It’s not about taxes or any public policy, or economic statistics, or red tape. The right time to start your new business is …

• When you think you can…
• When you’re pretty sure people will buy what you want to sell…
• When you understand the market… You know why people might make purchasing decisions, and where. That doesn’t mean, by the way, that you necessarily have some fancy expensive market research full of numbers and charts. It does mean that you understand the market.
• When you have reasonable educated guesses about the basic numbers … You don’t have to correctly estimate future sales, by the way — nobody does — but you can’t have no idea. And you ought to have to have some reasonable estimate of real costs. Don’t forget your rent, overhead, and what you pay yourself.
• When you have the resources you need…
• When you’re not betting your life or your important relationships on business success.