4 Initial Steps to Entrepreneurship

Many people have daydreams of walking into their bosses office and quitting on the spot, usually after winning the lottery or receiving a large inheritance.

For some people the dream involves starting their own business. If that describes you and you've been dreaming about becoming an entrepreneur here are four initial steps you can take toward entrepreneurship.

1. Find your (money-making) passion and strengths. What do you love to do? Play video games? Will anyone pay you to play video games all day? Unlikely. So, you need to pair your passion with a service or product that people want or need. You also need to consider your strengths. A passion for baseball is great but if you don't have elite talent you'll never make it to the major leagues. The same idea applies here. You can certainly learn some things but you'll want to build on the strengths you already have.

2. Seek out a mentor. Find someone who is successful at what you want to do and ask him or her to
mentor you. Start by taking your mentor out for a coffee and asking about a few things you need to know in order to make a new business succeed. Ask to meet regularly as you work through the process.

3. Save money. Not only will you need funding to start your business but you'll also want to ensure that you have some money saved up to enable you to live on while your business is in its infancy. It will likely take some time before your new business is bringing in a steady income to live on.

4. Start on the side. A good way to ease into a new venture is to start part-time while you have the security of a full-time job. Dedicate 10-20 hours per week to developing and testing out your concept before leaving your job and starting the new business.

There are many great resources to help you become an entrepreneur and we'll discuss some of these next week.