如果你能做到这些，那么创业吧
你要有发现机会，抓住机会的能力。
Most employees do what they're assigned to do. There's someone else who's "assigned" to look out for opportunities, either a boss in a small business, or perhaps a sales department or a managerial team in a large corporation. If you start a business, you need to be the one constantly watching for opportunities - and be able to recognize them when you see them. It might be a small opportunity, such as the chance to pick up a new client, or a large one, such as getting your product on the shelves in a large retail chain, but as a small business owner, you have to keep scanning the horizon yourself and positioning yourself to benefit from the opportunities that you find. As an employee, you may be used to operating in a "head-down" position; if you're going to start a business and become successfully self-employed, you need to start operating in the "head-up" position.
Being self-employed is very different than being an employee and can be a difficult transition.
大多数员工都是做着分配给自己的任务。也有人在分配的任务中寻找机会，也许是一家小企业的老板，也许是一家大公司的销售部门或管理团队成员。如果你开始了创业，你就要成为经常寻求机遇的人，并且在你碰到机遇的时候有能力分辨。也许是像接待客户这样的小机会，也许是在一家大型连锁超市销售你的产品这样的大机遇，但是，作为一个小企业家来说，你必须随时注意自己的周围，并让自己从发现的机遇中获利。作为一名员工，你可能习惯于被领导的位置。如果你打算开始创业并取得成功的话，你就要开始习惯处在领导别人的地位。当老板和做员工有很大的不同，这个过渡会很困难。
4)When you're self-employed, you have to be able to plan ahead.
创业以后，你要能够提前定好计划
Your last job may have involved no planning at all, as that was someone else's job. Or perhaps your job involved planning on a localized level, such as planning a particular project. If you want to start a business, you need to develop expertise in both short-term and long-range planning; it's about to become a big part of your life.
或许你的上一份工作不需要任何计划，因为制定计划是其他人的事情。又或许你的工作只包括了限定水平的计划，比如为一个特定项目制定计划。如果你想自主创业，你就要专门开发自己制作长期计划和短期计划的能力。这将会占据你生活中的很大一部分。
When you start a business, one of your first tasks will be to work through a business plan. As your business becomes operational, you'll find that this plan (however detailed) needs to be revised and that other plans need to be created, as you work towards the long-range goals that you've set for your business. From following someone else's plan as an employee, you have to learn how to create the plans yourself - and adapt the plans to changing circumstances.
在开始创业后，你的第一个任务就是制作一份商业计划。在你的事业开始运作后，你会发现这份计划需要修改，为了使你的事业朝着你指定的长远目标发展，你还需要制定其他的计划。当员工的时候照着别人的计划行事，你要从中学会如何自己制定计划，并学会用这些计划来改变环境。
5)You need to be prepared to put in a constant and consistent effort.
你要准备好持续，连贯的努力
We've all seen employees who are just going through the motions, or who were just "putting in the time" until retirement. You don't need to be a co-worker to know who these people are. As a customer or client you can tell, too. Bluntly, starting a business takes energy, and you need to be able to give it 100 percent. You can't afford to just coast along, or go through the motions, if you're running a business. Your customer and/or clients need to know that you are devoting 100 percent of your talent or skill or attention to them - and will go elsewhere if they don't feel this is the case.
我们都看到很多员工只是走走过场，或者只努力到退休前为止。即使你不是他们的同事而是客户，你也知道有这样的人存在。坦白说，创业需要能量，你需要付出100%的努力。如果你在经营事业的话，你不能只是走走过场而已。你的客户，顾客需要知道你尽了自己100%的才能和技巧去吸引他们，如果这些不起作用的话，你也愿意做其他的尝试。
Worse, you need to deliver this constant and consistent effort without the employee safety net. Many employees are used to being able to "call in sick" and have someone else cover their job, for instance. As a self-employed business owner, you'll have to go in and give it your best effort no matter how you feel or close up shop if you don't have employees who can fill in. You can also say goodbye to the holidays that many employees enjoy, both the annual x number of weeks and the statutory holidays, at least until your business is established to the point that you can manage your own time.
更糟的是，你要在没有员工安全网的情况下付出这样的持续，连贯的努力。很多员工都习惯装病，或让别人帮忙掩盖他们的工作。但是作为一名创业的企业家，你要坚持下去，不管你感觉如何都要尽自己最大的努力，也不能因为找不到替你的员工就关门休息。你也要对很多雇员喜欢的假期告别了，不管是每年几周的假期或国家的法定假日，至少在你的生意稳定后，在你能自主管理自己的时间之前你都要和这些假期告别。
6)You have to be able to deal with uncertainty.
你要有处理变动的能力
As a self-employed entrepreneur, there's no guarantee that the products or services you offer will be in demand six months from now. There's no guarantee that your customers will pay their bills on time or even pay them at all. There's no guarantee that your current big client, who seems to be perfectly happy with your work, won't drop you next week. There's actually no guarantee that you will make any income this month or the month after. For many ex-employees who are used to having a pay cheque arrive regularly every two weeks, the uncertainty of being self-employed is very difficult to deal with.
作为一名创业的企业家，不能保证你提供的产品或服务在接下来的六个月里就会有市场需求。也没有谁能保证你的顾客会按时付款或付全款。也没有谁可以保证现在对你的工作非常满意的大客户不会在下个星期就不和你做生意了。实际上没有任何人能保证你能在本月或下个月赚到钱。对很曾是雇员的企业家来说，之前每隔两个星期都会定期有支票进账，而现在创业的不稳定就会变得很难处理了。
Are you still asking, "How do I start a business?" Good! Because the point of this article is not to scare you off, but to make you aware of how you have to readjust your thinking to make the transition from employee to self-employed business owner. Hopefully as you read through this list of traits you need to become successfully self-employed, you were saying to yourself, "I can do this". Because every one of the traits I've listed here is an attitude or behavior that can be learned, and when it comes to being self-employed, awareness is more than half the battle.
现在，你是否仍然在问“我该怎么开始创业呢？”那好，因为本文的本意并非想吓跑你，而是提醒你应该要调整好从雇员到创业这样的转变。希望你在读完之后，能够对自己说“我可以做到这些”。因为这篇文章中列出的每一条特征都是可以学习的态度或行为，并且，说到创业的时候，全面的认知是战斗的一大部分。
