This is a question that I got familiar with well before I started working online. It was a question that was asked of me when I got started as an independent contractor and that I asked of people when they interviewed with me in my office. I believe that it is extremely relevant for anyone that is used to working at a regular “job” that now wants to transition into their own business. The vast majority of people that go into business for themselves fail. Most often it is not because of the products or the price or the opportunity, it is because of them (although most would never admit that in a million years). Learning how to become your own boss is not as easy as it sounds. As I always explained to prospective business partners, sometimes when people become their own boss, they find out that their boss sucks. So how can you avoid failing when you finally reach your dream of being out there on your own? Here are some things that you need to look at.

First of all, be honest with yourself. Do you have the make-up to be in business for yourself? If you are not sure, then ask someone whose opinion that you respect and ask them to give you a fair assessment. You need to determine exactly why you are working for yourself. Is it because you are in pursuit of financial independence or because you've just gotten too lazy to go to work every day? The most common problem for someone that is newly independent is that they find themselves sleeping in until 10 or 11, then getting some breakfast and checking their emails, and no real work gets done until early afternoon. Are you really going to put in a full work week like that? You will get to throw your alarm clock away eventually, I promise, but it will not be in your first few months. If you choose to pursue a career online, it is a business. Treat it as such! That means that you will be working much more than a normal work week at first. Since it is YOUR business, the bad days will be much more frustrating and the good days will be much more rewarding. There is a point to going through all this. If you have a great day working for someone else, or a bad day for someone else, in the grand scheme of things you'll be making about the same money working approximately the same hours in most cases. If you run your own business properly, you make more money as time goes along and work far less hours. Just be sure you don't try to hit fast forward and go from A to Z too quickly. That is a big mistake.

Something else that is common is for a newbie to their own business to ask is, “Can you guarantee I will be successful”, or “Can you guarantee I will make money?” The short answer is NO! No matter what the business is, the only person that can guarantee your success is YOU. I may be able to provide you with the best products or best opportunity in the world, but if you cant take the ball and run with it, you will not be successful. In my experience in business, if I mentor 10 people, 2 will be extremely successful, 3 will have good success, and 5 will have little to no success. That's right. Almost half will not be successful not matter how great the opportunity is. That half is not meant to have their own business. There is nothing wrong with that, they may just need some kind of structure or supervision that they cannot provide for themselves to be successful. The ideal person to transition from a traditional “clock-punching” job to their own business is the type of person who works harder than everyone else to do a job right, is willing to go the extra mile, and would simply like to be compensated accordingly.

Are you the type of person who works harder and has more ambition than your peers, but you remain on their level simply because you have not found the right opportunity? If so, you're not in the majority, but being your own boss might be the right thing for you. If it is, don't wait another day! Get out there, find an opportunity and go for it. If you really have the desire to be successful…you will be.