There are many steps involved in starting a small business. For example, the organization and legal structure of the business must be decided upon, financing must be arranged, inventory must be purchased, the location must be chosen, and an advertising plan must be worked out. Before embarking on any of these steps, however, the aspiring business owner must make a thorough selfanalysis in order to determine if he or she is truly qualified for the task. The chances for success in a small business will be greatly enhanced if the person has the characteristics of an entrepreneur. These characteristics include leadership abilities. Thus, the aspiring business owner should be good at working with people, able to take responsibility, and have good problem-solving and decision-making skills (Martin, 1988, pp. 8-9). In addition, as noted by Sharon Kahn, the small business owner needs to have self-confidence and assertiveness, courage, willingness to take controlled risks, capacity for hard work, ambition, and persistence (Kahn, 1988, p. 3). The most important element of all, however, is that of picking "something you love and are gifted at" (p. 3). Successfully starting a small business also involves choosing a product or service which is profitable. A new business generally requires a large investment of capital. The new business owner needs to be assured of making that investment back, with a profit. Without this assurance, starting a new business is simply not worth the financial risk. Therefore, a new business should provide a product or service which is needed or wanted by customers, and which is somehow better or cheaper than the similar items which are offered by competitors in the field. Deciding which product or service will be in high demand is a very difficult undertaking. As an alternative, the budding entrepreneur also has the option of buying a business which has already been established by someone else. If the busin...