Assessing Your Motives
Banish any thoughts that starting your own business will be easy. It will be the hardest task you've ever taken on, and the risks involved often overshadow the rewards. You'll work harder than you ever have, shoulder all the responsibility, stretch your limitations, expose your weaknesses, risk your job security, probably lose your health insurance, and face many sleepless nights.
You have to first decide that you have an idea that you can believe in 100 percent, that you have the stamina, drive, determination, persistence, and flexibility required, that you are willing to take the very real risks involved, and that you can, in actuality, afford to do this. If you are going to launch a small business, you need to foster your dreams and look reality in the eye.
You also want to weigh the risk, requirements, and rewards to determine whether you are not only willing but eager to take on the challenge. Creating your own business requires dedication, perseverance, energy, determination, and discipline. It's not a job for sissies, and you will be taking a huge risk.
But some of your real rewards could include things like using your real skills and talents, engaging your passions, determining your own future, achieving financial success, and enjoying the freedom that comes with being the boss.
According to Arnold Goldstein, author of Starting on a Shoestring, before launching a new business, there are four essential questions you need to answer.
- “Can you enjoy the business?”
- “Can you manage the business?”
- “Can you earn from the business?”
- “Can you afford the business?”
If the answers are all affirmative, move on to the planning stages.
Do business owners really get rich?
Of all the high-income vocations in America, self-employed business owners have the highest probability of becoming financially independent. In fact, according to government statistics, those who are self-employed have about five times as much accumulated net worth as those who work for others.
