Now you really can chase after "windmills" and lay the foundation for your financial dreams. It turns out Don Quixote wasn't just an old delusional retiree. He was a person who became so inspired and passionate about chivalry that it consumed him. There was a nobleness to the fabricated visage he conjured. Quixote embodies a number of marvelous character traits for the budding entrepreneur, or "free lancer": Imaginative, Motivated, Courageous, Dedicated, Leadership, Romantic, and even a touch of Madness. I boiled the list down to seven, but I'm sure if we looked deeper we could find more.
We witness it happening first hand all around us. Friends, family, acquaintances, your neighbors daughter, nearly everyone has a story for how they are starting their own business. Each and every one of us has our own message or story to tell. Blogs and the internet are helping to spread that information faster than printed newspapers ever could. Laid off employees, early retirees, and kids that have graduated or left school have all joined the fray. Instead of (or in addition to) trying to find high paying jobs, they are focusing their energies on branding themselves. Somewhere, they have found the time to pursue their dreams. They're building their own businesses with greater ease, and less time than anyone thought possible just a few years ago. The friction to making your business dream real is lower than it's ever been, and will continue to decrease. So why not give it a go? A special report on entrepreneurship, "An idea whose time has come", from Economist.com goes into some of the causes behind this business renaissance.
Most modern entrepreneurial ventures require a community. These folks become the engine of the idea and help develop, market, or purchase and use a product. There's been incredible success in web applications that allow for users to create the content, and connect to other people: Plenty of Fish, My Space, Facebook, YouTube, and my personal favorite Squidoo. The power that an interested community can bring to an idea is immeasurable, so do your best to find a way to leverage our common interests in sky rocketing your business growth.