Maybe you have dreamed of launching your own business for years but couldn’t summon the nerve — or the capital — to pull it off.

 Perhaps 2020 proved disastrous to your career aspirations when the company you worked for downsized or shut down altogether — and out the door you went.

 Either way, 2021 could be the time to ask yourself this question: Are you ready to go from employee to entrepreneur?

 It’s an easy question to ask, but a more difficult one to answer.

 Maybe for people who lost their job this year, it’s an easier call because they aren’t giving up something to make the move.

For them, this might be the perfect opportunity to finally give in to any entrepreneurial urges. But leaving full-time employment with its relative security, regular paycheck, predictable infrastructure, and perks is a different matter and requires a certain kind of courage.

 After all, success is not guaranteed. About 20 percent of small businesses fail in their first year, and half succumb by year five, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

 But for those considering taking the plunge, here is my advice:

• Look before you leap. Starting a business requires a certain amount of risk, but that doesn’t mean you should be foolhardy. While I agree you have to commit to any endeavor for it to succeed, I’m also pragmatic enough to know that the risk must be balanced. Have a comfortable safety-net before you jump. Chances are that debt will outweigh income at the beginning. So, for those currently employed, take advantage of the income from your full-time position before you cut ties.

• Consider doing what you already know. For many entrepreneurs, success can be attributed to the fact they started a business in a field they were familiar with because they worked in it or already had expertise in it. They had seen their industry from the inside and acquired a keen understanding of both its potential and its constraints. That’s not true for everyone, but in the cases where it is true, it definitely can make for a more solid transition and increase the likelihood of success. 

• Be adaptable. One thing that separates successful businesses from ones that fail is the ability to adapt to changing circumstances. Being adaptable doesn’t mean just introducing a new product to your realm of offerings. It requires constant attention to what’s going on in the world, analyzing your competitors, and most importantly, not getting too comfortable at the top of the pyramid. The business cycle is much like a StairMaster — once you get to the top, you have to keep climbing to stay up there.

 Ultimately, though, the only way to truly find out whether a person can succeed as an entrepreneur is to do it, no matter how unsettling taking that first step might be.

 Making the shift from the steady life of a full-time employee to the unpredictable world of entrepreneurship takes smarts, guts, and support. But you’ll never know if it’s right unless you embrace the risk.

Adam Witty, co-author with Rusty Shelton of “Authority Marketing: Your Blueprint to Build Thought Leadership That Grows Business, Attracts Opportunity, and Makes Competition Irrelevant,” is the CEO of Advantage/ForbesBooks (www.advantagefamily.com) which he started in 2005. The company helps busy professionals become the authority in their field through publishing and marketing. 

Dear Rusty: I’d like to get advice on when I should begin taking my Social Security benefit. I turned 66 in October 2020. Signed: Pondering Retirement 

Dear Pondering: Deciding when to claim your Social Security benefit is a personal choice which should consider several factors, most importantly: 

• Your need for the money at this time 
• Your current health and expected longevity 
• Your marital status 

Since you have already reached your full retirement age (FRA) for Social Security (SS) purposes, you are no longer subject to the “earnings test,” which limits how much you can earn. So, working won’t affect your monthly SS benefit amount in any way. But it could influence your decision on when to claim, because if working enables you to delay claiming Social Security until after your FRA, your benefit amount when you eventually claim will be higher. 

In October 2020, you started earning Delayed Retirement Credits (DRCs) at the rate of 0.67 percent for each full month you delay past your FRA. That means that for each full year you delay claiming, your benefit will be 8 percent more. You can earn DRCs until you are 70, at which point your Social Security benefit would reach maximum and be 32 percent higher than it would be at your FRA. But delaying only makes sense if you don’t urgently need the money now, and if you expect to enjoy at least average longevity (which is about 84 for a man your age today). If you delay until age 70 to claim, your “breakeven age” (the age at which you will have collected the same amount of SS money as if you claim now) will be about 83. And if you live longer than that, you’ll continue to enjoy that higher SS benefit for the rest of your life, and you’ll collect more in cumulative lifetime benefits. 

