So, you’ve decided to leave the rat race behind and become your own boss.  Now what?  Although we all have had days where we want to take Johnny Paycheck’s advice toheart (“Take This Job & Shove It”), there are many things you will need to consider before making a final decision. 

First and foremost is the choice of what field to enter.  We’ve all heard the maxim that says “Do what you love”, but will that pay the bills?  I don’t know many people who are interested in paying me to sit on the couch and watch TV, no matter how much I enjoy it.  Whileit is important that you like your work since you will put a lot oftime and effort into a small business, it is equally important that yoube realistic in what the market is calling for.  You donot want to get into a situation where you have spent your entire lifesavings on a plan that has no chance of succeeding. 

You will need to consider such factors as what problem your product or service solves and who has this problem.  Do your potential clients have the money to pay for the product or service you are offering?  Forinstance, you may have a dog who chews your furniture when left homealone, so you decide you want to start a dog daycare, which is a fairlyhigh-priced service.  It will be an uphill struggle to succeed if you are in an area where people struggle to meet their basic daily needs. 

You also must make sure that others have the same problem you are trying to solve with your product or service.  Youmay be extraordinarily good at drawing spiders and snakes, and youridea is to sell your drawings because they fill the blank spots on thewalls of your house.  However, you need to think about howmany people are sitting around staring at their living room wallsthinking, “Boy, this room would be just perfect if I only had a pictureof a tarantula to hang over the fireplace.”

Another consideration is whether or not you are good at creating the product or providing the service.  Idearly love to sew, but most of the garments I create would fit eithera resident of Munchkinland or an NBA player – no one in between.   My clientele would be rather limited if I chose this as a career.

Physical and emotional stamina are both important in your choice of careers.  Mypersonal worst job choice was when I decided to work in a factory,without considering the fact that walking on cement floors 10 hours aday caused me extreme pain in my arthritic leg joints.   Ifyou do decide on a business that requires more endurance than you have,you may want to consider doing the business part time while you keepyour day job to pay the bills.  This will give you anoutlet to do the thing that you love, but will not require you to exertyourself beyond what you are capable of.  Whether you choose part time or full time, you can expect to work extremely long hours, especially in the beginning.

Emotionally, be prepared for entrepreneurship to be one of the hardest things you have ever done.  Youwill be juggling many balls at the same time, working long hours,dealing with angry customers, and worrying about finances, in additionto making the product or supplying the service you so love doing.  It is definitely not for the faint of heart!  Isometimes compare it to the stress of having newborn twins in the house– there are many sleepless nights, others are dependent on you fortheir needs, you must clean up all the messes these other people make,no one thinks you are doing it right, and you may feel like you aretrying to nail Jello to a tree most of the time, but yet you carry on,never knowing if the outcome will be worth the effort.

All you can do is work hard and persevere, trying hard to make each mistake only once.  Younever know, every once in awhile our kids turn out to be successfuladults, and sometimes business dreams really do come true.