By Ed McLaughlin and Wyn Lydecker

You are determined to start your own business.  You have thought about it long enough.  You have set it as a life goal. Yet, there are three critical questions inhibiting your lift-off:

What type of business should it be? Can you make a profit? What would be the impact of failure?

These are the perfect questions to ask. After all, you are going to put your most precious asset on the line – your hard-earned reputation. Your reputation is your stock-in-tra...