What I would say to me four years ago.

You want to open your own business.

What does your business look like? Do you have a plan? Are you the only one or do you have staff?

Will you be open to growth if it feels safe and possible? Are you open to taking slightly smaller leaps that may slow your growth but stabilize your company? Who do you discuss your ideas, values and plans with? Do your advisers advise, detract or just agree with everything you say?

Do you have a plan? A marketing plan, an emergency plan, a financial plan? Do you know where you are going? Do you know where you have been? Are you running to catch up, keep up or get ahead? How will you catch your breath? 

A business is a precious thing. It takes no less commitment than a marriage and may last longer than your marriage if you have not worked out the details with your spouse. It will consume your time, your thoughts, your money. It will become your world. You cannot own a business and consider it a job. It is not a job. It is an entity. It needs nurturing, pruning, care beyond your wildest dreams. 

No one will understand what you are going through, except other business owners. You will be told to get a "real" job when the debt begins to grow. You will be quizzed relentlessly about the status of your business. Three, five, ten years in, you will wonder what the hell you have gotten yourself into. You will threaten to close the doors and get that "real" job. But you won't. Your business is your identity, your center, it is what you do.

So I ask again, do you have a plan? Have you thought this through?