Rhonda Abrams The Passionate Entrepreneur

After I'd been in business for a few years, a friend asked me, "Rhonda, when did you know you were good at what you do?"

I had to stop and think. Until my friend posed the question, I hadn't realized that it'd been quite a while since I had experienced "the fraud factor."

The fraud factor is a feeling most entrepreneurs have when they're still relatively new to business. It's a sensation that what they're doing isn't really real. Because what they're doing is unfamiliar, it often feels as if they're posing or playing a part. That often makes them feel like they're incapable, clumsy, a fraud -- no matter how good they are at what they do.

If you're new to business, you too may experience the fraud factor. If you look around, see a bunch of confident competitors, and imagine they all know exactly what they're doing while you're still trying to figure out the business lingo or what to charge, you may find yourself feeling like a phony.

Take heart: Just because you're new doesn't mean you're a fraud. And even when you feel like a fraud, it doesn't mean you're incompetent.

Part of the fraud factor comes from the fact that you're new. Even if you've been in the same industry for many years, when you're new to running your own business, you suddenly have to deal with many more issues and challenges than you did as an employee.

You may be incredibly capable at the key functions of your business -- designing a new logo if you're a graphic designer, treating patients if you're a doctor, preparing tax returns if you're an accountant. But it's the business part -- setting prices, negotiating with vendors, handling legal issues -- that makes you feel out of your depth.

The only cure for that, unfortunately, is time and experience. It's a lot easier to feel like a genuine negotiator the 10th time you've dealt with suppliers than it is the first.

In tomorrow's column, I'll give you specific tips on how to get over the fraud factor and feel like the competent professional you are.