The most common response to that question is generally a definition of business along the lines of, "the exchange of goods or services for a profit." There certainly is room for that definition as basis for a more thorough and detailed definition. However, over the years of my consulting practice I have learned that business is, in and of itself, much more specific than this type of definition encompasses.

A preferred definition might be, "Business is using other people's labor to create a profit in an endeavor where the owner of the business is intimately involved in the control of his money." Therefore, if a person has ever been employed, that person must have created a profit for his employer. Otherwise he would not have been retained to work for that company.

Let's look at the scenario of Johnny, a high school student who prefers not to go to his dad for spending money during summer vacation. He's creative and goes down to his friendly print shop and prints up some flyers: "Grass Cutting Service." He delivers them to people's houses, comes home and the phone starts ringing. He takes his dad's lawn mower, goes out and cuts people's grass. He comes home at the end of the day, tired and sweating, but proudly says to his mother, "Mom guess what? I have started my own business."

Well, we all should be proud of such a young man. He show initiative, incentive, gumption and many positive character traits. However, according to the definition that I have proposed, he has made one mistake. He does not have a business. If Johnny has to study for finals, no one cuts grass and his enterprise stops. He's merely selling his time, and as there are only 24 hours in a day, there's a limit to the extent his enterprise can go. It is only when he employs his buddies to go out and cut grass that we can really call his endeavor a business.

Business is an enterprise that can stand on its own two feet and can operate without the owner having to do all the work himself. If an enterprise such as Johnny's therefore cannot be called a business opportunity, we must find another name for it. We could call this an income opportunity.

 DEFINITION

Back to my proposed definition: "Business is using other people's labor to create a profit, where the owner of the business is intimately involved in controlling his money." If the owner has to be in control and he hasn't delegated this responsibility to someone else to manage, then naturally he has to be present in order to be in control. The enterprise, if absentee-owned, cannot be called a business, according to this definition. It has to be defined in another way. We could therefore call absentee-owned businesses investment opportunities.

We see that the general term "business opportunity" can really be broken into three sub-categories:

• "True" business opportunities, where the owner employs staff to handle the actual operation and is physically present to manage the business.
• Income opportunities, where the owner does all the work himself, including the managing and marketing for future expansion, and income is produced only while he is working.
• Investment opportunities, which are absentee-owned, and usually the return on investment will be lower than a corresponding business opportunity. (Generally, an owner makes more money when he is present).

This approach to classifying a business may make it easier for people using the Business Opportunities Handbook to do a better job of selecting the opportunities best-suited for them. The success of any business is dependent upon the person running that business. Therefore, before selecting a business, a budding entrepreneur should first look to himself to determine what would be in his best interest. This is most easily done through a process of introspection.

The first element of such a process might be labeled "character traits". The second should be "financial considerations". The third is "past experience and talents". The final element is "personal needs".

Personal needs might include such considerations as the hours the entrepreneur is prepared to work, time required to travel to place of business, family demands on your time, etc. But personal needs go well beyond such practical considerations. The type of business that a person chooses is in itself a personal need, yet it is one that is too seldom considered. Evaluation of personal needs should also include the type of enterprise best-suited to the candidate looking to get into business.

As we see from the above subcategories of the definitions of business, personal needs is a criterion and a useful tool to use in subdividing the thousands of business opportunities in the search to find the one best-suited to your individual needs. We will explain this more in depth shortly.

This is a question, therefore, that you may wish to ask yourself as a prelude to exploring the Business Opportunities Handbook: Would I feel most comfortable with a "true" business opportunity, an income opportunity or an investment opportunity?

If managing staff is a concern to you, then maybe you would prefer an income opportunity, and maybe that income opportunity could be run from your home, thereby cutting expenses.

ABSENTEE-OWNERSHIP

In a situation where a parent has a prime concern with spending time raising his or her children but working out of the home would not be practical, absentee-ownership might be the answer to generating the additional income being sought. In such a case, this represents a far better way to choose a business than selecting, for example, a fast food franchise because you like to eat.

Another common situation is a person recently laid off who is finding it difficult to obtain new employment. This person might seek out a business that he can operate, manage and grow to yield him an income similar to what he was earning prior to losing his job. For him the best choice might be a "true" business opportunity, one where he is controlling his money and using other peoples's labor. Certainly, this is a more logical approach to selecting a business than choosing a golf business just because he enjoys playing golf.

Too many people believe that they should choose a business based solely or primarily on their interests. I cannot completely negate this idea, but it should not be the primary concern.

Certainly, I don't propose that a person choose a business with which they absolutely hate being involved and dread getting up every morning. There is, however, a big gray area between something that you love doing and something that you would hate to do. Opening a business is mind-possessive, and the owner will be caught up in running the business.

A person who loves to play golf and buys a golf business might find out that he has no time to play golf while he's running his business. And if he does get a day off, do you really think he would like to go and play golf? Don't turn a great hobby or pastime into a business just because it's a hobby or pastime.

From this perspective of the understanding of business, you can more successfully choose a business which will be best-suited to you. Remember, the key to the success of any business is you, the owner. Choose wisely.