text: who has been succesful starting their own business and how?   there are so many "how's"  boy oh boy... one thing i can say is that you have to have patience.  you have to have it in your mind that you will work with it through the profitless times.    you will need to have a "real" job in the mean time.  because your bills will still keep coming even though your income won't. a huge percent of start up business lose money in the beginning. they say that the majority of them go under within the first 5 years.  if you can make it past that point you have a shot at keeping it going and actually haveing it be profitable.  i have my own business and it took about 2 (two) years before i got my first order!!  i have now been in business for about 5 years and making money.  if i wanted to i could even have enough to do in order to hire employees.  but it took time.    the second most important thing  - i must stress this - it is very important - you must have something that others want.   wether it is a service or a product... if others don't want it you will not make a penny.    good luck with it!!