Are you ready to start a business?

This could be your time to become an entrepreneur. Many who dream of starting a business is afraid to take the leap. Don’t be one of the millions of people who never could build up the courage to become an entrepreneur.

Take charge of your life. There are at least a million reasons for starting your own business, and I have listed some of the most compelling here.

1. Dream. You have always dreamed of starting a business and you have stopped being afraid of it. 23 millions of Americans own small businesses. You could be next. Entrepreneurs are dreamers who see opportunities everywhere.

2. Second income. You might be happy with you job, but you need more money. Maybe you need to save more for the kids’ college education or you want to take the family on a nice vacation. Starting a business could help you have a second stream of income.

3. Need fulfillment. If you are not quite happy with your job, it doesn’t mean that you should jump to start a business. If you keep asking yourself “do I really want to start a business?” you are not yet ready. But, if your job no longer fulfills you and know that starting a business is what you have to do, it might be time to do it.

4. Be a leader. You are a leader not a follower. You have had enough of other people telling you what to do and how to do it. It is time for you to become the leader others failed to be.

5. It’s a thrill. You love new experiences. You might have liked your job at some point, but the thrill is long gone. You are ready for new experiences you just can’t get from your employer anymore.

6. No jobs. You might want to start a business because there are no jobs for your skill set. There might not be jobs for your skills in your area or you might have skills with too few jobs. The bottom line is that you have to create your own job and there is not better way to do that than to start your own business.

7. Selfish. You want to be selfish and do what you want to do. You did the right things. You went to school. Then, you got a job. Waited for promotions, but you are done waiting. You have to do what works for you. It is your time to be selfish to become the entrepreneur you always wanted to be.

8. Desire to build your own dream. Owning your own business is the American dream. When you work as an employee you are still building someone else’s dream. As an entrepreneur you are building your own dream.

9. Want more money. There is no shame in wanting more money. Start a business if you want to make more money you could make in a job. A word of caution, the desire to become rich is not enough to succeed in business.

10. Mentorship. You have been inspired by your mentors who have had successful businesses. Starting a business will require that you make many important decisions. Seeking the advice of business mentors will help you make the right decisions more often. This is very important because you can only fail so many times before your business fails.

11.Improve products. You have found a way to improve a product or service. Facebook wasn’t the first social network, but it improved social networking. Google wasn’t the first search engine, but it greatly improved the online search experience. Some of the greatest businesses were built on improving existing products or services.

12. Tax benefits. Entrepreneurs can take advantage of tax advantages. As a salaried employee, there are few tax advantages. You’ll be able to write off large amounts of your income, as long as your tax professional knows what s/he is doing.

13. Set your own schedule. You might have a 9-6 job, but you are ready to set your own work hours. When you build your own business anything is possible. If you are a night own, you can build your business to support that.

14. Partner. You might want to partner with one or two individuals to build your dream business. Some of the most successful business have been started by two or more co-founders. With partners, you share the workload and the risk of starting a new business.

15. Pride. You want to say I built this business. I did this.

16. Work with family. If feels great to be able to hire your spouse or children to work with you. Starting your own business enables you to hire your family members. There is something special about family businesses that span multiple generations.

17. You want more spare time. As an employee, you have two weeks of vacation and you are done. Two weeks is not enough. If you want more you have to start your own business. This could take some time since building a business can be very time-consuming.

18. Independence. You might be an entrepreneur if independence is of utmost importance for you. The ability to make your own decisions is a key benefit of being an entrepreneur.

19. Self respect. You just have to do it for self-respect. You feel that you owe this to yourself. If you don’t try at least once to start a business, you feel that you haven’t done enough.

20. Job security. Instead of worrying about losing your job create jobs. Is there such a thing as job security anymore?

21. Passion. You are passionate about a product or service. You just love to help your customers. You can’t wait to serve your customers. You can’t see yourself do anything else.

22. Become an expert. You understand that a great way to become an expert in a field is to start a business.

23. Want more success. You want more success than a job can offer. It’s true that you might get some recognition as an employee, but you want more. You want to prove that you can do better. You can read a business from zero.

24. Charity. You want to donate part of your profits to charity. You can do this as an employee too, but as an entrepreneur, you can do it on a larger scale and make a greater impact.

25. Work life balance. You want your business to provide you with greater work-life balance.

26. Financial freedom. To reach financial freedom. Financial freedom is not the same as independently wealthy. I know happy entrepreneurs who don’t make a lot of money yet they have achieved financial freedom. They have reduced their expenses, paid off all of their debt, and now they make enough money to support their lifestyle.

27. Repeat success. You might have started a business in the past and you want to experience it again.

28. Build a brand. You want the world to recognize your brand.

29. Family tradition. If you want your children to follow in your footsteps and take over your business one day.

30. Location independent. You could start a location independent business and travel the world while you build your business.

31. Anywhere. To be able to live anywhere.

32. Action. You have been thinking about becoming an entrepreneur, but you are ready to take action.

33. Create great corporate culture. Perhaps you want to build a unique corporate culture. One that you always wanted but never experienced as an employee.

34. Great boss. You want to be the best boss in the world. Maybe you had some horrible bosses and you want to show that you can do great things without being a mean person.

35. Challenge. Starting your own business will present you with new challenges.

36. Comfort. You want to work from home. Do you want to work in your pajamas? Do you want to stay at home with your small children? Do you want to spend more time with your pets?

37. Networking. You want to be part of the entrepreneur community. When you become an entrepreneur a whole new world opens up to you. You can make lifelong friendships with other entrepreneurs.

38. You are the boss. You should start a business if you want to be your own boss.

39. You want to be famous. Not a good idea to start a business because you want to be famous. You will never hear or read about most entrepreneurs.

40. Courage. To do what only a few have the courage to do.

41. Do it better. You have been working in businesses and you know that you could do it better.

42. Student. You are a student, but you need to make some money to pay for school and other expenses. It’s a great time to start a business as a student. You have relatively few responsibilities. You have plenty of time to start a new venture.

43. Underemployed. You are working in a job that underutilizes your skills, experience, or education. There are millions of employees who are underemployed. They know that they could do so much more if given the chance.

44. Make something. You always wanted to make something and turn it into a business. Knowing that you have created something that people are willing to pay for is a huge rush.

45. Bored. Let’s face it, many people are bored with their jobs and the same old routine. As an entrepreneur, you are always dealing with new challenges, the opposite of boring

46. Just because. You can start a business, just because. Why not? Millions before you have started a business. It might just be your time now.

47. New skills. Starting a business is great to help you learn new skills. Sometimes you just have to force yourself into situations where you are forced to learn new skills.

48. Hobby. If you have a hobby you might be able to turn it into a business. Cooking, grooming pets, making furniture, writing, are just a few hobbies that could be turned into thriving businesses.

49. End your commute. The average American spends nearly 50 minutes per day to commute to and from work. Which means that you spend years of your life commuting. Is that really what you want to do with your life? You might start a home base business to be able to avoid the commute.

50. Avoid retirement. Playing golf and watching television is not the dream retirement for many. Many retirees can’t wait to start a business. Instead of doing little start a business after you have retired.

51. Second career. Your business could become your second career.

52. Create your job. The economy destroyed your job and you want to create one.

53. Recognition. You want your friends and family to recognize you for your accomplishment.

54. Nothing to lose. You might be young or old or anywhere between. You are ready to take your ideas and make your business happen.

55. New industry. If you want to start a business in an industry that doesn’t exist yet, you have no choice but to do it.

56. You have an idea. You might have an idea or several ideas for a business you just can’t get out of your head.