One of the things I have learnt as I've gone along is how important "image" or "perception" is when marketing your company... and no this doesn't mean larny cars and fancy buildings.
To try and put "perception" into context though I'm going to try draw parallels between life experiences and marketing a business.
During my mis-spent youth I would go out with one of my mates "on the prowl"... For me I'm not the kind of guy who is going to spend R1000+ on a pair of shoes and my idea of clothes shopping is to see what I get for either Xmas or my birthday so I could hardly say I dressed to impress.
... he also had this annoying habit of ordering drinks for the two pretty girls at the bar, indicating they were from us and then walking off to chat to them while I picked up the bill but that's another story....
The point is: the girls were sure he was "the catch" if they had to weigh up the two of us on visual impressions. The fact that he was a broke philanderer only came out much later. My point though is we were both "competing for business" and he stood out every time.
He dressed up for the occasion and he got "the business" where I didn't.
For a few hours in his day the perception of his offering had to be slick, well capitalised, professional and ultimately attractive to the client. Nobody needs to know how he dressed when he wasn't dealing with clients or the fights he was having with the bank manager - he looked the part when he had to look the part.
At the end of the day, there are a lot of "reluctant" entrepreneurs having to enter the marketplace now as jobs become increasingly scarce and they will be having to fight extremely hard for a piece of the pie.
Hopefully the story (or more specifically the analogy) sticks in your head if you are striking out on your own and you aim to come across as professionally as possible.
Good luck entrepreneurs!
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