For the sake of argument say you wanted a baby so this is like a windfall. You bring the child in the house and it only takes a couple of moments to realize that you have no diapers and no formula, so out you go (or you send your husband) to buy the necessary items.

When he returns, you change and feed the infant and begin rocking her to sleep, but once she drifts off you are at a loss as to where to put her. You don’t have a crib, a playpen or even a stroller.

You and your husband start making a list of the items you are going to require in the coming days to properly care for this little life. The list grows longer and longer. The cost of the items quickly exceeds your budget. You start wondering if you can keep this baby.

While this story may seem crazy, this is how many people start their businesses. They want a business, so one day they make some business cards and say, “Here I am world, hire me.”

As with the child, it doesn’t take long for them to realize that they need some essentials to do the bare minimum for their business’ survival, so they rush out and take care of those things.

Once those pressing needs are handled other things surface. As the list of items they either need to buy or need to do grows, it becomes apparent that the business requires more care and feeding than initially thought. When the cost of everything is calculated it’s likely more than they anticipated.

At this point, doubt around whether they should have started the business in the first place and whether they can make it successful if they keep going creep in smothering the initial passion for the idea.

But it doesn’t have to play out like this.

Think about when you got pregnant or decided to adopt. If everything went as planned, you had at least nine months to plan, prepare and line-up everything you would need for the nurturing and care of your new baby.

In those nine months, you focused on getting ready. You did everything from create a space, to buy items, to engage family and friends in contributing, to read books to gain parenting knowledge, and to choose the professionals you would rely on to assist you. If you were anything like most parents I know, you spent hours and hours mulling over names and envisioning how it would be when the baby came.

This is the mindset I recommend you adopt when starting a business.

For many momprenuers your business is both a way to make money and a way for you to contribute. Make sure that you take the time to properly gestate your business concept by taking the time to prepare. Depending on the type of business, your family’s current situation and the amount of time and resources you have to commit, preparing to give birth to your new business can take from one month to two years.

Remember that premature babies require more attention and often costly care to nurture to health. A business opened prematurely will also require more of your attention to fix and can drain your bank account and resources quickly. (© 2009, Leah Grant Enterprises LLC)

Contributor and New Business Mentor Leah Grant publishes Startup Success, a weekly ezine. If you’re starting a new business or are in the early phases of entrepreneurship, visit http://www.leahgrant.com. In her Special Report: 15 Absolutely Important Things You Must Do Before Starting Your Business, she shares the things you need to do to prepare for your newest child: your business.

The article below was contributed by Leah Grant. I hope you find it motivational and useful!

Top Five Reasons Why Now Is The Perfect Time To Start A Business

Turn on the TV and all you’ll hear is how the stock market still hasn’t fully recovered and how unemployment is still rising, so you might think I’m out of my mind to suggest that now is the perfect time to start a business.  But I stand by my statement.

If we look at history, more millionaires were made during The Great Depression than any other time in US history and during our last recession in the early 90s many companies still thriving today were born, like Clif Bar.

There are numerous reasons why starting a business now is advantageous, but these are the top five.

1. Increased Opportunities
Anytime the economy changes or a new technology is introduced it creates opportunities in different fields.  While some industries are shrinking, others are exploding.  For example, while Chrysler is claiming bankruptcy because their gas-guzzling vehicles have become irrelevant, a San Diego-based company, Jitterbug, who produces simplistic cell phones with extra large numbers on them designed for the elderly is hiring and growing at breakneck speed.

2. Less Competition
In the first two months of 2009 the Department of Labor reported that over 800,000 small businesses closed.  I can guarantee that these were businesses that may have been barely making it when the economy was flush and when the recession began they realized they did not have the proper infrastructure, their overhead was too high or their business model was flawed.  These closures create a lot of space for smart new business owners to open and serve their customers.

In addition, many companies have cut their advertising budgets to lower costs which can give the public the perception of fewer businesses offering the same products and services as yours.  The perception of less competition allows you to stand out and strongly establish your brand.

3. Decreased Trust
Let’s face it, the big companies melting down faster than Chernobyl this past year have withered the public’s trust.  It’s become obvious that large corporations are not looking out for their employees and many didn’t even look ahead enough to protect themselves.  Whenever the big businesses that people have equated with security go belly up, it creates a fear-based marketplace.  First, people contract and don’t buy at all.  Then they start wanting to buy, but look to do business with people they know and trust.

People who purchased their lotions and body wash at the mall are now more open to purchasing from their Mary Kay consultant.  It feels good to them to know that the money they spend with someone they know helps out that family.

4. Discounted Resources
With many companies cutting back, businesses want to maintain cash flow so they are often willing to discount their services or products or offer longer payment terms than in the past.  These options help a new business owner’s startup funds go farther.

One area these discounted resources should definitely be capitalized on is in the advertising market.  Several larger companies that ate up available ad space have lowered their ad budgets, not only creating space for smaller companies to come in, but creating open ad space that publications, radio and TV stations need to sell.  Many of these outlets will negotiate if asked.  One of my clients got two ads for the price of one.  These bargains allow business owners to make more of an impact for less money and to stand out while others are fading back.

5. Control of Your Future
Having a job is like putting all your eggs in one basket and then handing it over to a clumsy kid to carry.  You have no control over whether you will get laid off, have your pay cut, have benefits taken away, have your hours lowered, etc.  You have one line of revenue and if the powers you report to decide to cut that off, there’s nothing you can do.  No matter how many hours or how hard you work, in most cases your salary stays the same.

None of the above has to be true if you own your own business.  You can build a business model that allows for multiple streams of income so if one dries up, you still have the others.  You control the amount of income you make because you are in charge of pricing and how much and how hard you work.  You create your eggs and then you carry the basket yourself.

(c) 2009, Leah Grant Enterprises LLC.  Publication rights granted so long as article and byline are reprinted intact with all links made live.

Will you be one of the millionaires who create their success during this recession?  You could be!  The timing is right.  Get the info you need to launch a profitable venture in the New Business Mentor Leah Grant’s free success kit including a timely special report and audio Secrets of Successful Business Owners at http://www.leahgrant.com

On twitter too: @leahgrantbiz

Personally I’d rather go to see the dentist then write a business plan but, it truthfully is a worthwhile exercise for any entrepreneur seeking to do more then simply earn an extra few hundred dollars a month.Thanks to the internet there are more resources to help you out then ever before. Simply do a search on Yahoo! or Google using something like ‘pet sitting business plan’ or something similar and you’ll begin discovering useful resources to guide you along. Two sites worth sharing with you cover both the no-budget do-it-yourselfers to the more serious entrepreneurs that know just how difficult and time consuming it is to put together a quality business plan.

The first is MoreBusiness.com that has been offering hundreds of free business plans for years. Even if you don’t find the perfect fit for your unique business you can learn a lot from reviewing plans for similar and even the not-so-similar businesses.

The second site is Masterplans.com that that creates quality business plans for their clients. While I hate spending money as much as the next gal I believe this service is worth considering if the business you’re contemplating is going to be of significant importance to your family’s finances. Their fees range from $1650 to $5000 for most business plans. It takes several weeks from start to finish and I believe you’d end up with a plan good enough to convince those who need convincing that you’re competent AND that your business has a good shot at succeeding.