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Are you sitting at your desk, daydreaming of starting your own business? So, what’s stopping you? If you are like many aspiring entrepreneurs, the thought of controlling your own professional and financial destiny is both extremely appealing and totally frightening. Taking the leap requires courage, but certain fears often creep into our thoughts when we least expect it.

  • Fear of Failure
  • Fear of Success
  • Fear of the Unknown
  • Fear of losing everything that you’ve worked for so far in your “traditional” career.

So when is the perfect time to start your own business? In reality, there is no perfect time. There will always be obstacles. Perhaps the better question is, “Do I have the passion for starting my own business?”

Finding your passion.

Running a business of any kind requires an unyielding passion. If you have a business concept in mind that you truly love, that you can’t stop thinking about even when you are not “working,” then you are one step ahead of 95% of new business owners.

But don’t mistake “passion” for “resentment.” The two emotions can almost feel exactly the same. If you want to start your own business because you hate your job, hate your boss, or simply hate dealing with customers, then these feelings of resentment can lead you to make a wrong choice.

Business owners don’t usually work 9-5, Monday through Friday, at least, not at first. And you will likely make a lot of mistakes along the way without a supervisor or team of co-workers to help you clean up the mess afterward. But if you are passionate about your business concept, you’ll view these challenges as opportunities. Ask yourself these questions.

  1. Are you passionate about your business concept?
  2. Are you always thinking about new ways to improve it?
  3. Are you an independent thinker?
  4. Are you a problem solver?
  5. Are you organised?
  6. Do you have enough savings to live without income for at least 6-months?
  7. Do you have an incredible work ethic?
  8. Do you like taking risks?
  9. Do you perform better under pressure?
  10. Are you a great multitasker?
  11. Are you ready to break free?

Legend has it that Colonel Sanders traveled to 1009 different restaurants before someone finally said yes to his recipe for Kentucky Fried Chicken. Sanders was also 65-years old at the time. When someone asked Thomas Edison if he felt like a failure because he had tried 10,000 different ways to invent the electric light bulb, his response was “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”  Do you have this same level of passion and commitment? Then it may be time to take the leap and start your own business. Embrace your fears, and use them to power you forward.

Marc O'Dwyer

After completing a Graduate program in Marketing, Marc’s impressive sales career began at Allied Irish Banks, Pitney Bowes and Panasonic where he received numerous Irish and European sales performance awards and consistently exceeded targets and expectations. In 1992, Marc’s entrepreneurial spirit led him to set up his own business, Irish International Sales (IIS). Initially, this company was a reseller for Take 5 Accounts and Payroll software. Within four years, IIS became the largest reseller of Take 5 in Ireland, acquiring four other Take 5 resellers. He also found time to set up two mobile phone shops under the Cellular World brand and a web design company offering website design services for small businesses. In 2001, he bought the majority share in a small Irish software business, Big Red Book. At that time, the company was losing money. The company became profitable within two months, and Marc then acquired a payroll company to compliment Big Red Books Accounting products. In 2003, IIS were appointed as Channel Partners with SAP for their new SME product, SAP Business One. Marc sold his Take 5 business and concentrated on developing this new market for SAP As a result, by 2007, IIS was recognised as the largest Channel Partner for SAP in EMEA (Europe Middle East and Africa). In 2008, the IIS Sales Manager bought the Company from Marc in an MBO. He launched Big red cloud in June 2012, the online version of big red book, to date the company successfully converts 59% of trials into sales and the number of customers is growing rapidly. Marc continues to run both Big Red Book and Big Red Cloud which now support 75,000 businesses. He is a very keen sportsman, having played rugby for 20 years, represented Leinster at under 16 and under 20 levels, and league squash with Fitzwilliam Lawn Tennis Club for 10 years. Marc has competed in 11 Marathons, including the London and Boston Marathons, and has completed several Triathlons and Half Ironman races. He has also completed six Ironman Races in Austria(x2), Frankfurt (Germany), Nice (France) , Mallorca (Spain) and Copenhagen (Denmark)