Do I have what it takes?
Before you jump off into starting a business of your own, you must make an honest assessment your skills, experience, values and personality. Being your own boss has obvious benefits, but to reap them you must be among other things, a good boss, a good employee, a good supplier, a good sales person and a good customer service person, all at the same time.
Unfortunately, there is no fool-proof test you can take to ensure your success, but the following questions will give you something to think about.
- Why do I want to be an entrepreneur?
- Are the services I plan to offer in demand?
- Are my technical skills as good as they need to be?
- Am I willing to devote the time, energy and resources to be successful? (Note: You may find yourself working harder and for longer hours when you're out on your own.)
- How much revenue do I need to generate to cover my living/lifestyle expenses, business expenses and still have money left over for savings?
- Do I have at least 6 months of living expenses saved?
- How much longer am I planning to work? (It can take years to build a successful business. If you are nearing the time you had planned to 'retire' and you don't have much saved up, self-employment may not be a great option.)
- Do I have an over arching drive to succeed?
- Do I enjoy working with people? Am I able to work with a wide variety of personality styles?
- Am I able to place the desires of others (customers) ahead of my pride and need to be right?
- Am I a reliable self-starter?
- Do I love setting my own agenda or do I prefer having someone else coming up with great ideas I can work on?
- Am I comfortable making sales calls and presentations? Do I find it easy to talk with strangers?
- How influential and persuasive am I? Do I feel comfortable influencing the decisions of others? Do I find it easy to talk about myself?
- Can I handle the rejection or indecision of prospective clients and still maintain my drive and enthusiasm?
- Can people trust what I say? Am I rigorous about keeping the promises and agreements I make?
- Am I able to juggle many competing demands at the same time?
- Will I be able to keep my motivation up when I'm working at home with no one watching me and many distractions calling to me?
- Am I comfortable making decisions without having all of the facts nailed down?
- Am I adept at resolving "sticky issues" and leaving people satisfied with the outcome as well as the process?
Give some serious thought to these questions. If you want to spend more time investigating issues like these, there are numerous career resources and assessment vehicles you can use to grapple with them.
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