| Passion and Persistance, combined with knowledge that doing the same thing over and over does not equate to different outcomes.
Starting a business and living are often times contradictory, especially if the business is going to be big. A friend had some great insight. "You may really want that peice of capital equipment, it will save you months of development time, but unfortunately, you cannot eat it" It comes down to reducing ones living expenses to the bare minimum, such that one can put everything else into the business. Its hard, very hard, but if you are passionate about your idea, its doable. If not, the idea may need some more review. However, please note this is applicable only to BIG ideas. If one wants to build a smaller $1MM-$5MM operation, thats another story.
Here's an example. A lady is passionate about crafts, she puts in hundreds of hours, and when everything is said and done, at the end of the year she makes $1/hour. If her goal is to become the next gift basket phenomena, $1/hour is great, as its a start and an investment in the future. If otoh, she wants to run a flea market or small internet business and make it her sole source of a moderate income, the $1/hr figure is a loosing proposition.
In your case, you need to combine both aspects, first a small entity to provide for food shelter etc, and then leverage the knowledge gained during the bootstrapping process for the big entity you want to become. It will take longer, otoh, the potential of doing so with minimum dilution up front may well compensate for the additional grief you will go through.
Ron |