Jumping off the high dive was for other people – not for you. You just knew somehow, deep inside that you were not going to make it if you took that lonely walk to the top of the stairs and came down a quicker way.

Then one day someone, a friend perhaps, said, “Let's jump off the high dive.” Before you could protest you found yourself at the back of the high dive board watching your friend dive off the end and disappear. You have several kids behind you wanting to dive. You are scared to death, but you slowly walk to the end of the board and look down. You hear your friend calling for you to jump and then everything seems to slow down as you watch the lifeguard yell at someone. You can almost swear that drops of water are suspended in midair. Someone behind you yells at you to jump. Then – you do.

It may not have been the most graceful jump and you may have entered feet first instead of diving, but you survived the first plunge and forever erase the notion that this was something only other people did.

This is a picture of any moneymaking idea. Many tend to think the process if for someone else. Maybe you think it is only for those who went to school to learn about business. Maybe you think it is reserved for the children of those who have previously been successful and can guide their offspring.

The idea can be adopted that moneymaking ideas are always for someone else, but not for you. Yet, you may one day find yourself on that proverbial high dive looking down. There may be many pressures to jump. You may not be especially happy with your landing, but you will prove to yourself that you are capable of jumping into the arena of self-employment.

It's in that moment that your vision opens and you can begin to imagine what it would be like to make the best use of your time, energy and experience.

Maybe you're standing on the business high dive looking down right now. You may be fairly certain that you can never jump. You may wish that you had never let things get to this point, yet here you are. What will you do?

Each of us needs those encouragers that will urge us to take that first leap of faith. This could be a family member, but it doesn't have to be. In fact, there are many family members who are just as nervous as you are about the possibility of a belly flop. They would rather see you sitting by the edge of the pool sunbathing than attempting something as potentially dangerous as jumping.

If you determine your family could use some extra income you might need to find someone to encourage you in your desire to jump.