There's something powerful about creating and designing your own business that gives us entrepreneurs a sense of pride and accomplishment. From the earliest days of planning out a product or service to building the marketing strategy to landing your very first contract, each of those moments began with a design.

And it's this design that's held near our innermost parts — the reason we often call our businesses our babies. We put so much thought into how we want our brand and business to be perceived, so much so that we stay up at night working long days and fine-tuning every aspect of our brand. All the while, we're losing sleep, not eating right, or worse, our stresses alter our perception of ourselves.

A question that recently came up in a conversation with colleagues was, "How did I become this person? When and where did I change throughout this process?" After we've built businesses and developed well-defined brands, how did we lose steam when designing ourselves? What does it mean to design yourself? Well, we are human, not business entities after all. However, much of our inner selves is heavily designed and shaped by our environments, childhoods, life experiences and relationships.

And adding on to that, the changes that can take place during the times we're focused on business and work can sneak up on us, which is when we tend to disconnect from the person we were before designing our business. The disconnect can feel like a place of unfamiliarity and stagnation. There is good news: When we take back control of this design, it can lead to massive transformations.

Related: How This Female Founder Never Lost Herself When Starting a Successful Business

As I talked with that colleague about who we've become over the years, she said she didn't recognize this person who had become so wrapped up in work anymore. We chatted about the topic longer, and I listened as she dissected all of the voices and experiences that have shaped this new person — someone she didn't like. I asked a simple question, "Who do you say that you are?" She was stunned and stumbled over her words a bit. It became apparent to me that the inner self often gets neglected while we're designing other aspects of our lives — especially our businesses.

We're told things like, "You don't have the skills for that," or "You're not a good fit" or my favorite, "I don't........

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