So, you had a ‘blinding flash’ of entrepreneurialism and left the big company to own business? And, now, you are not sure you made the best decision?

Even if your best friends won’t tell you what they really think, I will.

I will tell you what I think about your state of readiness for self-employment, but be warned: I am not going to mince words. I will call it exactly as I see it, so please be prepared for either encouragement or discouragement, as the case may be.

Will you ever succeed at being your own Boss?

Answer the following truthfully -

1. I can and do work for myself even if it challenges my family’s or my friends’ perceptions of me and/or causes conflict.

Yes___ No___ Maybe___

2. I can and do stop activities during my work day that are not part of my own marketing plan, including playing computer games, checking my e-mail more than once an hour, having the TV on while I work, and making personal phone calls, among other things.

Yes___ No___ Maybe___

3. I can and do temporarily stop talking to or hanging around friends and family members who are not supportive of my business, and who may wish to sabotage my efforts to be self-employed.

Yes___ No___ Maybe___

4. I am ready to own my own business, take responsibility for its success, and willing to do what it takes to make it succeed.

Yes___ No___ Maybe___

5. I understand that I may need to change myself, my beliefs, and my behavior to succeed, and am willing to do the work and commit to my action plan in order to make my business succeed.

Yes___ No___ Maybe___

6. I have a written business plan for my business.

Yes___ No___ Maybe___

7. I am willing to create and follow a marketing plan for growing my business.

Yes___ No___ Maybe___

8. I am willing to redefine my business if that’s what it takes to succeed.

Yes___ No___ Maybe___

9. I am willing to commit both an action plan and a timeline to succeed at my business.

Yes___ No___ Maybe___

10. I am willing to devote at least 50% of my working hours to marketing my business or prospecting until I have reached my initial goals.

Yes___ No___ Maybe___

11. I am willing to make succeeding at my business a top priority in my life.

Yes___ No___ Maybe___

12. I am willing to review my goals and action plan every working day.

Yes___ No___ Maybe___

13. I am willing to memorize positive affirmations and/or success statements that ring true for me.

Yes___ No___ Maybe___

14. I am willing to learn to speak clearly and concisely about my business and what I offer without embarrassment or apologies.

Yes___ No___ Maybe___

15. I understand that marketing and getting clients is my sole responsibility, and that nobody else can do it for me.

Yes___ No___ Maybe____

16. I will stop lying to myself about how I spend my time.

Yes___ No___ Maybe___

17. I am willing to commit to following my action plan and to do everything I say I will do, when I say I will do it, even if I don’t feel like it at the time.

Yes___ No___ Maybe___

18. I am willing to admit that I may have some fears, doubts, deficits, and challenges, but I will not allow any of them to get in the way of my success.

Yes___ No___ Maybe___

19. I understand that I alone am responsible for my success, not my clients, friends, colleagues, or partners, and am committed to doing what it takes to succeed.

Yes___ No___ Maybe___

20. I understand that the process of marketing my business may feel uncomfortable and unfamiliar, but I know that I can do it with integrity and even with ease as I learn to understand how to use my talents and resources effectively.

Yes___ No___ Maybe___

21. I am willing to say aloud that I will succeed, despite any challenges, even if it is hard and I get discouraged from time to time, because no matter how tough it is to work for myself, it is better than working for rat-soup eating, knuckle-dragging, mouth-breathing, credit-stealing, cheap-assed heel of a boss who told me he’d hold my job so when I failed I could go back to letting him make my life miserable for too little money and no possibility of advancement.

Yes___ No___ Maybe___

  

Scoring Your Assessment

Total all your Yes answers. Forget the others, they will never count in the self employment world.

0 to 3: You’re In the Zone (but not the right one)

You are clearly not ready to be self-employed and it’s time to go back to the world of the cubicle, because you appear to have taken up residence in your comfort zone (and maybe not even because it is comfortable, but because it is familiar). You can pretend you “want” to have your own business, but at this point you are better off getting a paycheck form somebody else, because you are not willing to risk anything, or even accept responsibility for your own actions. You prefer having someone else figure out what you should be doing, then tell you to do it, and pay you for it. You might grumble if your actions result in good business for your employer, especially if you are not personally enriched by your efforts, but since you aren’t risking anything, you don’t deserve to share in the rewards.

4 to 10: You’re on the Fence (and that’s not comfortable, is it?)

You’re actually thinking about being successful, but that’s really all you’re toward your success. You may want your own business to succeed, but not enough commit to the level of effort that entrepreneurship requires. Your biggest obstacle here is fear, such as fear of rejection, fear of embarrassment, fear of appearing too needy, fear of cockroaches, or whatever. Who knows what you’re afraid of? But it does not matter, and you are stuck in that fearful place. Some advice from me to you: The only way you to overcome those fears is to do it anyway. You will discover that you can do things you never though you could do, or decide that you’d rather scuttle back to the security of a nine-to-five somewhere rather than live out your heart’s desire.

 

11 to 15: You’re at a Crossroads (which way will you go?)

You are serious about success, and you may have a great action plan, but you’re not making the progress you want, right? You’ve got great ideas, great intentions, and high hopes, but it just isn’t working at the moment. Believe me, you are almost there. You just need to get moving and doing. You’ve got the “being” down, so now get the “doing” happening, and sooner than you think, you’ll achieve the having” part that you want so much.

 

16 to 21: You’re Ready, Willing, and Able (look out world, here you come!)

This is it; your time is now. You understand what you need to do, and you are prepared to take that leap of faith. You realize that the only thing in the lay of your success is you, and the question is not “can you do it?” but “are you reading and willing to do it?” It doesn’t take a crystal ball to see your future: You are going to do it. If you’ve made up your mind that you really want this business to succeed, that you will deny yourself success no longer, and you are willing to put up with the discomfort of change (even change for the better), then you are ready to do it AND make your business work.

 

Carpe diem,

 

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