Hello, I have posted on a few different occasions on this site. I am still wanting to move forward with my business. I think and rethink my ideas, until I beat them to death and overthink them.

I live in a smaller rural community, I hate, and I mean hate my current job for a number of reasons
1. It does not challenge me
2. It is a fairly newly created position that is STILL not up and running to where it is expected to go, with many limitations still on the horizons, I am sitting in an office bored out of my mind daily.
3. I make a paultry salary. In fact I am making less now than I have in the past 6 years. However, my last employer was horrendous, and when this opportunity arouse I jumped on it in order to get out of really bad work environment (Let me give an example, my boss was a micromanager who boardered on what I and many believe to be unethical practices, in addition, the turnover rate was excessive, I had the most seniority in the offices after only one year of employment, and the treat of employees by the owner of the business could be explained as being in an abusive relationship, to this day my previous boss still has NO IDEA why she cannot keep good employees). So given the alternative, taking this job was a good choice in comparision to staying where I was. But I have inquired on several occassions about my evaluation and any potential raises, to no avail. I was told given my experience I would be paid above what they normal start employee's out at, only to find out a couple weeks later that I was only making 41 cents more than someone with absolutely NO EXPERIENCE.
4. By working here I am getting further and further in debt, I cannot even make my monthly payments and have enough money to buy groceries for my family, so I have to choose.

I want so badly to start my own business because I feel that I have nothing to lose at this time. But I am afraid to take that plunge for a few reasons..........
1. My spouse is self employed (wood & logging biz) and we aren't quite to the point that we can rely on that a sole income given it is still a newer business without a lot of extra income left over after expenses, not enought to maintain the household and business expenses by itself.
2. I have 3 young children at home, so when I am not working they demand my attention. To be gone from home at my current job and on the road for 50 hours a week then to go home and work on my own business 20-30 hours a week would not be fair to them.
3. Obviously, as you can tell the economy in my area is not all that well. The job market is nill, for each advertised job there are well over 100 applicants (qualified or not) applying for the job, and considering this is a smaller rural community that is a lot of people looking for employment.
If I decide to do this I want to jump in head first in order to make it go. But with limited income to start my business, and given the present economy in my area I am afraid I will fail and be unable to support my family. I question my skills and abilities as to what skills that I have that are in fact marketable in an area such as the one where I live.

I have a variety of office and management experience and I enjoy the HR aspect very much. I have even considered focusing on reviewing, prescreening, and doing reference checks on applicants to narrow downt the search for area employers in order to free up their valuable time. I do not have a degree however in this area but I would like to pursue starting my business as a Business Support Service for small business and entrepreneurs. I feel the investment would be minimal to start but I question if this area would be receptive to my business idea. In addition, I had considered a gift basket business, so I had thought I could incorporate errand running and personalized gift shopping and/or creation for area business as a marketing or recognition tool for their employees, clients, etc.

Any ideas, input, or suggestions would be so greatly appreciated. I need inspiration, moving to a different locale is not an option right now, and finances are tight. Any additional motivation would be welcome.

Thank you in advance,
Tam