Overall, there are four key lessons I learned over the past seven years that helped me go from despondent corporate employee to fulfilled and happy business owner.

1. You don’t have to be a born entrepreneur to succeed.  I certainly was not one.  If I was, things might have been easier but that didn’t stop me from thriving eventually.  What you absolutely must have is a strong desire to grow a successful business, a willingness to stretch past your comfort zone and a commitment to do whatever it takes to make that happen.  That’s what I had then and continue to have now.  Desire, willingness, and commitment are the necessary ingredients when your entrepreneurial spirit appears to be a no-show.

2. Market, market, market and then market some more.  Do whatever you need to do in order to come up with a marketing plan.  Hire an expert, take seminars, and read read read.  When you are first starting out, you should put more energy into marketing the business than anything else.  I didn’t know this when I started.  Put a system in place so that you are actively engaged in marketing activities (i.e. doing something that will lead to income!) each and every single day you are working.

3. Act as though your business is a solid going concern before it is.  I used this technique from the beginning.  Even when I had only one client, I made sure to provide a welcome packet complete with a set of policies and procedures which I required my clients to sign.  I would keep asking myself, “If I already had the client base and cash flow I desired, what would I do next?”  Without fail, the answer was a step that stretched me and my business in the right direction.

4. It helps to have a business support network.  If you’re working for a company you have a built in community-the people that you sit and work with day in and day out.  When you work for yourself, you often don’t have this and it can be isolating.  You can create it by getting to know some of the people you’ve connected with at various business events.  Get to know other business owners, meet regularly, help them out when you can, and build a community that you can relate to and rely on.  This was essential for me especially during those times when I wondered whether running my own business was the right choice.  It helped to be able to talk to others who experienced similar ups and downs on the road to financial independence.

So even if you weren’t born an entrepreneur you can still have the business of your dreams.  You simply need to let your passion fuel you as you learn what you need to do to make your business take off.

1. Eliminate unnecessary expenses from your current lifestyle.

Do you know where your money is going every month? It’s easy to feel overwhelmed about having enough monthly income in the future when you don’t have a clear picture of how you’re spending today’s money. Start tracking your expenses and eliminating those items that you don’t really need or want. Easy places to start would be canceling magazine subscriptions you could do without, reducing your cable bill (are you really watching ALL of those channels?), ending your gym membership and taking advantage of local parks, and eating out half as often.

2. Make a plan to pay down your debt.

Unsecured debt is a huge drain, both financially and emotionally, and makes it very difficult to go through a transition from being employed to owning your own business. Create a plan to eliminate it even if takes you years to do so. Once you start paying it off you will undoubtedly find yourself paying it down more quickly than you thought as you begin to see yourself making a dent in it. I know. I’ve been there!

3. Open a dream savings account.

Once you’ve paid off your debt, open a savings account to fund your transition. Having a buffer to back you up will give you a tremendous amount of peace of mind. Experts recommend saving anywhere from three to six months worth of expenses. Decide for yourself how much of a buffer you need.

4. Keep asking yourself what this career change is worth to you and act accordingly.

As time goes on, continue to scrutinize your expenses. Go through a process of always asking yourself, “Would I rather have this (sweater, shoes, manicure, new iPhone, expensive home) or work for myself doing what I love?” Whether you choose the “thing” or the career, live in integrity. In other words, be sure you’re consciously choosing one over the other because that is what is important to you. Ultimately, this will be the underlying frame of mind you will need to have in order to financially make your new business a reality!

© 2008 Segaric Coaching Inc.

Annemarie Segaric is a respected career change coach, motivational speaker, and the author of the ebook, 107 Tips for Changing Your Career While Still Paying the Bills. Ready to switch careers and don’t know where to begin? Visit www.segaric.com and download your own career change toolkit today!

As adults, we certainly are not encouraged to do it. We are taught to believe that if we want to make it in life we need to be focused, driven, and yes, practical.

And even as children arrive in school they are snapped back into reality with comments like, “Davey, pay attention. Stop looking out the window and daydreaming,” or “Daydreaming won’t help you pass the test, Susie. You need to study!”

Unfortunately, once we hit adulthood these beliefs about dreaming becomes entrenched within many of us. Daydreaming becomes as foreign to us as summers off and playing jump rope.

Yet, the people who actually make their ideas of owning their own business come to life are those who have a healthy mix of dreaming and practical planning.

Starting your own business is a serious endeavor. But where do you think the seeds of your business will come from?

They come from you—from your ideas, your desires, and your passions. They come from your dreams.

When you indulge yourself and actually dream of the “whatifs” about starting your business you are letting yourself design what that business will look like and what it will be about.

Your dreaming then becomes the fuel for action. You put yourself in a position of figuring out HOW to make your new business ideas a reality. You plant the seeds now that will help you to discover what it’s practically going to take for you to leave your job and be self-employed.

When your dreams are big enough they act like a magnet and pull you forward. This magnet makes it easier for you to answer the practical business questions:

* What will this business be about?
* How will it make money?
* What is it going to take to make it profitable?
* What resources does it need?

Your dreams become the driving force propelling you and your business forward.

Here is another way of looking at it. In fact, print these “formulas” out and post them where you can see them:

Dreams + Action = Momentum

Momentum + Persistence + Consistency = Progress…or in other words, a Viable Business

Stay in balance. You want to leave your job and start a business? Have you been dreaming enough about it? Have you spent the time envisioning as much detail as you can?

Make sure you have, because if not, you may find it close to impossible to come up with the nuts and bolts of making it a real, viable, and sustainable business.

What can you do?

1. Take a break. This isn’t always easy to do but is often exactly what you need to break out of your rut. I know individuals who have gone to the movies, signed up for dance classes, taken up painting, and even trained for a marathon when they thought they “should” be working on their career change. In all cases, they found something they needed to take their career change to the next level.

2. Shake things up. You want to make a career change but you’re still doing everything else the same. Switch up your familiar routine to break the monotony and give yourself a fresh perspective. Take a different route to work, buy your morning coffee close to home rather than at the office, move your furniture around, get a new hairstyle, paint your walls, etc. Change one thing each day and see what new ideas flow your way.

3. Stop Worrying. Ok, I know…easier said than done! The reality is, anytime you spend worrying “if this change will ever happen”, “how you’ll make any money”, “if you really have a passion in the first place”, etc. you’re taking one step away from making your transition happen. Worrying about these things is a waste of time and can block any creative thoughts that might be germinating. If you were supposed to have the answers to these questions, you wouldn’t be in a position of changing careers in the first place! Refocus your attention and stop letting worries keep you from making progress.

Trust yourself. Trust the process. You were born knowing your passion and have simply forgotten what it is. Give yourself the time it takes to rediscover your calling.