He has watched hundreds of people go through a program where they start their own business up from nothing. As a program co-ordinator for the Self-Employment Benefit Program at Essential Communications he said he has learned a lot from them, including what makes business people successful.

One tranquil winter day at the cottage about three years ago he was thinking about why some of the businesses he sees do so well and why some flop.

He said he began jotting down what thriving business people he knew did well and negative things that caused others to fail. He then decided to focus on the positive and came up with a list of the 20 habits of highly effective business people.

Many people are going into business for themselves now, including a lot more new graduates than in the past, Mr. Miller said. Owning your own business is a lot of work but when you do well it has a lot of benefits like freedom, satisfaction and doing what you like to do.

He told the story of Rick, who was let go from his company when new owners came in so they could hire young workers for lower wages. Rick decided to work for himself, doing repairs around the house for others. He was becoming popular because of word of mouth when his former employer called him and asked him to come back for more money and a benefits package.

He called Mr. Miller to discuss his options. The next day he turned the offer down, much to Mr. Miller's surprise.

He did it because a few weeks earlier his son was ill and he was able to take a few days off and be with him, something he would not have been able to do at his old job. There are benefits that are worth more than money, Rick said.

He said a lot of success has to do with the amount of passion a person has, how willing they are to "work their butts off."

"I'd rather have someone come in with a mediocre idea and a ton of passion than someone who has a fabulous idea and a mediocre amount of passion," said Mr. Miller.