Self-discipline. This is the single most important factor when you want to run your own business. If you have spent years in the work force, with someone else telling you when to go to work, what to do when you get there, when to take a break, then when to go home, you will have to re-learn how to behave. And Self-Discipline is the only way to do that. Another way to say it is Self-Control, Willpower, or Drive. If you can not find the drive to change your thought patterns about the way you work, you will not make it as a self-employed person.

That may not sound kind, but guess what? Its not meant to! If you think owning your own business is a bed of roses, think again. When you are your own boss, you need to have the guts to make hard decisions, disappoint your friend when they want to go somewhere and you need to be working. You need to be willing to let your family eat a few meals without you, or even miss a reunion. You need to be willing to roll up your sleeves and do the grunt work needed to become successful.

Will every business with a dedicated owner become super profitable? No. Certainly not. But you have a 99% better chance at being super profitable if you know going in that you must be a hard task master on yourself. It is not the others involved in your business that must learn this, it is you, the owner. I have often thought I would never work for someone who demanded the same work from me that I do from myself. I dont think there is enough money for someone else to pay me for working as hard as I do. I do it strictly for myself and my family. Am I super profitable all the time? No, but at times I am, and every 12-16 hour day I had to put in to get that profit was worth it. Every family event I had to miss was worth it. Because, afterward I was able to say I did it myself! I learned to put in the hours, days, weeks in order to have 6 months a year to do what I wanted to! Go where I wanted, and take with me anyone I wanted! How many years did I have to work for that terrible slave driver (myself) to get that much time off? Lots and lots!

Every eleven seconds someone starts a home business. That is a staggering statistic. So many people want to get in on the money to be made, be it online, offline, at home, in a service field or a franchise. It is great that the American dream can still come true. The bad thing about that dream is it will only be a dream to the many thousands and thousands of people who lack the self-discipline to be successful. There are more people with the same mentality as the family member I mentioned in Part 1, liking the idea of being a business owner, without the knowledge or discipline to be one.

If you learn self-discipline you will have the time for self-indulgence later. Can I put a time frame on this statement? No, I cant, because people and circumstances are different. What is super profit for me may not be for you. But, without the self-discipline to be willing to do whatever it takes to be successful, the training, studying, hands-on experience, you will just be wasting your time and money trying to get started. If you want a business so you can sit in the office and tell others what to do, you probably need to work your way up the corporate ladder. If you want to be able to say you did it, with your own resources, strength, time, brains, then you have the best chance of being a good business owner!