3 ms·

In the spirit of forthrightness, wouldn't it be consistent to call yourself the owner or proprietor rather than "our Chief Executive Officer"?

ChrisLTD 10y ago
If there is a business entity behind the project, they could certainly be the CEO of a one-person company.
jermaustin1 10y ago
This all depends on the audience. Our tests have shown if you are a B2E company or you have a higher priced good, CEO/President/Some Official Sounding Title makes more sense. But if you are aiming toward the consumer market or small businesses, Owner typically sells better. We tested this out on the "Agency" vs "Basic" and "Pro" plans for Linklicious.
- mittermayr 10y ago
  Very good point as I personally hate, hate, hate the term CEO in business smaller than 20 employees. Founder is also a bit pretentious, owner sounds like "I own this, you can use it, but I own it!" In the U.K. we use Managing Director, which is very uptight. I don't know. It's almost never beneficial (above a certain package price) to be overly open about something being a side-project, or small operation (one man especially)—but I also believe it's very wrong (and usually very telling) to act like there's six offices around the world. Tough line, I have a proper company, and under this entity, all side projects are run, so that keeps it mostly okay to say CEO. I happily open up a bit if people get curious though, usually in the many emails people send over the months.
  - dboreham 10y ago
    Perhaps "High Heid Yin"? http://www.thedialectdictionary.com/view/letter/General+Scotish/5348/ http://www.thedialectdictionary.com/view/letter/General+Scot...
  - sunstone 10y ago
    Hey Elon Musk still sleeps in his sleeping bag at Tesla's production lines so... Chief Cook and Bottle Washer is never out of style.
ryanmaynard 10y ago
I have had trouble with this as well. I have quite a few side projects. "CEO", "Founder", "President", "Owner", "Managing Director", "Director of Operations", etc all sound a bit too pretentious for the caliber of projects I tend to build on the side. I've put "Head of Customer Support", and "Head of Customer Success" in the past. Does anyone have any other recommendations? Something that doesn't make it look like I'm Will Ferrell and John C Reilly pushing "Prestige Worldwide".

ChrisLTD 10y ago

If there is a business entity behind the project, they could certainly be the CEO of a one-person company.

jermaustin1 10y ago

This all depends on the audience. Our tests have shown if you are a B2E company or you have a higher priced good, CEO/President/Some Official Sounding Title makes more sense. But if you are aiming toward the consumer market or small businesses, Owner typically sells better. We tested this out on the "Agency" vs "Basic" and "Pro" plans for Linklicious.

mittermayr 10y ago
Very good point as I personally hate, hate, hate the term CEO in business smaller than 20 employees. Founder is also a bit pretentious, owner sounds like "I own this, you can use it, but I own it!" In the U.K. we use Managing Director, which is very uptight. I don't know. It's almost never beneficial (above a certain package price) to be overly open about something being a side-project, or small operation (one man especially)—but I also believe it's very wrong (and usually very telling) to act like there's six offices around the world. Tough line, I have a proper company, and under this entity, all side projects are run, so that keeps it mostly okay to say CEO. I happily open up a bit if people get curious though, usually in the many emails people send over the months.
- dboreham 10y ago
  Perhaps "High Heid Yin"? http://www.thedialectdictionary.com/view/letter/General+Scotish/5348/ http://www.thedialectdictionary.com/view/letter/General+Scot...
- sunstone 10y ago
  Hey Elon Musk still sleeps in his sleeping bag at Tesla's production lines so... Chief Cook and Bottle Washer is never out of style.

ryanmaynard 10y ago

I have had trouble with this as well. I have quite a few side projects. "CEO", "Founder", "President", "Owner", "Managing Director", "Director of Operations", etc all sound a bit too pretentious for the caliber of projects I tend to build on the side. I've put "Head of Customer Support", and "Head of Customer Success" in the past. Does anyone have any other recommendations? Something that doesn't make it look like I'm Will Ferrell and John C Reilly pushing "Prestige Worldwide".