Several years ago I sat on a panel at an Entrepreneurial Boot Camp to evaluate the business plans of fledgling entrepreneurs. While there were several gifted business owners in the group, most of the presenters were passionate about their ideas but had done very  little to assess the competition or carefully measure the level of required investment. While I encouraged them to dig deeper, I fear that many are still wondering about their depleted bank account.
Before you make the jump into your own business, a growing trend among recently laid-off  executives, think carefully about the checklist found here before discovering that the tempting blue waters beneath the diving board are really just the paint job on the bottom of the pool.