A higher benefit at an older age can be quite beneficial to offset inflation and is especially helpful if you’re married and your wife outlives you. If you are married and you predecease your wife, she will get 100 percent of the benefit you are receiving at your death, if that is more than her own benefit from her own lifetime work record and if she has reached her own FRA when she claims her widow’s benefit. So, for example, if you claim now at your FRA, your widow later will get your FRA amount when you pass away. But if you delay past your FRA to claim, when you die, your widow will get the higher benefit amount you are receiving because you delayed claiming. In other words, when you claim your Social Security benefits, if you are married, can affect the benefit your widow will get if you die first. 

So, the bottom line is this: In deciding when to claim your Social Security you should consider your current financial needs, your health and expected longevity, and your marital status. Carefully evaluating the above factors will help you to decide the best age at which to claim your Social Security benefits.                    

Russell Gloor is a certified Social Security advisor with the Association of Mature American Citizens (AMAC). The 2.3 million member AMAC says it is a senior advocacy organization. Send your questions to: SSadvisor@amacfoundation.org

Author note: This article is intended for information purposes only and does not represent legal or financial guidance. It presents the opinions and interpretations of the AMAC Foundation’s staff, trained and accredited by the National Social Security Association (NSSA). The NSSA and the AMAC Foundation and its staff are not affiliated with or endorsed by the Social Security Administration or any other governmental entity.

Many corporations have endured a rough 2020 that included the designations of top executives at some major brands. Will their replacements be ready? It’s a fair question, especially if the new company leader is promoted from within. Studies show many senior leaders don’t think their firms to properly educate and prepare future leaders for succession.

 If an organization has no pipeline of leaders ready to take over senior-leadership positions, then a lack of succession planning can be catastrophic for even the most enduring company.

 Many companies don’t find the development of leaders significant until they are readying for succession planning, embarking on a new venture, or weathering storms that threaten their viability. This reactive approach is risky because development takes time.

 It’s time for CEOs, senior leaders, and heads of HR to modernize their leadership development because of the ever-evolving business world, which is especially volatile now.

Leaders often weren’t ready to assume higher roles before the pandemic, and now it’s a bigger problem in terms of succession. A rapidly changing time, such as now, is a good reason to focus on succession to ensure the chances of a company’s long-term survival.

 The common mistakes businesses make in their succession plans are:

• They start too late. Even when companies realize they will have a void in their leadership roles, they wait too long to get the succession process started. They may know people are retiring in two years, but they need to start their planning well before then. It takes three to five years to do it right.

• They only consider the CEO role in their succession conversation. When companies do a thorough evaluation of their people, looking not only at their present performance but also gauging their future, they might discover they don’t have the right kinds of people in the right roles. Companies that win think strategically and have a people plan to address those gaps. I recommend an overall development plan for the organization’s leaders as a whole and for individuals, and a succession plan for all key roles — not just for the CEO or C-Suite.

• The succession plan and development plan aren’t shared with leaders. Many companies worry that if their plans are known by the individuals slotted for upcoming senior roles, other people, not chosen, will leave. Having outlined all roles with expectations will help others aspire to gain the knowledge and skills they need, because then they know what is required at the next level.

• Decisions are made subjectively by the top leadership team. It is tough to create a succession plan without objective data about the future open roles and the employees that could potentially fit those roles with the right development.

Prepared leaders who are stepping into higher roles have never been more important than they are now. They are more adept during unforeseen disruptions and are able to pull their teams together. They can recraft a new, realistic, strategic direction quickly.       

Jennifer Mackin (www.jennifermackin.com) is a ForbesBooks author of “Leaders Deserve Better: A Leadership Development Revolution,” and a leader of two consulting firms — CEO of Oliver Group, Inc. and president and partner of Leadership Pipeline Institute US.