This is an excerpt from my new, soon to be released, book Ready to Soar.

Perhaps you have an idea or a vision for a business, or you simply want to be your own boss. You want to be an ‘entrepreneur’, lead a business, create something truly worthwhile and valuable. You want to make the world a better place.

In fact the five biggest reasons why people think they want to start a business are:

• I want to do what I love;
• I want to make a fortune;
• I want to ‘live the dream’;
• I want to be my own boss; and
• my idea is brilliant – everyone will buy it.

Do any of these resonate with you?

This might be what you think when you yearn for the great big open space of creating a business from scratch – but even the first step on your entrepreneurial journey might seem dif­ficult to take. Which is the right step, you ask yourself? What should I do first?

You might have friends or family who run a business and you think some do it well and others don’t seem to. You have seen high-profile entrepreneurs talking about how they overcame obstacles to create their enterprise – and you dream that might be you.

You think that perhaps they might be very clever, or they may thrive on taking risks – and you are not sure if you are that person. After all, you have worked long and hard for what you are already doing in your life – you might have a secure job or a mortgage, both of which make you think that maybe the idea you have should stay on the shelf until the day when you have more time, energy and money to get started on creating a business.

If you have ever thought about running your own business, then your preparation starts now.

The first step is to establish your best way forward – to ask yourself some hard questions: ‘are you cut out to be an entrepreneur?’ ‘how do you know if this is the sort of life that you want to have?’ I’m happy to share my personal experience but even more interestingly is the stories of many other founders that I have worked with, mentored, coached, invested in or sometimes dragged kicking and screaming on their journey.

Learning from others is a powerful first step in working out what sort of journey you would like to be on. This might even happen before the idea germinates.

The next step though is as important as working out if it is for you, it is about getting ready for launch: getting your pitch right, understanding what a pivot is, knowing all the things that you need to consider in starting a business. What about funding, finance and cash? Money is to business what breathing is to life, and understanding before launch what your key numbers will be will help you make the decision about whether to proceed or not.

There is much to this story – but an investment in a few hours to read, consume and participate in Ready to Soar – could save you a fortune, maybe make you a fortune – it is definitely an investment in  you – the leader of your journey.

My intention with Ready to Soar is to help you on a journey to entrepreneurial freedom, of making your dreams come true – I want to help you control your business rather than your business controlling you.

Join me, pre-order a copy and join the conversation.

This article first appeared as part of my LinkedIn collection