What will you and your life look like 5 years, 10 years down the track if you stay on the track you are currently on? (and let's face it... most of us work our tails off for 40 odd years, pay our bills, pay our taxes... and die without leaving any substantial financial legacy behind us. In my view - that's a pretty odd plan for a life... and a long way from what we imagined we would do with our lives in our earlier days!)

So - how much do you want a different future - and what sacrifices are you prepared to make to achieve that? Do you want much more from your life and efforts - without making any extra effort? If that's the case - I suggest you stay employed by someone else. If you are prepared to learn new skills and develop a higher value to the marketplace than you currently command - then self employment could be for you. How teachable and receptive are you to new ideas and new ways of thinking and behaving?

You want more - you have to become more!! Are you prepared to learn and grow and develop as an entrepreneur? In business - you don't get paid for turning up... you get paid for the value you bring to the marketplace. Are you prepared to understand that and work on learning how to add value to what you offer the marketplace? The marketplace pays on value - not on need, or hours used. Are you a stayer or a quitter? Are you going to finish what you start and see it through? Focus, patience and self discipline are common to people who are successful in any field of endeavour (sport, the arts, business... doesn't matter!)

You will never truly succeed at anything if you are prone to tantrums and giving up as soon as something doesn't go the way you expected or wanted... and things in business will sometimes go wrong! Are you EXCITED and PASSIONATE about the future that could be yours if you work for yourself and get it right? Are you liberated by the idea that you can become more valuable and with work and time can totally reshape the future for yourself and your loved ones? Do you BELIEVE you can change your destiny and do something "different" - or do you think that's not really possible for you? Has life got you by the throat - and you can't see any possible way of that changing... or are you ready to fight for your future and make it a reality?

The emotion and belief you have for this new direction as a real and totally valid future for you... is what will "make" you or cause you to fail. So... if you feel you stack up on the "you" issue... then the other major issue is... What on Earth do I do to find the right business? Investigate... then investigate again :) Get a feel for what your options are, how viable or desirable those options are for YOUR circumstances and resources. My experience on this was that there are some real scams and dodgy "businesses" on offer out there - and essentially - they weren't too hard to pick out. I also found quite a number of business opportunities that required major capital (and I mean MAJOR!) and major financial inputs over probably quite a few years - just to stay afloat.

I personally could not afford to operate a negative cashflow business for 6 months - let alone a number of years! It just wasn't what I could do - and unless I could do that - those businesses would never survive. Not what I was looking for... I found that this all narrowed down the field quite considerably..in fact I was starting to wonder if I would ever find what I was looking for... but I ploughed on. I learnt a few things:-: My business needed to be based on real products or services that there was a PROVEN market for. I also had to like and feel good about them. I wanted to enjoy and be proud of what I did.

Those products/services needed to be something that required repeat business, customer longevity. In other words - I wanted good products/services that the market had already demonstrated it wanted - and was actually in a GROWTH phase. I was not interested in getting into an industry that was well over its hay day. I was building for the future! I wanted something I could grow and develop into. Something I could start with the resources I had (a little time, a little money, and a lot of ambition!). Something that would allow me to develop a business income around my existing obligations to start with - but which would allow me to buy back my life in chunks over time.

 If I wanted to earn a lot more from a business - I understood it would not come about overnight. It was going to take some time and some learning of new skills. That was over 18 months ago now, I found my perfect business and have never looked back.