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8 • The 100 Greatest Ideas for Building the Business of your Dreams

the former. Often they are fulfilling their lifelong passion or hobby and turning
it into a business that will probably not put them up with the mega-rich, and
certainly not make them feature in the national press, but that is not their
dream, and that is not how they define success.

So, which are you?All three objectives obey the attributes of a good objective,namely:

• measurable - they will know when they have reached the dream;
• achievable - many people have succeeded before them and often not the most

likely people (in fact, by following common-sense rules you really can build
the business of your dreams); and
• time targeted - you have to know when you want to get there, because we are a
long time dead.

But most of all they are specific and clear. They give the aiming point and thus
define the opening, middle and end games. So take a moment to decide what you
want to do, and then read on to discover, from a combination of peoples' experi-
ences and sound business practices, how to get there.

Idea 4 - Know thyself

This was the motto above the oracle at Delphi and gives good advice. From the
attributes people have discussed with me as important, I have put together this
simple self-assessment scheme to give a clear indication as to whether or not you are
a suitable case for joining the ranks of the small-business person or entrepreneur.
How well do the following attributes describe you?