Not ready to take the plunge.

Client: I finally figured out what I want to do in life.

Counselor: Oh.

Client: Yeah. I want to go into the rental car business.

Counselor: That's terrific. You're gonna need cars.

Client: I'm gonna hold off on that.

Counselor: And counters. You'll need counters at airports.

Clients: I'm not really ready to make the plunge on counters.

Counselor: So you want to be in the car rental business, but you're not ready to buy cars or open counters?

Here's my simple but rather long-winded point. Businesses, whether they're car-rental agencies, baby-sitting or banking, have a price of entry. There are places you can cut corners--and places you can't. For instance, if your competitors spend hundreds of millions of dollars on television commercials, chances are you have to pony up and pay for some commercials, too.

If not, you're not really in the game.