If you are reading this book, then to some extent you are harbouring thoughts about starting your own business. Whether you have been a victim of the recession or just feeling dissatisfied with your current job, you are at the very least intrigued by the prospect of starting your own company even if you have not yet made a commitment to do so.

In the first section of this book we are going to consider the issues you need to think about in order to take the decision to leave employment. We will consider:

• Why do it? It is important to really understand your motivations for embarking on the entrepreneurial route to ensure that they are consistent with those needed to succeed as a business owner.
• When should you do it? Choosing the right time to make the change to your employment status is a decision that faces every would-be entrepreneur.
• Looking for inspiration. If you want to go it alone, you need at this stage to have some idea about what your new business will be. We will look at how you can develop your ideas by drawing on your experiences past and present.
• How you should do it? Before you can move forward with your business start-up, there are things that you need to manage, not least of which is the exit from your current job whether you are choosing to leave or being made redundant.

At the end of this section, we envisage that you will have clarified your thinking about whether and when to commit to becoming an entrepreneur with a broad view of the type of business you may create.