by Barbara Reinhold

Here are 10 qualities that most entrepreneur-watchers agree are necessary to make a go of it on your own. Look over the list below and check off the ones that seem to describe you. Then, as a check on yourself, ask somebody you trust to look over your responses as well. How do you stack up against these 10 entrepreneurial requirements?

So what was your score? If you got 8 or more, you'd probably be a great entrepreneur -- and might find yourself chafing under the constraints of working for somebody else. Here is one online resource for checking out whether entrepreneurship might be for you:

On the Web: Definitely visit the online version of Entrepreneur Magazine. This month you can read about 13 millionaires in their 20s and 30s and how they turned their wild ideas into independence and cash.

The magazine in its print form is a great resource, too. It's well worth the inexpensive price of a subscription to have great ideas for being your own boss arrive in your mailbox every month. To subscribe, call 800-274-6229. The December issue, for instance, listed 1998's hottest new businesses. Among them were juice bars, home meal replacement, day care centers, Internet marketing, soup restaurants, wraps (the edible kind), professional employer organizations, specialized staffing, job training/retraining, electric utilities, recycling consulting, assisted living facilities, mail order health care, and adult day services. Anything there that you and a gutsy friend could get excited about? If not, toss around a few of your own ideas.

So if you're about to go into job-search mode and feeling less than excited about it, perhaps you should think about whether you wouldn't really rather be doing your own thing one of these days!