You're not really happy in your job, and haven't been for some time. You just know you can do better. Given half a chance, you'd be out of there like a shot. All you need is the right opportunity. Suddenly, there it is!

Senior Executive Role - Perfect Opportunity For An Ambitious Person. Experience Not Required - On The Job Training Provided. Immediate Start.

At that stage, you'd probably be suspicious but mildly curious. Then you read further. "Job requirements and employment contract will not be disclosed during the interview, and will be provided only after commencement".

Would you apply for the job?

If you're really lucky, the small print at the bottom of the ad (or that little voice in the back of your mind) goes on to say "Salary: unknown, paid occasionally. Business Turnover: none. Job Description: not specified. Working Hours: long and erratic, 7 days per week. Leave Provisions: none. Customer Base: none. Employer Reputation: none. Responsibilities: unspecified, but include personal liability for all financial undertakings. Job Application Fee: disclosed only after your acceptance."

Would you still apply for the job?

Yet that's exactly what the majority of people commit to when they start their own business. An undefined job that requires a significant yet unspecified application fee, complete with significant yet unspecified risks and no guarantees whatsoever.

When you start your own business you actually become your own key employee. As the employer, how do you know beforehand if you're taking on the right person? And as the applicant, how do you know if the job is right for you anyway?

There is lot of advice around that covers business plans, marketing strategies, cash analyses, competitor reaction, SWOT analyses. tax strategies, corporate structures, staff management and so on. Some of it is free, some hugely expensive. All of that stuff is fine if you already have business experience. But none of it even gets close to resolving that most important conundrum of all - how to get insight into your business and what it will demand of you, before you make all those life-changing and welfare-threatening commitments.

The most important step of all is to get professional guidance from a business startup specialist so that you gain that insight into the many specific characteristics of your business, with you - with your skills, your experience, your circumstances and your aspirations - in charge.

In other words it's all about how well you fit into your intended business - and finding out, warts and all, before you start and well before you make any financial commitment.

When you start your own business you actually become your own key employee. As the employer, how do you know beforehand if you're taking on the right person?

And as the applicant, how do you know if the job is right for you anyway?
So how can you do that?

Think about the last time you applied for a senior role or were considered for a serious promotion. Your employer would have carefully considered your experience, skills, personality, the job description and how well you were able to deliver on their expectations. For your part, you considered the job description, its responsibility, the rewards, the possible impact on you and your family's lifestyle, and how well the new job met your aspirations and ambitions.

The chances are that both you and your employer relied heavily on the advice and services of a recruitment professional, who understood the job itself and most importantly, you.

It's really no different to starting your own business, except that the risks are so much greater - and you can't simply resign if things don't work out for you. And that's precisely why I started Business Kits.

About the Author:

Ron Stark is the founder of Business Kits. Business Kits are Australia’s only specialists in starting new businesses, dedicated to helping business intenders successfully make the transition from being an employee to having their own business. To find out more about Business Kits, go to http://www.businesskits.com.au

Or to read other articles written by Ron Stark, simply go to http://www.newbusinessblog.com.au