I’ve never worked for a publicly held company. The biggest business I ever worked for had just over 300 people in it. I’ve never worked more than three layers down in an organization (e.g. my boss’ boss’ boss was the BIG boss). So I’ve always been able to see, pretty directly, how my work impacted the company. I’ve worked for companies that made aerospace parts, automotive components, awnings, intercoms, garage door openers … the list goes on, and they ranged from a venture-funded start-up to two brothers who ran their business “like a family.” I’ve worked for people who were billionaires and worked on $100 million deals, but I’ve also worked for founders who scraped together cash from their friends and families to start a business.

As different as these jobs were, there were similarities. The best jobs I ever had were the ones in which I worked with teams of excellent people. I worked with peers who were so good at what they did that I was fired up to go to work every day, not wanting to let them down and looking forward to what I might learn from them that day. At my favorite jobs I worked hard, not because anyone asked me to, but because it made a difference. These businesses were large enough to have structure and process, so that we all knew what to do each day and how our success would be judged; but they were small enough to allow us to make meaningful contributions, to see the fruits of our labor and how our efforts each day helped to make progress.

This type of opportunity is so much more prevalent in privately held, founder-led businesses. These types of businesses are in the building stage, creating opportunities for growth for the company and for those working inside of it. There are no layers of bureaucracy, or rules and red tape that hold smart, creative people back from innovating solutions to the problems and opportunities that arise every day. You don’t have to fight through turf wars and entrenched bureaucrats to bring a good idea to life. There are always new challenges, new customers and markets, invent a new service today, sell it tomorrow and it’s on the home page next week!

Yet I know there are also many founder-led businesses that don’t have this dynamic. Some of these businesses are micro-managed, with no freedom or innovation outside the founder’s. Others have so much freedom that no one knows which way is up. Maybe the founder has the control right, but hasn’t ever found the right niche, or doesn’t know how to communicate the value they provide effectively – so the business is starved for resources and is working hand-to-mouth. Others have all the work they need, but they haven’t priced it right, or they can’t manage the client’s expectations so they are always running 100 miles an hour and getting nowhere.

The business owner has to wear a lot of hats, and it’s natural that they will be stronger in some areas than they are in others. It’s rare to find a founder that gets it “right” off the bat. But most owners aren’t really that far off the mark. There are some hurdles and challenges that many of them face, and if they can just get over those hurdles it’s a whole new day.

There’s a way to build a business that you love, with a team of people whom you respect and whom earn you a fair return on your risk. It doesn’t require an MBA, or a PhD, or even fancy math. It requires that you get up every day, get out the door and get some business. That’s where the fun starts.

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Brad Farris is a small business advisor with Anchor Advisors, Ltd. in Chicago, Il. Since 2001 Anchor Advisors has been helping creative professional firms to grow, by helping them clarify their purpose, get the most from their people, keep their eye on key performance measures, and implement consistent processes.