Imagine you are at work late on a Friday afternoon. You are getting ready to leave for the weekend and looking forward to the activities you have planned for your time off.
With only minutes to go before quitting time, you learn that a customer has placed a big order they need for first thing Monday morning. To get the order ready you would have to spend all day Saturday and Sunday working on it.
What do you do?
| (a) | Explain that you can't do it. |
| (b) | Call in your assistant and tell them that they have to do it. |
| (c) | Work over-time and get it finished for Monday. |
| (d) | Tell them your competition has no social life and would likely do it. |
| (e) | Don't know. |
If you chose answer (c) you may have what it takes to start your own business according to Canada Business, a Government of Canada website.
While researching our book Dream Careers, we found that the hottest businesses right now include providing personal services (e.g. party planning, personal shopping, professional organizing, personal concierge services) or starting a retail business (e.g. boutique, bookstore, coffee house, secondhand store).
If you are dreaming of starting your own business, you are in good company. An opinion poll released by E-Myth Worldwide, a California-based company that provides education and coaching for entrepreneurs, found that 7.8% of employed and unemployed adults 18 years of age and older plan to start their own business within the next year.
Other major findings of the poll include:
- The most popular reasons people gave for wanting to start a business are: to make more money (30%), be their own boss (18%), and fulfill a dream or hobby (15%).
- The desire to start a new business spans all age groups and income levels, but is significantly higher for people age 45-54, who are getting serious about their retirement plans.
- While the statistics show that more men than women hope to start their own business, 45% of currently unemployed women see starting their own business as a way to achieve financial independence.
- By a margin of 50% to 34%, men are more confident of their potential business success than women.
- The biggest challenges people said they face in starting a business are lack of knowledge and confidence (44%), raising money (44%), and the economic and competitive climates (39%).
According to William Schlegel, CEO of E-Myth Worldwide, "Some factors influencing the likelihood of success, such as the state of the economy, are beyond an individual's control."
"However, the good news is that the knowledge entrepreneurs need to be successful can be quickly gained by learning the skills essential to the success of small businesses. Increased knowledge builds confidence and greater confidence enhances the chances for success."
The Canada Business website offers a free Online Small Business Workshop. The site also includes a fun quiz called the to help you test whether starting a business is right for you. One of the questions is:
Why would you want to start your own business?
| (a) | I want to make lots of money. |
| (b) | I hate working for other people. |
| (c) | To gain a sense of accomplishment. |
| (d) | I have no skills and no one will hire me. |
| (e) | Don't know. |
The survey says the correct answer is (c), however, we think almost any reason you want to start a business is a good one if it motivates you to take action to make it happen. In fact, starting your own business is one solution if there's a job you want to do but you can't find a company to hire you to do that job on a full-time basis.
If your dream career involves starting your own business, why not spend some of your spare time learning more about how to get started.
Visit Now to find the career of your dreams.
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Tag and Catherine Goulet are founders of FabJob.com and authors of the book Dream Careers: How to Quickly Break into a Fab Job! Visit FabJob to discover how to break into the career of your dreams.
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by Tag and Catherine Goulet:
Sisters Tag and Catherine Goulet are the Dream Career Experts. In 1999 they founded FabJob.com, a publisher of guides on how to break into a dream career, which has been visited by 50 million people. They have been featured giving career advice in media from ABC to Oprah.com and Woman's Day to the Wall Street Journal online, and their career advice appears frequently on the career pages at MSN.com and AOL.com. They are authors of the book Dream Careers: How to Quickly Break into a Fab Job! Visit FabJob.com to discover how to break into a dream career.
FabJob.com is featured in Woman's World Magazine ("Land Your Dream Job" article, April 2007).
FabJob Guides have been featured in stories at The Wall Street Journal and Entrepreneur Magazine sites.
