I read an interesting statistic today. According to Steven Hipple at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of Americans working for themselves has been on the decline over the past year -- dropping from 10.9 percent in the last quarter of 2009, to 10.0 percent in this the last quarter of 2010. While that might not seem like much, this decline adds up to hundreds of thousands of people who are leaving the ranks of the self-employed, or choosing not to join.

So, what's up with that?

I have always thought that when economic times are bad, the ranks of entrepreneurs swell as people who are unemployed -- or afraid they are close to it -- decide to start their own businesses. So, assuming that our economy is still on the rocks (is it really?), then the number of self-employed Americans should be going up, not down.

However, this push to entrepreneurship can be dulled by the lack of the right conditions for people to start their own businesses -- a lack of start-up financing, a perceived lack of opportunities, a lack of confidence about the future, or any number of other reasons.

I personally think that now is as good a time as ever to start a business. There are plenty of business opportunities out there today (there always are), and the Small Business Administration is putting significant pressure on banks to step up their lending. And as the economy continues to improve (the Great Recession is officially more than a year behind us now), potential entrepreneurs should be very confident for the future.

So, if you've been thinking about joining the ranks of the self-employed, what are you waiting for?