles and roles, and then see which one you like the most.

But, it really doesn't matter which one you call yourself. We have three LLCs and it's just fun to look at what role you want to take and then call yourself whatever you want, and that's the fun part of it all - able to control your own stuff.

[DCswimwear.com]

personally i'd go for "big cheese", "head honcho" or "el jeffe".. i guarantee everyone would keep your cards...lol

[malahverdian]

Executive Director of Business Development

[BusinessAdviser]

Just shoot straight with people. Call yourself exactly what you are. Let your work speak for itself. The last thing you want is to kill your reputation by calling yourself something you're not, which could translate into the perception that you're advertising your product as something that it's not.

[GuyBBY]

Watch out with using owner in an LLC. It usually is all good but it can be a technical point to link you to the liability of the company, and allow piercing of the corporate veil. You want to keep separate as much as possible. Managing Member/CEO/President etc. can be anyone, the owner is thought to be the one to go to with anything and everything, good and bad. I know it sounds tedious but I ran into that fact in my research of the Do/Don'ts in a few LLC start up books and discussions with those who did the same thing.

Best

G

[BusinessAdviser]

Again, for an LLC, I tell it exactly like it is: Managing Member. I understand that others may want to "fluff" this up a bit or just plain "have fun with it," but to me, this undermines credibility.

[jumper666jr]

partner is ok