Journey Of A Thousand Miles Take your first step by conducting a personal assessment.

Be prepared to go on a journey of self-discovery when you startyour own business," says Kimberly Stanséll, asmall-business expert and author.

Stanséll was employed as a corporate personnel directorwhen she decided to turn her part-time hobby of making jewelry intoa full-time mail order business. The knowledge she gained fromstarting that business led her to start Research Done Write!, a LosAngeles research and publishing firm focusing on small-businessinformation needs. Among the company's products is"Bootstrappin' Entrepreneur," a quarterly newsletterthat helps business owners market and manage with limitedbudgets.

"If someone would have asked me 10 years ago whether Ithought I'd ever own my own business, I might have said`yes,' but I really would have thought I'd do somethingthat was connected to my experience in personnel. I never wouldhave thought of what I'm doing now," says Stanséll."When you start a business, you reinvent yourself."