Do You Have What It Takes to Start and Build a Business?

Over the last 40 years I’ve met thousands of people considering starting a business, and I’m consistently struck by how many begin the journey in the same way.

Many reach a breaking point — frustration with employment, redundancy, or dissatisfaction with their current role — and conclude: “I have a great idea, I’ll go for it.” And for most, emotion and impulse lead, rather than structured, rational assessment. Few pause to evaluate whether they truly have the ability to build a business, or whether the idea itself has commercial merit.

Too often there is no market research, no financial modelling and no business plan and very few people get an independent assessment of their idea by an expert.  Instead, they ask family and friends for their views with most being supportive, often uncritically. Added to this, media narratives create the impression that funding is abundant.  In reality, external finance is very difficult to secure and highly selective. Over 90% applications for grants or investment are declined. If you want a startup loan, it will have to be in your personal name and if you don’t keep up the repayments, the lender could enforce security. Unsurprisingly, therefore, that over 60% startups cease trading within 3 years.

Based on my personal experience of starting and building 5 businesses, this article outlines the considerations everyone should examine before starting a business — beginning with an honest appraisal of their personal suitability, followed by practical groundwork. Crucially, prospective founders should also ensure their family understands the implications: financial risk, time commitment, and emotional pressure if the venture, fails.

Foundational Questions to Ask Yourself

Before progressing, it’s worth reflecting on several practical questions:

• Have you validated that customers are willing to pay for your product or service?

• Do you understand your target market, competitors, and positioning?

• Have you stress-tested your idea financially (costs, margins, cash flow)?

• Can you sustain yourself without income during the startup phase?

• Is your support network fully informed and supportive of the risks?

These questions don’t discourage entrepreneurship — they improve the odds of success.

Characteristics of Successful Business Builders

Those who build sustainable businesses tend to share a combination of behavioural traits, skills, and habits. These are rarely innate; most are developed by experience.

Core Traits and Mindset

• Resilience and Persistence: The capacity to absorb pressure, manage multiple priorities, recover from setbacks, and continue operating decisively under uncertainty.

• Vision and Purpose: Clarity about long-term direction and the ability to articulate it convincingly to employees, customers, suppliers and partners.

• Adaptability and Flexibility: Early-stage founders must wear many hats and pivot strategy based on customer feedback or market signals.

• Passion and Drive: Intrinsic motivation — not solely financial ambition — sustains effort through long hours and ambiguity.

• Self-Motivation and Discipline: Entrepreneurs operate without external structure. Progress depends on personal initiative, ability to make decisions and execution.

• Confidence: A solid belief in one’s judgement, balanced by openness to change direction, accept evidence and answer challenge.

• Curiosity: Continuous questioning and learning about markets, customers, and emerging opportunities.
  

Strategic and Practical Skills

• Calculated Risk-Taking: Effective founders assess probabilities, downside exposure, and mitigation strategies before committing resources.

• Financial Literacy: Understanding pricing, margins, cash flow cycles, and working capital is essential — profitability does not guarantee liquidity.

• Leadership and Team Building: Recognising personal capability gaps and recruiting staff with complementary skills and experience.

• Customer- driven: Align offerings with genuine customer needs, not founder assumptions or being product-driven.

• Decisiveness: Maintaining momentum by making informed decisions, often with incomplete information.

• Communication Skills: Negotiation, persuasion, and relationship-building with  suppliers, partners, funders and other stakeholders across the value chain.

Productive Habits

• Lifelong Learning: Keeping pace with industry trends, market developments, technology, and regulatory change.

• Time Management: Balancing priorities and making judgement calls.

• Evidence-Based Decision Making: Tracking financial and performance metrics and KPIs rather than relying on instinct.

Practical Preparation Before Launch

In addition to mindset and capability, prospective founders should undertake concrete preparation:

• Conduct structured market research

• Build and test a minimum viable offering

• Prepare realistic financial projections

• Understand regulatory and tax obligations

• Identify funding sources and constraints

• Develop contingency plans for underperformance

This groundwork reduces avoidable risk and sharpens strategic focus.

Final Reflection

Successful business creation is not driven solely by enthusiasm or ideas. It requires determination, self-belief, disciplined risk-taking, a dose of good luck and acceptance of potential consequences if the venture, fails. In my experience, It’s been a roller-coaster journey, working long hours, dealing with the unexpected for which you have to be prepared and able to cope. And, those who approach entrepreneurship with realism — not romanticism — give themselves the strongest chance of building something sustainable. Onwards and upwards!