What Color Is Your Parachute 2018 by Richard N. Bolles copy

Working Solo (www.​workingsolo.​com/​faqstarting.​html#Ans1). It
encourages you to ask yourself the hard questions.
There is also a website called Checkster (www.​checkster.​com). Scroll
down to the bottom of its home page. There you will see “Solutions.
Talent Checkup.” Click on it. Set up your free account. Then follow the
instructions. You can give Checkster the names and emails of six to twelve
of your colleagues, friends, or family, who know you well. Checkster will
send them, in your name, a request that they answer a few brief questions
about you and your past work. Once these are answered, Checkster
removes the names, mashes all the responses together, and sends you a
summary report concerning your strengths and weaknesses—as perceived
by those around you. The report is mailed only to you. And it is free. It
should help you make a better decision about whether or not you’re cut out
for being your own boss.
Final feedback: It really shouldn’t be necessary for me to say this, but
I’ve learned over the years that it is: if you have a spouse or partner, tell
them what you’re up to, find out what their opinion is, explore
whether this is going to require sacrifices from them (not just you),
and how they feel about that. If your life is shared with them, and vice
versa, you have no right to make this decision unilaterally, all by yourself.
They should be part of the whole journey, not just at the end when your
mind is already made up. You have a responsibility to make them full
partners in any decision you’re facing. Love demands it!
If after all this feedback, you decide you still want to create your own
job by starting this kind of business, go ahead and try—no matter what
your well-meaning but cautious friends or family may say. They love you,
they’re concerned for you, and you should thank them for that; but come
on, you only have one life here on this Earth, and that life is yours (under
God) to say how it will be spent, or not spent. Parents, children, wellmeaning
friends, etc., can give loving advice, but in the end they get no
vote. Under God, only you and your partner do.
Just remember, it takes a lot of guts to try ANYTHING new (to you) in
today’s slowly recovering economy. It’s easier, however, if you keep these
things in mind:
1. There is always some risk, in trying something new. Your goal, I
hope, is not to avoid risk—there is no way to do that—but to make
sure ahead of time that the risks are manageable.