It’s a bit early, but have you thought about what your New Year’s Eve resolution for 2010 will be? With 2009 being a tough year for many financially, maybe a resolution or a promise to yourself regarding your career is in order. The corporate world has protected and sheltered many for years, however, there are no certainties any longer. Multi-billion dollar industries, like the telecommunications, pharmaceutical, and the automobile industries, which once employed hundreds of thousands are now truly diminished in size, and find themselves back pedaling (if they exist at all anymore) for the bad decision making and lack of future visionary planning. And who’s accountable for the many jobs lost? No one really. Executive decision makers move on and dedicated employees are left wondering what happened.

Whether it is security or loyalty, being an employee today is riskier than ever. It’s no longer safe for individual employees to leave their destiny, income and lifestyle to others who don’t have their best interests at heart. In this New Career Economy, with unemployment rising and long-standing companies closing, it’s time to revisit your original dream and look at business ownership as a means to self sufficiency and financial security.  
We’ve all dreamt at one time about owning our own business -- maybe it’s time to think about it more seriously. Business ownership can give you more control of your life -- and it can be rewarding and lucrative -- when you find the right business concept that meets your lifestyle, goals, and needs.  As there are many roads to happiness in life, there are many ways to be successful at business ownership. A couple of things do come to mind as good to have in your arsenal of tools: passion, determination, and a little bit of business savvy.
As a business owner for 26 years now, I was apprehensive at first -- maybe a bit fearful. But over the years I’ve learned that FEAR stands for False Evidence Appearing Real. Opening a business means taking a risk and rising to challenge. The idea is to take the nervous energy and turn it into positive adrenaline to begin building your ideal business. Remember you are in charge now. You can call the shots and reap the rewards for your decision making. If you are coming from the business world, you will find that your transferrable skills built up over time can be very transferrable when running a small business. There are many support groups for entrepreneurs both locally and nationally. Your Chamber of Commerce is a great place to start and you can actively find groups using Meet-Up, an online service bringing like groups together and advertising their meetings. National organizations like WEBB (Women Empowered by Business) also provide support and a network of business owners to call upon for advice and counsel.
So make your 2010 New Year’s resolution about making the career change that will give you the lifestyle of your dreams.  Whether you have an idea to run a startup business, buy an existing business or maybe consider franchising, there’s a plethora of advice and support available to help in your research.   Return to blog list