- Introduction
- Why It's Difficult for People to Quit Their Jobs and Start Their Own Businesses
- Make an Objective Decision About Starting a Business by Setting Aside Anxieties About Risk
- Determining What You Want Out of Life
- Having a Good Sense of What's the "Worst Thing That Can Happen" if Your Business Fails
- Researching the Business Opportunity
- Summary
Summary
The primary message of this chapter is that people are in general risk-averse and must take purposeful steps to overcome their natural tendency toward loss aversion before they are able to quit their jobs and start their own businesses. This set of circumstances is not necessarily a bad thing. You should feel good about the risks involved with a particular business opportunity and your ability to manage the risks before you leave a stable job to start your own business. But an equally important message conveyed by the chapter is that people often exaggerate how good their present jobs or careers are simply because they have them. This tendency causes people to unnecessarily limit themselves in visualizing the options possible for their lives.
The next chapter deals with the amount of money it takes to start a successful business. We hope you find the chapter to be a breath of fresh air. Many businesses are started for much less money than you might think. We'll help you organize your thinking about the role of money in the start-up process.