At some point in life, most people have what they think is a good product or business idea. The idea could be a new invention, an improvement on something, a new way to do something, or even great new restaurant. What happens to all those great ideas? The truth is, most people never act on the idea at all. When they finally see a product similar to their idea, they say, “Hey! I came up with that three years ago!” They will then have to live with the fact that even though the idea was good enough to be put in the stores, they lacked the ambition and spirit to make it happen.

Why? One reason may be some intimidating statistics. Out of the 1,000,000 or so businesses started on any given year, only 40,000 will be in business 10 years later. A 4% chance of success does not give a potential entrepreneur a lot of hope. On top of that, many of the businesses that do survive the first 10 years will still struggle to make ends meet with less than five employees.

If you have ever lived in Maine or even been to Maine, you have probably wondered about buying a business, moving a business, or starting a business here. There are some obvious advantages and disadvantages of running a business in Maine, and some not so obvious. For this week's blog entry, I thought I would cover what I think are the key Pros and Cons in making this important decision. If you read this and have a thought, please feel free to enter it in the comment section.