Here are three examples of the different types of bosses out there. There are many more, but this is just a snapshot of the three I’ve heard the most about from people who are employed at different businesses and corporations. As you read about them, see if any sound familiar and then think about whether you’d like to work for them until you reach the age of retirement.

1. The Dictator - Here is someone who likes to call the shots and is never wrong. You do what this person asks even if you know it won’t work out to his or her preference but you’re too afraid to sound challenging. With this kind of boss, it’s hard to bring up concerns without being afraid that you’ll get shot down and you will constantly feel like he or she doesn’t want to listen to you.

2. The Cool Surfer - You’ll never see this person show up in formal gear. Shorts and sandals are his or her uniform and they even bring a ping pong table into the office. This is a boss who understands that work should include some comfort and leisure or else employees will dread showing up every day. Even better is if this boss lays out a daily supply of snacks and good coffee. Don’t assume this person isn’t smart. After all, the company didn’t appear out of thin air.

3. The Passive/Aggressive Presence - This is a boss who creates an uncomfortable climate in the office. Perhaps he or she is always worried about the finances but doesn’t give much thought to other business operations. Since this person is only concerned with numbers, they might not care to figure out how creativity can help boost business. They want to see results and will make certain comments about the successes or failures about the business but will rarely engage in personal development opportunities or anything that will boost marketing.

In the world of home-based business and network marketing, you’ll find that you will link yourself to a leader, not a boss. There is a huge difference here and the main thing is that you are not an employee, but the member of a team. You and this leader both have to choose each other if you expect to experience any real success. The team leader doesn’t HAVE to recruit you, but after an interview, you might find that you are a good fit for each other. This isn’t the same as a job interview, however, because you won’t necessarily be presenting your qualifications and experience. The questions are much more different than the ones you answer for a typical job interview.

You never have to deal with a boss when you go into business for yourself and that’s the key take away here. You eliminate the need to request vacation time or sick days. Going into business for yourself means creating your own schedule and determining what levels of discipline work best for you. But best of all, learning to be a leader is far more inspiring to others than being someone who tells them what they have to do.

If you haven’t already upgraded your cell phone, now might be the time to do so, especially as you attend more and more business events and workshops. You’re going to need something fast and reliable so that when you meet new people you can instantly save their numbers or connect with them on social media, maybe even take a few important pictures and reduce the amount of business cards you bring home.

Cell phones are so powerful now that you can pretty much take pictures of documents and scan them as PDF files or use the camera as a scanner. In fact, you can download apps that will generate barcodes for you. You can have that barcode link back to your personal website or upload your contact information into the other person’s cell phone.

If you are worried about losing the business cards handed to you, you can use your phone to take pictures of them. If you’re signed up with a reliable cell phone network, you can easily email everything to yourself so that you can quickly access everything once you’re at your computer. Thing is, networking events can be so fast-paced and exciting that you might lose track of who you meet and what you talk about. Use your cell phone to jot down important notes about who you’ve spoken to and why you will want to contact them again soon.

Your cell phone is the main hub for social networking and in-person interaction. Keep it charged and get your apps in order. One thing people love to do while at these events is take pictures and the occasional interview video. Make sure you’ve got a memory card that can handle a few short videos that you can quickly upload to YouTube or Facebook. Carry an extra memory card if you have to. Also, make sure you’ve got an extra battery or a cord so you can recharge your battery if necessary. You’re going to put it through some very heavy use, so be prepared so that you don’t suddenly become disconnected.

Explore what new business apps are being put on the market for you to download and find the one that is the easiest to use. LinkedIn has an app that you can try out and see if it helps you get connected to other LinkedIn users instantly. Whatever you choose to download, make sure you learn how to use it so that you don’t fumble with it once you’re talking to people and trying to get down their contact info.

As the CEO of your own business, you’re basically allowed to determine how you brand yourself. It’s up to you to decide who you want to appeal to with your product or service and there are very good reasons for doing this. Obviously, you only want to attract people who have a serious interest in what you have to offer, otherwise you’ll end up with a wishy washy and troublesome customer.

Mike Jeffries, the CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, recently released a statement about his company that caused a lot of trouble and spurned tons of commentary in social media. He explained that the fashion line wasn’t intended for large people, therefore it is designed to fit athletic males and thin females only. His intention is to brand the line to “cool” people, those who are part of the so-called popular crowd.

While this is not the ideal way to talk about your business, it won’t be putting him out of business anytime soon. Granted, he could have been a lot nicer with his words, but in the end he doesn’t have to be nice about it. It’s his company and he can brand it as he chooses. This can provide us with a valuable lesson as we set out to brand ourselves as business builders.

First off, you will know how to brand yourself once you’ve determined what kind of customers you’d like to attract. You can’t waste time branding yourself incorrectly and then wonder why you don’t have any new clients. Are you creating a website building service? If so, who do you want your customers to be? Do you want people who are experts at building websites but don’t have the time, or do you want to serve those who have no idea how to do it and could really use an affordable web site building company? Once you sort that out, you’ll know how to properly name your business and how to start advertising to the kind of people you’d like to help.

Jeffries knows who will buy his clothes and he is marketing directly to them. The people he chooses to hire and the sizes to which the clothes is limited all speak to a very specific set of customers. While we may disagree with his opinions on larger people, we don’t have to run our businesses the way he does. He is definitely leaving out a huge amount of people who have money to spend. You can bet that other businesses will get smart and take advantage of this if they are ready to market or rebrand themselves to attract that set of people who are being excluded from the Abercrombie & Fitch line of clothing.

Choose which customers you want and start formulating your marketing strategy to let them know you are looking to serve them.