In any event, more and more people are looking to themselves for the answer to future employment. As a result, business sales are increasing nationwide. There is an emergence of a new breed of entrepreneur -- the "modified risk taker." The dictionary defines "Entrepreneur" as, "a person who organizes, operates and assumes the risk for a business venture." This definition implies that the "classic entrepreneur" starts a business from scratch. Starting a business from scratch is a risky venture. Consider that nearly two thirds fail during their first three years of operation. The "modified risk taker" coming out of corporate America typically buys an existing business or franchise to bypass most of the start-up risk.

In order to limit risk, all would-be entrepreneurs should examine their strengths and weaknesses. See if you are even qualified to consider business ownership, because not everyone is cut out to be an entrepreneur. The following questions from the American Small Business Institute can help you see if you possess some of the more vital entrepreneurial traits:

Preparing yourself before the purchase of a company is as integral to your success as customers are when running it. As the saying goes “failing to plan is planning to fail”.

While certain tangible elements like financial analysis, return on investment, market conditions, industry trends, etc. are important to any buyer, often times, intangible elements separate your business from the rest. Many times this comes down to nothing more than sales savvy when positioning your business for sale… a trait you undoubtedly gained by being a business owner.

One of the biggest mistakes small business owners make is not delegating responsibilities or having employees who share some of the intellectual property of the company. They feel that they can do it better, cheaper and be confident the job is done. While probably true, making sure other people in the company can carry out tasks that normally the owner would do is integral to having a saleable business, as opposed to offering someone a job with assistants.