Most people are content to find a good job with a secure future and bring home a weekly paycheck. It's the rare individual who wants more - who is willing to walk a little closer to the edge for the promise of a greater return. If you have the qualities of an entrepreneur, these steps will be of great interest to you.

1. Become Comfortable Taking Risks

Entrepreneurs start businesses, and there is always the risk that a new business will fail. You must overcome your fear of failure and its consequences, or being an entrepreneur is not the right move for you.

Chances are if you start a new business there will be glitches, concerns, problems, and losses, particularly at the beginning. You will face struggles balancing the various facets of business, including production, delivery, marketing, and so on. You will need to develop expertise in all of these areas.

Of course, the risk could also result in great success leading to satisfaction and a very lucrative future.

2. Pursue an Executive MBA

Entrepreneurs and EMBAs are often linked together because EMBA programs generally offer entrepreneurship modules and specializations. These courses give entrepreneurs the opportunity to try ideas and strategies in a realistic way while still in the safety of the classroom.

Not only do students learn important core business competencies like marketing, accounting, and business plan creation, but they also build valuable credentials that can later help secure financial backing and attract desirable partners and clients.

3. Hold to Your Vision

Before you can successfully start a business, you need to have an underlying driving force. In other words, you must a have a dream which you can articulate as a vision aimed toward achievement and success.

Entrepreneurs must have a fundamental goal that drives them and informs the choices they make. They must have a dream that is possible, measurable, and results in success that bears fruit. This dream also secures you firmly in place when problems crop up that threaten failure.

4. Create a Business Plan

Once you have your dream, you need to lay it out as a business plan, breaking it out into practical stages. This plan is an outline toward success and generally includes information such as:

• A vision statement
• A mission statement
• Financials (investment capital, income/expenses, projected profits)
• A marketing plan
• Operating values
• Opportunities
• Risks
• Threats
• A five-year plan

5. Learn from Professionals

Seek out a mentor: someone with a great deal of experience who can give you guidance and advice. Tapping the expertise of someone who has already been successful as an entrepreneur is invaluable. They can help you head off certain problems before they appear. They can also give excellent counsel on how to deal with issues they've had to tackle in the past.

An entrepreneur career isn't for everyone, but thank goodness for those willing to take on the challenge. They keep the rest of us employed, while leaving their unique stamp on the world.