You Could Be Your Own Boss

It's not easy and there are a lot of ways to fail. Here are some tips to become a successful entrepreneur.

1. Write

Write to figure out who you are and what you want to do. Look at (or create your resume) and find out what skills you already posses, what things you like, and how you can combine these skills and interest to get paid!

2. Read

Learn all you can about running your own business by reading. The author suggests a few places to look into including Daniel Pink's "Free Agent," workingsolo.com, Small Business Administration, A Small Business Expert, Business Owners' Toolkit, Business Owners' Idea Cafe,  Nolo's Business. LLC

3. Explore

Interview and look into others who have started a similar business, find out their mistakes and challenges. You need to figure out what skills, knowledge, and experience you have, what skills, knowledge, and experience you need, and finally what skills knowledge and experience you lack that is required for your business.

4. Get Feedback

Workingsolo.com and checkster.com are websites that ask the hard questions of whether you're cut out to run your own business.  Ultimately, you should discuss your plan with people who are important to you and close to you and see how they feel about it.

In the end, if you decide you do indeed want to be an entrepreneur, know that this involves some risk and that having a plan B if your plan doesn't work is very important. Have a plan b drawn out before you even start your initial plan!

Best of luck!