Before starting a company, examine your motivations

The idea of owning your own small business can easily be romanticized. Many prospective entrepreneurs who are sick of answering to other people daydream about setting their own hours, being their own boss and doing something they enjoy for a living.

However, as Tom Searcy of fast-growth consultancy Hunt Big Sales writes for Inc. magazine, the grass may not be greener on the other side.

Searcy notes that having a dream and having a passion are two different things. He categorizes a dream as a "snapshot moment of idyllic perfection," while a passion is an "ongoing burning that compels you."

If you have a passion for the industry you want to enter, it'll be a lot easier to tolerate tasks you might not want to do, but are necessary for the ongoing upkeep of the business. As Searcy puts it, "Dreams can become drudgery if there is not enough passion to sustain the day-to-day, unglamorous parts of running that business."

Small business consultant Rhonda Abrams, writing for USA Today, advises taking the time to weigh your options before making a decision, whether you're considering starting a business or taking steps to help your existing company grow.