With the present credit crunch hitting jobs hard, some would-be entrepreneurs will be thinking about setting up their own businesses.While there are without doubt many rewards one can gain from being self-employed, working for yourself can be fraught with dangers. The saying “fail to plan;plan to fail” certainly applies to new businesses. Anyone who wants to work for themselves needs to be organized, to be able to plan ahead. Are you the type of person who needs constant direction? Do you need someone to be giving you work to do? Do you need to have a regular starting time, regular hours, with a time you need to finish by? Do you take a lot of time off sick at work?If all or any of the above apply to you, think seriously about whether working for yourself is really right for you. Self employed people don’t get paid when they go off sick. They are expected to look after themselves financially out of all their ‘profits’ they make the rest of the year, or of course have adequate insurance for more serious illnesses.Self-motivation is the key to running your own business. Who`ll go out and get the business? Will you have time to do it, or will you need to employ someone?Who’s going to look after your bookkeeping, and your accounts? Will your husband or wife support you? Can they in fact take on some of your book work, (for which you can legitimately pay them a reasonable wage, which is tax deductible of course). Will you be using one or more of the rooms in your home to run the business, even if only for a computer, phone, and some paperwork? Will you need to rent, or even purchase property to run your business? If so, additional costs need to be factored in. A self-employed person needs to be hungry for success, not letting obstacles get in his way. He is constantly looking for opportunities to sell his products, or services. If you are thinking of going self-employed and setting up your own business you need to sit down and weigh up all the costs – financially, and in time and effort.After carefully considering all the pros and cons, do as much research as you can in your area of expertise, and get whatever help and advice is available from others with some experience in your line of work. Don’t forget, too, that local authorities and job centers provide help for those seeking self-employment, so go along and ask for advice.Being your own boss is very exciting, it can be very rewarding, both financially and psychologically. It can give you purpose, knowing that the more effort you put in, the more you can take out. It gives you a certain freedom you don`t often experience when you are working for someone else. It isn’t for everyone, and only you can make the decision whether to start your own business, after carefully weighing up all the pros and cons.