This week, an exciting thing happened at Simon Business Consulting. My company was nominated by Kansas City Volunteer Lawyers and Accountants for the Arts to be included among “Kansas City’s 2012 Entrepreneurial All Stars.” The program is sponsored by Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and KCSourceLink. SBC was recognized as energizing our economy and helping make Kansas City America’s most entrepreneurial region. This made me think about what attributes go into being a successful entrepreneur.

Entrepreneurs play a pivotal role in our nation’s economy. They are the sparkplug in our economy’s engine. It is their innovation, inspiration, and imagination that have made this country great.

The thought of becoming an entrepreneur strikes fear into the hearts of many. As an entrepreneur, you are the company’s president, CEO, CFO, head of HR, marketing manager, and head of sales. The same factors that drive entrepreneurship can be as equally frightening for many would-be entrepreneurs.

Fear of failure is one of the main reasons so many people do not go into business for themselves. To get your own business going, it’s necessary for you to overcome these fears. Fear is a good thing! Embrace it. Make friends with it. Fear will help you prepare better. It will motivate you to check, double check, even triple check everything.

Learn everything you can about starting a business. You’ll need to wade through the often treacherous legal and regulatory waters, learn a little bit of accounting along the way, network with other small business owners, and hustle for every client that comes in the door. It will be tough but very rewarding.

Take heart! You are probably more acquainted with the basic concepts of entrepreneurship than you think. The basics of doing business are the same no matter what size the business is. Whether your company is as big as General Motors or as small as a lemonade stand, they have a lot in common: sales, cost of goods, expenses, and profit.

Entrepreneurship offers many rewards, but one must be prepared and committed. Yes, there will be reverses. Yes, there will be setbacks. And yes, there will be failures. But the greatest failure is to not try. You don’t need a business degree or a wealthy benefactor. You don’t need a groundbreaking idea or a bottomless bank account. It doesn’t matter where you came from. It doesn’t matter what school you attended. Success can be yours if you are patient and are willing to work hard.

 Donald R. Simon, J.D./LL.M., is president and CEO of Simon Business Consulting, Inc., a firm providing consulting services such as business and marketing plan development, incorporations, intellectual property advising, franchising regulatory assistance, and presentations on the basics of starting a small business.  Send questions or comments to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  This blog is provided as a source of information and is not to be construed as legal advice or opinion, or to form an attorney-client relationship.  For legal advice, please consult an attorney.