Can I Really Start My Own Business?

Why start a business?

We reckon there are three good reasons:

Firstly, it's a good opportunity to make fat piles of cash - although we'd like to think that it's about more than just money.

More importantly, you get to be your own boss. This was a big motivation for Dragons' Den's Sarah Willingham, who set up her own restaurant chain because she didn't want someone else telling her where she had to be on on a Monday morning.

Finally, real business can be very different to the sort of thing you might see on the telly.

There's a lot more to it than being given a good going over by Peter Jones and Deborah Meaden!

Isn't it all a bit daunting?

We get it - it's all well and good Sarah telling us how much fun business is, because she's worth several million pounds.

But she and fellow dragon Nick Jenkins both worked for other people, and built up their experience before they started their own businesses.

It took them years to get where they are today.

How do I get started?

All of our experts agree that it helps to have experience before you set up your own business, and if you want work experience with Steve Bartlett's multi-million pound company Social Chain you'll have to really think outside the box.

Steve doesn't accept CVs. That's why the last person who got an internship at his company decided to send their request in - yep, you guessed it - attached to an owl.

Obviously some companies do prefer emails to birds of prey, but it's important to stand out from the crowd.

When you're looking to persuade people to back your business it helps to know what you're talking about. Getting experience of the industry is a great way of building your knowledge and understanding, says Dragons' Den's Nick Jenkins:

(BBC)