Finding a business that matches your personality is
most crucial step in becoming self-employed. It makes no sense to leave an unfulfilling job to go into an equally unrewarding business enterprise.> Your Goal: Find a Good Match
To help assure that you find a good match, you should candidly consider your lifestyle, interests and experience, A good place to start is to ask yourself if you like working with people or prefer to work more by yourself. If you are shy and will be uncomfortable around new people, you'd be best advised to stay away from a high-profile selling scenario.
On other hand, if you thrive on energy of other people, you probably won't he happy in a business where your must work by yourself a great deal, such as an accountant. Review things you like to do best. For example, if you love to go camping and hiking, a business in outdoor recreation might be a good fit for you. But what form should it take? Sporting goods store? Expedition leader? Equipment manufacturer? Newsletter publisher? You can quickly see that one idea can develop into many forms. Although you may eventually try them all in your business, you need to focus on one at beginning. How do you go about doing that?
> Take Advantage of What You Know
It's generally advisable to start with something you have done before and are good at. Ask yourself what basic skills are required by this activity. For example, are you good with your hands? Do you speak well to groups? Can you write well? Are you well-organized? If your don't have all necessary skills, can you learn those you need?
Another good way to learn pros and cons of a business you're considering is to seek out people in same or similar businesses and talk with them. Ask them first for their advice. Observe how they function in their work.
Read books on subject - but be careful not to try starting a business on basis of a book's advice alone - you can be getting information from only most optimistic viewpoint.
