Owner-operator You’re running the business but you’re also taking a hands-on role in making the product or providing the service, and you’re integral to the company’s sales and marketing efforts. At this stage, your business probably has fewer than 10 staff.

Owner-manager You might have 10-20 staff. The business has reached a size where management is a full-time occupation. That means you’re taking less of a role in making the product and providing the service. Instead, you’re taking an overview role – carrying out business planning and financial management, monitoring staff, looking at the big picture of your production processes. You still have a detailed knowledge of each area of the business, but you’re not as involved as you once were. Instead, you’re learning new skills to do with managing people and managing the business.

Owner-director You might employ more than 20 staff, and the business has evolved to the point where you need specialist managers for things like sales and marketing, IT, finance, human resources and operations. The business is now too big for you to retain detailed knowledge of all activities, so you need to rely on your management team and delegate them powers to act and spend. You might still be working as managing director, but you might have employed a general manager and be retaining your oversight of operations as one member of a board of directors. At this point, you’re letting go of your hands-on control, which can be a difficult transition to make for some owners.