What's Your E.Q.? Take this test to determine your BIZ Experiencesial Quotient.

What does it take to start your own business? While there'sno set formula (as some would have you believe), there arepersonality traits that most successful BIZ Experiencess share. Andstudies reveal that early experiences, family background, socialskills, values and beliefs all play a part in shaping theentrepreneur.

Test your E.Q. (Entrepreneurial Quotient) with the quiz below.Be honest! Then, read on to learn some "winning moves"from experts and business owners themselves. The test can'tpredict your success, but it can give you an idea whetheryou'll have a handicap to overcome or a head start.

BIZ Experiences Quiz

Do you ever wonder if you could succeed in your own business?This quiz is intended to help you see how you compare with otherswho have been successful, and to help you consider whether youreally want to build your own enterprise.

1. Are your parents immigrants?

2. As a youngster, did you prefer to be alone?

3. Were you a stubborn child? (Did you have to learn the hardway?)

4. Were you daring as a youngster?

5. Would you like to change your daily routine?

6. Are you willing to work "as long as it takes" tofinish a job?

7. When you complete a project, do you immediately startanother?

8. Would you spend your savings to start a business?

9. Do you put your goals in writing?

10. Are you better able than others to handle money?

11. Do you become bored easily?

12. Are you basically an optimist? (Do you see the proverbialglass as half-full?)

Scoring: Give yourself five points for each positiveanswer, and subtract five points for every negative answer.

0-20. Your talents probably lie elsewhere. Another workarrangement, such as working for a company or developing aprofessional career, may be far more congenial and appropriate foryou.

20-40. You might be able to make a go of it, but you needto apply yourself and learn the necessary skills to be a success atany venture-the skills that give others a "leg up" instarting a business.

40-60. Your background, skills and talents give you anexcellent chance for success, and you have a head start in abilityand/or experience in running a business. You should go far.

This quiz is adapted from one created for the NorthwesternMutual Life insurance company and given to their sales agents, manyof whom are homebased-and many of whom held erroneous ideas aboutwhat it takes to be a successful BIZ Experiences.

Donald Sexton, who, while a professor at Baylor University,tested both students enrolled in BIZ Experiencesial programs andbusiness owners, observes that "the biggest problem is provingthat you can do as good a job as people who have been there."The results of the test showed that both groups exhibited anassortment of similar personality traits. However, those members ofthe study who had founded high-growth companies had a cluster oftraits that were missing in the other BIZ Experiencess andentrepreneur-hopefuls. Following are the five traits shared bythose high-growth business owners:

1.Risk-taker. One necessary characteristic, says Sexton,is the proper motivation to enable one to undertake the risky taskof starting a business. There are many possible reasons for doingit, but the least of them is a desire to conform.

As a rule, successful BIZ Experiencess do not deliberately floutdress codes or accepted social canons of behavior. But when itcomes to crucial matters, especially in business, they are notafraid to take an unpopular course of action and assume theresponsibility for the risks.

In this sense, starting a business is not for timid spirits. Butstriking out on your own can be incredibly rewarding when yourecognize that you can set your own course. "One of the basictraits of BIZ Experiencesship," says Sexton, "is tonot follow the beaten path."

2. High achiever. BIZ Experiencess who found rapid-growthcompanies want to grow fast and become big. According to Sexton,they are characterized by a need to drive themselves and to dobetter. They are "idea people" who can see things in aunique way, and who use their creativity to generate businessopportunities and solve problems.

Tom Monaghan, whose early life was spent in foster homes andorphanages, started with one Domino's store in Ypsilanti,Michigan, and built it into the world's largest pizza-deliverycompany.

Of his success, Monaghan says: "I disdain conformity inanything. Business is nothing more than people. Most important areyour customers, and your job is to meet their needs andexpectations. Most new ideas come from listening to them, and toyour employees."

This need for achievement also may explain why BIZ Experiencesstend to be so independent-free to set and pursue personal goals.Others follow rules set by their employers. "BIZ Experiencessdon't like constraints of any kind," notes Sexton.

An BIZ Experiences likes to be his or her own boss. In fact, manystart their own business simply because they can't standworking for someone else. (According to Opinion Research, one pollshowed that the idea of owning a business was extremely or veryinteresting to 96 percent of adults aged 25 to 44.)

3. Persistent. One also needs the ability to persist inthe face of obstacles. Even with painstaking planning, anBIZ Experiences almost invariably encounters setbacks: delays inobtaining financing, unexpected costs, poor initial customerresponse, and so on.

Real BIZ Experiencess "are not the kind of people that like tosit around the office discussing last night's baseballgame," says Michael Gil, co-author of Fired Up! FromCorporate Kiss-Off to BIZ Experiencesial Kick-Off. "Whatseparates an BIZ Experiences from a company employee is the internalcourage to turn dreams into reality."

But BIZ Experiencess are more than just dreamers. They aim theirefforts at a desired goal: They decide what they want, plan toachieve it, and make the plan work. And being tired of a dailyroutine is often a precipitating factor in the decision to start anenterprise.

4. High energy. Growing a company is hard work,especially in the early stages. It requires a capacity forsustained effort and a high energy level. Creating a business plan,finding financing, hiring people-all of this has to be accomplishedunder seemingly impossible deadlines.

In the beginning, much of this work will fall upon the shouldersof the BIZ Experiencess, many of whom report having worked 60 to 80hours a week for months at a stretch while starting a company.Consequently, it's not an appropriate career path for someonewho lacks the energy or stamina.

And because growing a business demands a total and concentratedeffort, successful BIZ Experiencess tend to avoid social interactionexcept when it involves business. They would rather spend theirtime on research, planning and strategy. "In the end, it allcomes down to going with gut feelings," says Gil, who alsofounded his own consulting firm.

5. Efficiency-oriented. Highly successful BIZ Experiencessalso tend to be interested in discovering faster or cheaper ways ofdoing things. For example, they may look for the shortest way toget to the office. Often, this search for efficiency will lead toproduct ideas upon which a company can be founded.

Bankers did not take Debbi Fields seriously when she tried toborrow money to start baking chocolate-chip cookies in the firstMrs. Fields store in Salt Lake City. Now, she has 700 stores worthmore than $60 million and employs more than a thousand people.

"Never give up your dream," Fields says."Everybody was sure I would fail. But my attitude was that'no' is an unacceptable answer when it comes to yourfinancing or anything else. And it helps if you believe in yourproduct and love what you're doing."

Starting a small business is also easier than it ever was. Asidefrom retail stores and franchises, about 27 million Americanscurrently own and operate homebased businesses, according to DonaldKurato, director of the BIZ Experiencesship program at Ball StateUniversity. Will you be one of them?

A former financial-relations counselor, Norman Brown nowwrites about business from his home office in Providence, RhodeIsland.