Having a detailed concrete plan before you start is an absolute must.

Here are some of the things the Concrete Plan should consider:

Why? Do you want to start a small business?

There are only 2 reasons to want to start a business: the first one is because you have to, and the second one because you'd love to.

Because you have to; again there are different shades of "having to".

Maybe you got laid off or were downsized?
Maybe you can't find a job in the town you live in; how about moving to a place where there are jobs?

Maybe you have physical disabilities; again, some businesses specialize in hiring people with physical disabilities.

Maybe you are too old; in some places 50 is too old to get hired.
But you can always get a job somewhere else as a security guard in the mall.

Because you'd love to; for whatever reason.

Opportunities to start on your own are infinite only limited by your imagination.

You can start a physical business with real people, inventories, skills, services, clients, receivables and payables.

This physical business will succeed best if you do what you know or like best.

If you don't want a physical business make your money on the Internet.

With the 1 billion potential clients for your idea on the Web eventually you'll find a way to make the idea pay.

Knowing something or liking something is of course not the same thing.

You may know accounting and may hate it.

You may not know how to write a book but may love the idea.

So you know you can make money as an accountant but you don't know if you can make money as a writer.

What should you do?

It seems that you should try it as a writer.
What have you got to lose?

Yes, but you have no money, so how can you survive until you become successful?

If you enjoy what you are doing the money will come automatically.

Money Most of the world's richest people are unhappy. Or think about the mega lottery winners who win 20 million dollars or more. They wind up being hated by their families and friends and wind up always having to worry about their money.

You are going to be much happier doing something you love. If you don't, you are going to regret it at some point in your life. So you won't drive a Rolls but a Volkswagen, but you'll be happy in the Volkswagen.

Am I willing to make the sacrifice. There is always a price to pay for something you like. But be assured that what initially seems like a sacrifice will turn into a life more wonderful than you can imagine.

My family If you are happy doing something you like, you'll be in a lot better mood and your family as a result will like you better. If they like you better you'll also feel better. So now we have a feel better loop reinforcing itself all the time.

What if things don't work out; then you try something else. What if that does not work either? Then you try something else. What if... Etc. You are not going to run out of things to do.

Do I need additional skills; Probably. And getting these additional skills is lots of fun in itself.
With the Internet you can get an MBA in no time.

Think about how much better you'll feel about yourself when you realize you learned something useful.And you can do this time and time again in little steps.

After the Concrete Plan: Set a definite starting date with goals and goalposts in the foreseeable future and then diligently work towards these goalposts. You'll see that things get better with the reaching of each goalpost. They reinforce each other.

Motivation Getting up in the morning will be hard some days. Just put your hand on the floor to push yourself out of bed. Once you are actually working you'll find lots of enjoyable things during the day.

Getting Discouraged everybody gets discouraged. When this happens to you just say: "Everybody gets discouraged" and understand it is part of the human condition.

Go do something enjoyable, something that will cheer you up. Then go back slowly to the activity that got you discouraged. It will fix itself.