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So you've come up with a great idea for a business. Or perhaps you've seen that guy from Swaziland that had made a bazillion dollars doing something that hasn't hit your town yet. You can just copy it, and you've got yourself a money making machine.

You talk to friends. You do the math. You've finally found it; that one great idea that will mean you 'make it'. Just like the guys you've been reading about on the front cover of Fast Company, or Entrepreneur magazine.

<img class="aligncenter" alt="Fast Company Front Cover" src="http://images.fastcompany.com/upload/facebook-cover-2007.jpg" />

The problem with this story is that... it's a myth. Well not quite, it's worse. It is a red herring that could forever delude you into thinking that the way to be successful in business is to come up with the next 'great' idea, get venture capital funding, party and then IPO. Or perhaps that you need an Angel, or to win The Lion's Den. But the reason this myth is so believable is that this fairy-tale does actually happen. For 1 in 25,000,000 people. It's not playing the odds, but you'll take what you can.

If you want to stack the odds in your favour, you can make sure you were born in the United States. And come from an upper middle class family, so that when you pretend you are taking risks, your ass isn't really on the line. Being white also certainly helps. And after you manage to do all this, make sure that you are less than 22 years old. Otherwise your past it.

<strong>Don't like your chances?</strong>

Well the good news, is that although this garage-to-billionaire approach is a mere illusion to most, I've met a lot of very successful business people who've proven to me that hard-work, focus and tenacity can get you where you want to be. 

But first let me share with you my experiences...

I have had three businesses so far; one successful - in that it set me up financially, one that lost me around $300,000 and one that was a passion project that I had a lot of fun with, but ultimately cost me about $30,000.

The $300,000 loss was the result of nothing more than immense enthusiasm, falling for the 'magazine myth' of success, and a delusion that just because something seems like a great idea, success is inevitable. It isn't . The lesson is that the only judge of a business idea is if you can get sales. And preferably, repeat sales from a good customer. End of story.

<blockquote>Forget the notion that you need a breakthrough idea to start a successful business.

What you actually need is <strong>a customer.</strong></blockquote>

Although the $30,000 lost on another idea was a loss, I'm actually proud of it. The reason for this is that I spent the least amount possible to successfully test whether the opportunity had legs: I found an idea that offered an opportunity and I strategically tested the market. I leveraged my other business to give it a go, and in the end (when it was clear that it wouldn't get traction in the marketplace), I gracefully exited. It was hardly the triumph I wanted, but I lived to fight another day and didn't 'bet the house'.

Another thing I've found is that while it is imperative that you invest enough in testing the market with a business idea, investing more does not increase the likelihood of success. You are much better of investing $10,000 testing 10 ideas, than $100,000 on one idea. How hard you try makes little difference, again... the *only* judge of a business idea is successful sale.

<blockquote>These experiences have reinforced the importance of 'Bootstrapping'</blockquote>

I'll 
