It was 7 am on a foggy Monday morning in June 2013. The sun was not up yet. I could make out the faint outline of the ferry terminal through my hotel window. A mournful foghorn split the silence announcing the arrival of a ferry. Commuters flitted like ghosts between the lights and the fog. I was thinking of my work week when a thought entered my mind. "Is this what I see myself doing for the foreseeable future? Selling more printers and services to customers? There is no challenge in it anymore. Shouldn't I be my own boss?"

I wasn't alone. A quick poll done among my corporate friends showed that this thought had entered everybody's head at some time. Typically, when approaching the 50's. At this point, your career is at its peak. You are on cruise control; your job doesn't use your total brain capacity. It's only going to be downhill from now. You feel the need to do something different and not another job. Be the master of your own destiny. If you haven't felt this need, now would...