Here's how you can navigate questions about your small business experience in an interview.

Running a small business where you have to be everything to everybody is a natural phenomena. Its your ability to compartmentalise yourself. That starts at the very inception of your business. Do an evaluation of yourself. The business that you start is it money or passion? Identify your role in the business. My late father use to say not all bricklayers will become successful construction company owners. Know your role in the business and hire the right people around you to fill the appropriate role. If you see yourself as the leader then lead. If you are an excellent sales person then be just that. Find the right CEO and CFO for the business.

Building a small business is no joke and requires all the skills. Talk from the heart about your vision, what was your why, what worked, what didn’t and own the results. Regardless of the results, creating the small business in of itself showcases your drive and passion. Discuss what you learned and how you grew as a leader.

Perseverance! This is imperative when running a small business. There have been many hurdles to overcome through this journey. The only power we have when faced with adversary, is the way we respond to what is happening. Attitude is everything! Getting contracted with carriers is not always an easy task. We must deliver what we have promised to the carriers as well. Being an independent insurance agency allows us to move the insured to other carriers when the premiums get too high. It is a constant in this industry and can be very frustrating at times. I have also learned this industry has so much competition. The best thing you can do to succeed is to set yourself apart from the rest and go the extra mile to offer something extraordinary.

I always visualize what will be the beginning middle and outcome of a meeting. I don’t answer questions quickly till I know what they want the answer to be. My question is never “ when do you want it?”, I ask “ when do you have to have?” . That gets me the honest answer and not there emotional response. A relationship has to go both ways. When I feel I’m being treated like an employee, I emeidiately shift to question mode and in turn they focus on the their need and me as the solution.

Frameworks on how you want people to perceive your business while speaking specifically to their personality type is critical. You preframe that by asking the proper preframing open questions.

One of the most valuable skills a successful small business owner can showcase is how they as a leader have handled and overcome challenges, failures and mishaps. So much about running a small business is out side of an owner’s direct control but MUST be managed and addressed by you successfully or your business will suffer and sometimes even fail. When interviewing take responsibility for your businesses failures and show how you overcame them- how you hire fast and hire slow, how you put in policies and procedures that became the backbone of your company and gave your team structure. Have several stories in mind that succinctly show case your grit, tenacity and victories in the face of aversion.

Have confidence regarding your education and your small business experience. Share the many hats you have worn and responsibilities. Know your value!

Your small business experience is a goldmine! You've developed a versatile skill set. Highlight how your marketing, accounting, or customer service skills align with the job. Show how you turned challenges into opportunities. This will make your experience shine.

To know your value is also to know your strengths and weaknesses and to be 100% authentic in expressing those traits. When speaking to your potential clients.

As a small business owner, you likely have a much better grasp of the big picture than an applicant who does not have that experience. Figure out where the position you are interviewing for fits in the big picture. Asking questions that pertain to the outcomes of that role will demonstrate your business skills. However, remember that you are likely being hired for a specific outcome and must be able to be an expert in that particular skill, so you may want to also speak directly to how your experience enhances your ability to do the specific job more efficiently and effectively.

When interviewing business owners for leadership roles in my company I often find myself impressed with the story of how they started their own business. The boldness, forward thinking and tenacity that took an idea from dream to a reality can be told in a way that inspires and ignites the interviewer and ultimately showcases who they are as a leader and how they might be as a contributor in my company with the experiences they have had as a founder and operator.

The best way to anticipate question is to reflect on the questions that you have been asked in the past. Because they are likely to come up again.

One thing to keep in mind: while practicing can be a powerful tool as you prepare for interviews, do not practice to the point of sounding rehearsed. When interviewing, I’m looking for authenticity and adaptability—the ability to think on your feet. Practice how to explain the complicated, but perhaps use bullet points for stories and examples to jog your memory so your are able to sound fresh and genuine when recounting relevant examples that showcase your experience. This will help you come across as engaged, inspiring, and present, rather than rehearsed and possibly unable to answer hard questions without practice.

Rehearsing especially in front of a mirror is important to make sure that your physiology matches your words for better congruency in communication.

I typically write out what I'm going to say and then read aloud a few times. Then I take my main talking points that feel the best to me and write down on a note card and practice adlibing from my bullet points so that it flows more naturally.

I've interviewed many people over my career and I can tell when someone had just memorized an answer because there's usually no emotion behind the answer. I always look for someone to be real with me and be able to carry on a conversation with me and tell me about examples of how they handled different situations in their lives.

Let your passion for your small business shine through. Share your triumphs and challenges openly. Honesty builds trust and showcases your resilience. Authenticity is your secret weapon for a memorable interview.

What you need to be careful or mindful of is this: do not ramble on with your story, and do not bore the listener with a blow-by-blow account of the same story they hear all day long because they are in the same business as you. Know the point you want to make and understand your audience. As a 30-year family law attorney and a 25-year law firm owner, if an interviewee focuses too much on a story they think is a big deal, it often shows me that they have far less experience than they claim; otherwise, they too would find the story run-of-the-mill for the industry. The utility of the story is the pain point you experienced and the lessons you learned as you overcame it.

Always be true and good. People will respect you and your business more. If you do not know admit your limits and try and learn more and share.

Lessons learned as a small business owner are primarily from how you fall and get back up. If the business did not succeed, then you have learned a lot. Loss and missteps are all opportunities, and you need to tell your story from the standpoint of the opportunities you had to learn, grow, adapt, and change, even if it was after the doors closed on your business idea. Show how you are a better person than the candidate who knows no adversity because they haven’t learned the lessons you have yet. You are a powerhouse of wisdom and knowledge. You are your own best-selling business book on what to do and what not to do. In fact, as part of your interview prep, read biz books of owners turning their opportunities into success in their next act.

A positive tone sets the tone for your first impression. Dressing the part isn't enough. Show up with positivity and enthusiasm. This interview must not turn into a woe-is-me on business losses or past negative experiences. If true, do not mention how you are running your business on the side while doing this job - big red flag. Employers are looking for commitment and focus. Beyond that, smile a lot like you have done for years in your own business. Focus on lessons learned and how those lessons have helped you come to the decision that this firm and this position is your best next step.

Always stay true and positive. You can be more productive if in a good environment. If in a negative situation try and find any positive in it. Accept any wrongs and commit to righting any wrong.

Well, I believe in every adversity there is an opportunity, so be positive. From my experience in dealing with for that matter anything, small or big, sometimes you need to pull back and relax and wait for an opportunity wherein you can get desired results. So, I do that in my day-to-day functioning of my organization and I preach this to my colleagues too.

There is nothing embarrassing about work experience in a small business. Skills transfer. The trick is uncovering which skills you learned in the smal business that will translate into likely success in the team or unit of a larger business you're looking to join. Bureaucracy has its own skill requirements for navigating effectively. While you can't speak directly to an enterprise owner the way you can at an SMB, the soft skills of communicating across hierarchies and with other in mind are ubiquitous.

Something I hear from clients who successfully navigate interviews is that they prepare a series of stories. They respond to a question by starting their story with the problem they had to solve, a gap they had to fill or a challenge they faced. They build tension by establishing the value and importance of finding a solution then they tell the struggle through alternative solutions that failed until they find the one that fits. My clients tell me by telling short well crafted stories they convey strengths, attitudes, skills and beliefs representing themselves accurately.