I have run my own business for 30 years, following 15 years in industry.

I still find it enjoyable on approximately 19 out of every 20 days. Indeed, it would not have been possible to continue had this not been the case, but there is pressure at times.

I felt some very significant positives right from the beginning… the freedom, the opportunity, the sense of achievement with each “mini” success and, most of all, being my own master (and being liberated from some bad or irritating bosses).

Of course, there is a downside. Depending on the type of practice you create, there may be deadlines, work to be done under pressure, disorganised clients (replacing the bad bosses), feeling that you don’t have control of the workload and that it doesn’t add up to a nine-to-five day and a five-day week.

Maybe the worst negative pressure, the stress, comes from fear of failure and wondering where the work is coming from, especially in the early days.

I guess you will not really know if you can take it, and, more importantly, how you can respond, until it happens. It is much more difficult to plan, to organise and to rationalise life without the regular monthly fat salary payment.

A minority of people find that just too difficult. In my experience, the family often acts as an echo unit that feeds back things to you and amplifies them, and this can either act as the indispensable support you need or the signal that it doesn’t work for you all.

You must be honest with yourself and insightful about how you really want to spend your days and then you need a plan.

Then you need to get organised and get the systems and routines in place to make the job easy, so that you can play to your strengths and feel in control, and so enjoy the whole thing along with the undoubted potential rewards.