Starting a small business
Start by creating a plan. You'll need a business plan, and a sales plan can be helpful also. If you don't have a business plan, chances are you won't have a successful business. Your plan doesn't have to be super detailed, it can be 3-5 pages long and cover everything in a general sense. You can add specifics later.
Figure out where you are going to get the funds from to start your small business. Are you going to apply for a loan? Try apply for a grant before you go into too much debt with loans. Consider selling things to come up with the extra money, but don't put your house up for collateral or anything like that. Times are hard, and you don't want to chance losing your house because of a failed business venture.
Keep in mind that starting a small business is a lot of work. You have to worry about running everything yourself, as well as things like small businesses taxes, expenses, and more. It's a good idea to take a business accounting class or two if you have the time, just so you have an easier task ahead of you when tax time rolls around.
Another downside of being self employed is health insurance. Finding insurance for self employed folks is not an easy task. Health insurance is so expensive, even for the average working man (or woman), so health expenses are definitely something to keep in mind before you quit your day job to become your own boss.
All in all, starting your own small business can be a great experience, full of lessons learned for everyone involved. And who knows, you may come up with some awesome small business ideas and strike it rich like that Facebook guy did!