Before an entrepreneur decides to invest his savings in a small business, he would certainly want to know if it will succeed. If you were to ask a prospective entrepreneur whether he had all the right resources to start his own business, he would answer with a resonant "yes." Its easy to say a “yes” or a “no”, but entrepreneurs also need to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses so that they would be in a better situation to make certain decisions that would help them before they venture out on their own.

There are two distinctly different roles an entrepreneur needs play while starting up. Each role requires specific skills. They will not only be responsible for providing products or services to customers but also deal with all the activities relating to the management their business. You need to be able to handle both in order to succeed.

Since every business is unique the specific skill set needed to provide products or services will vary. An entrepreneur will need to do their best to gauge the scope of activities that make up their business. Be particularly careful not to overlook the less-enjoyable aspects of the business. Regardless of your desire to get into business if you lack needed the skills, it's unlikely you'll succeed unless you find a way to compensate.

Questions like… Should I work from home? should I take on partners? Should I hire an accountant or a lawyer? Or if opening a retail business, should I hire a store manager? Your answer to these questions and many others will depend in large part upon which skills you have and which skills you lack.