If you have a steady job in a corporate environment, you may hesitate to take the plunge and venture out on your own. As a salaried employee, you have the comfort of knowing exactly what you need to accomplish in your work and of course there is the knowledge that a paycheck is yours at the end of every month.

Venturing out of your comfort zone of a regular job to set-up your own home business can seem risky. So how can you gauge whether you are better off as a salaried employee or whether you can be an entrepreneur with a flourishing home business? You may also choose to continue with your regular job and supplement your income by setting up an online business on the side. In either scenario, an online one-person business venture offers you plenty of scope to be creative and flexible. The best part of the whole deal is that you get to be your own boss and map the course of your own professional life. It takes a certain amount of audacity, grit, and resolve to become an entrepreneur. While there is no surefire magic formula that will transform you into a successful entrepreneur overnight, there is a certain mindset that you are supposed to imbibe - it is called an entrepreneurial mindset.

So how can you foster this entrepreneurial mindset? Given here are a set of rules that will guide you on the entrepreneurial way of thinking so that you are equipped with the skills required to think things through and make the right decisions in your day-to-day business operations.

Rule #1: Explore every option

An open mind is the hallmark of every successful entrepreneur. You have to explore every available option and be on the look out for opportunities all the time. Often opportunity may come knocking on your door in many unrecognizable forms. The business world is for the most part not black and white. Instead it is often the unexpected exceptions that may offer you lucrative business opportunities. So make sure that you watch out for them!

Rule #2: Curiosity won't kill this cat!

An entrepreneur is always curious. Curiosity will help you to discover new options available. You will learn to approach issues by asking "what if" questions so that you can learn all that you need to know. Digging deep into an issue is a little like peeling off the layers of an onion. You will discover new possibilities, outcomes and options so that your results are always positive.

Rule #3: It's all about passion

It is clichéd but true that if you love what you do you will not have to work a day in your life. Success comes easily to those who are passionate about their work. If you foster this kind of passion, you are likely to be relentless in the pursuit of your goals. On the other hand, if you hate your work, you may still perform it effectively, but the zest required to make you a success will never be there. So choose something that interests you or something that really sets your pulse racing. Success is then a foregone conclusion.

Rule #4: Don't just work hard, work smart!

It is a given that entrepreneurs need to work hard. As Brain Tracy effectively put it, you work eight hours a day for survival. Anything beyond that is for success. However, apart from putting in long hours, you also need to work smart. Working smart means that you make every hour of work count for something. After all if you were to work 15 hours a day and didn't have much to show for it, working hard is not going to get you anywhere. So working hard and smart is the key to success.

Rule #5: Missed deadlines spell sure death

Self-discipline is a trait that every entrepreneur needs. You may need to roll up your sleeves and work on some mundane details to get a project delivered to a client. Often this may involve doing something that others don't want to do. If you are disciplined about your deadlines, the clients are going to come back for repeat business.

Rule #6: Focus on your strengths and work around your weaknesses

Entrepreneurs need certain introspective qualities. You need to know what you are good at so that you can leverage your talents to your advantage. At the same time, you also need to know what you cannot do or are not so good at. This is the hard part since most of us find it difficult to acknowledge our limitations. However, if you know what you cannot do well, you can consider either hiring somebody to do it, or outsourcing it if your business does not support hiring a full time person. Alternatively you can also consider undergoing some training to transform your weaknesses into strengths.