What does it take to start your own company from scratch?

Try nerves of steel and a willingness to take risks. These two things are at the core of every entrepreneur.

For the working masses, the comforts of the office and the regular paycheck may numb us into submission, and file down our willingness to take risks so much that we no longer see entrepreneurship as a viable option for our professional life. I myself have experienced the comforts of being an employee, having been one for the past ten years; my entire professional life can be decribed as a slow crawl towards bigger and better things, professionally speaking. For the longest time, the goal was to find the best job and work that job till I retired.

But then something happened along the way – I met a few entrepreneurs.

It might have seemed like a minor thing – I would be assigned to interview one person, and I would go to the interview – but the effect that it has had on me has been nothing short of profound. Talking to people like Joanna Duarte and Marta Matute have really forced me to rethink my career plans; setting up my own business is now a viable option that I am now in the process of seeing through to reality.

Why the sudden change in direction? Well, let’s just say I have seen the light. It’s tough to be an entrepreneur, no doubt, but hit on that one good idea and the rewards may be phenomenal. Of course, it often takes nerves of steel to run your own business, but, as many successful entrepreneurs will tell you, courage brings its own rewards.

I’ve also realized that starting a business is not all hit or miss – if you have a good idea, taking the risk and gettig up the courage to start something is only one part of the process. The other aspects of running a successful business are more related to the “howsâ€?? of execution, so they can be learned; there are best practices in every industry you can gain insight from, so developing efficient processes are achievable even for a start-up.

Maybe a lot of you have considered starting your own business at one point in your lives; my advice is to consider it some more. Better yet, go forth and set-up – even on a small scale. Sometimes what stops us is not the infeasibility of an idea, but things like not knowing where to start, or perceiving the path of the entrepreneur as difficult and unrewarding. Nothing could be further from the truth. You can actually make a decent life for yourself as an entrepreneur, all it takes is a little courage and tenacity, along with a willingness to take calculated risks. Give it a shot one time, and you may discover that it’s the career path you’ve always wanted.