If you have the necessary skills, do you enjoy exercising them? Think about this for a good long time. The average small business owner spends more time with his venture than with his family. This being so, it makes sense to be at least as careful about choosing your endeavor as you are about picking your mate. A few of us are sufficiently blessed that we can meet someone on a blind date, settle down a week later and have it work out wonderfully. However, in relationships, as in business, most of us make better decisions if we approach them with a little more care.     Be sure you arent so blinded by one part of a small business that you overlook all others. For example, suppose you love music and making musical instruments. Running your own guitar shop sounds like it would be great fun. Maybe it would be, but if you see yourself contentedly making guitars all day in a cozy little workroom, youd better think again. Who is going to meet customers, keep the books, answer the phone and let potential customers know you are in business? If you hate all these activities, you either have to work with someone who can handle them, or do something else.     Heres one last thing to think about when considering how much you like your business idea. In fact, its a danger that threatens almost every potential entrepreneur. Precisely because your business idea is yours, you have an emotional attachment to it. You should. Your belief in your idea will help you wade through all the unavoidable muck and mire that lies between a good idea and a profitable business. However, your ego involvement can also entail a loss of perspective. Ive seen people start hopeless endeavors and lose small fortunes because they were so enamored with their "brilliant ideas" that they never examined honestly the negative factors that doomed their ventures from the start. D. Describe Your Business     What is your good idea? What business do you want to be in? Its time to look at the specifics. Lets say you want to open a restaurant. What will you serve? What will your sample menu look like? What equipment will you need? Note that including french fries means youll have to install french-fryers, grease traps in the sewer line, hoods and fire extinguishing systems. On the other hand, by not serving fried foods you will save a lot of money in the kitchen, but maybe youll go broke when all the grease addicts go next door.     Or suppose you want to sell VCRs, video games or video camera equipment. Do you plan to have a service department? If so, will you make house calls, or only accept repairs at your store? What sort of security system will you install to protect your inventory? What about selling component sound systems or home entertainment centers? What about competition from nearby retailers?     Answers to these types of questions will be crucial to the success of your venture and to writing your business plan. Let me tell you from hard, personal experience that you need a written document-even if youre sure you know exactly what your business will do.     With this foundation document to refer to, you are less likely to forget your good plans and resolutions in the heat of getting your business under way. Any changes you later make can be made both consciously and with consideration.     To write a complete description of your proposed business, simply follow the suggestions on the next few pages.     1. Identify Your Type of Business