It seems that a lot of people want to own their own business. The dream of entrepreneurship is embedded deep within our psyche. Everyone hopes they can be the next Bill Gates or Sam Walton. The real truth and real probabilities are far from those dreams.
Very few people have the knowledge, perseverance, and financing to be in business for themselves. That’s the simple truth. It takes time to build a successful business and you must be able to support your family during that process.
Being successful in a new business takes a specialized knowledge that will set your enterprise apart from the others. It also takes a lot of hard work and long hours to fully reach your potential. Only a tiny fraction of people that start their own business are able to be successful enough to actually earn a living. Only a very few will be in business for at least five years. The odds are definitely against you.
But if you do have what it takes, by all means go for it. Be sure to have a good plan of action, plenty of patience, and have adequate capital to carry you through the lean months. It usually takes twice as much investment as you initially figure, so be sure you have a contingency.
Only if you have a product or service that is not available anywhere else, or has some feature that makes it stand out from the crowd should you pursue your business opportunity. However, if you are selling a product or service that is basically the same as everyone else, without any special attribute or angle, you should save yourself a lot of time and money and keep your day job.
