I would be one of the first people to explain the advantages to being in business for yourself. That said it is not something that should entered into lightly.

Not wishing to dampen anybody's desire to be in business for themselves I can think of many examples of people who have started out with the best of intentions only to fall because they didn't ask all the right questions of themselves. For me these are the toughest 18 questions a new business owner needs to ask:

1. Am I prepared to risk the loss of everything?
2. Am I happy to take failure on the chin and start again?
3. Can I work consistent long hours for little reward and undertake tedious work?
4. Can I handle watching my dreams of business success get delayed time and again?
5. Is my relationship/marriage so strong, nothing work-related could damage it?
6. Can my family manage on a reduced income for a while?
7. Is it true that my family and I don't mind me always being on call for my business?
8. Can I live with uncertainty?
9. Can I go without taking a holiday for a couple of years?
10. Do I understand that going into business with friends or family, will expose me to the risk of losing that relationship forever if things end badly?
11. Can I handle stress with ease?
12. Am I willing to make tough decisions and carry them through?
13. Can I accept being cut–off and walking away from my friends when work beckons?
14. Can I ignore doubters and not let them bring me down?
15. Am I willing to accept the fact that I can do everything right, can work 70 hours a week for years, can hire all the right people, can arrange amazing business deals and can still lose everything in a flash because of something out of my control?
16. Can I accept that I may hire people that are much better at my job than I am and I will get out of their way?
17. Am I willing to accept that I am wrong ten times more than I am right?
18. Do I know when to slow or stop, change direction or walk away, when things don't work out?