Understanding who you are and what you really want in life are the key areas to address in making a decision to go into business. It is very important to do an assessment of yourself and your relationship to your business idea before you begin your business.

1. Do I have the persistence and patience necessary to be a business owner? It would be nice if once you wrote your business plan all you needed to do would be to execute flawlessly and everything would fall into place. Maybe it happens to a few businesses but usually in some part of the plan you get different results than you expected. It takes patience to wait for the result in the first place. It takes persistence to keep updating your plan and then trying something else until you find how to make it work.

2. Does this business idea really energize me? Am I really excited about it? If your vision of this business is really compelling it will give you the energy to move forward on your idea. The energy allows you to persist even when things are not going as planned and it helps you to generate enthusiasm in others.

3. Can I generate enthusiasm about my idea from others? New business owners have to spend most of their time marketing initially. If the business owner him/herself can get others excited about his/her business idea, then that is the first step in generating interest from a customer or a strategic partner. The owner must be able to articulate the idea in a way that is convincing to the customer or client.

4. Am I convinced that I am exactly the right person to own this business? Can I articulate why? Self-confidence is important in the success of the business. You must believe in yourself before others will believe in you.

5. Do I have the commitment necessary to put aside other interests to focus my energy on this business? There will be lots of distractions while you start your business. Are you willing to commit to whatever it takes to get the business up and running successfully?

6. Am I able to quickly recover from setbacks and not take things personally? Can you still keep working and feeling confident even on a day that a big client or big prospect decides against using your service or buying your product?

7. Who will support me in this endeavor? It helps to have people in your life that appreciate you and really want you to succeed. Family support is critical because you?ll need to spend large amounts of time working and your family needs to understand this. Mentors, colleagues and coaches also are important for advice and encouragement.

8. Do I have enough financial reserves to carry me until I am profitable? Your business needs enough capital to get going until it is profitable. You also need money in reserve for your personal expenses if things get tight. Worrying about money will sap your energy.

9. What weaknesses do I have that may get in my way as I start this business? What will I do about them? Identifying your weaknesses and strengths is an important task. Use your strengths in running your business and find ways to off load the tasks you are not good at. Shore up those weaknesses as best you can in the beginning when finances are tight. Being aware of them is the first step.

10. What is my intuition telling me about this venture? Be in tune with your intuition. Business people get caught up in the analytical part of the business. The numbers do help you run your business but don?t ignore what your gut tells you. Leave some time in your day to spend time thinking about your vision. (Daydreaming!)

Alvah Parker is a Business and Career coach, Certified Professional Behavioral Analyst, and SCORE (Service Corp of Retired Executive) business counselor. To learn more about Alvah visit her website at www.asparker.com and be sure to subscribe to her two free email publications.