No Excuses! Starting a business can be scary, but don't let fear hold you back. These entrepreneurs had plenty of reasons not to go into business, but they did anyway--and you can, too.

Going with the notion that there are a lot of people who wishthey were running their own businesses but aren't, Office Depotcommissioned a survey in February 2004 to find out why startupsoften never start. As it turns out, most people have the sameexcuses for not beginning their own businesses.

According to market research and consulting firm HarrisInteractive, which did the recent workplace trend survey for OfficeDepot, a whopping 40 percent of American office workers haveconsidered starting a business, only to reject the idea. Theirexcuses? Thirty-seven percent of those polled haven't startedtheir own company because they lack the funding, 28 percent saidthey feared losing their job security, and 23 percent said they hadno viable business idea or plan.

We happen to think that when it comes to starting your ownbusiness, excuses are just that-excuses. Not that there aren'tvalid reasons for being cautious when starting a business, butexcuses can spiral out of control. People have a way of usingexcuses as a crutch, keeping their aspirations hobbled forlife.

And so we decided to talk to three entrepreneurs who had everyreason to let an excuse get in the way of starting a business-anddecided to pursue their dreams anyway.

No Money

Tara Krapes, 33, has a business that is poised to make at least$2.5 million in sales by the end of 2004. Not bad, considering shebegan her company in 2002 with $1,050 from her own savings.

Vesta ExecutiveHousing, based in Cincinnati and named for the Roman goddess ofhearth and home, offers executives temporary housing for 30 days ormore. Krapes has relationships with 42 top-notch apartmentcomplexes in the area. When a client comes to Vesta, Krapes eitherhas space ready for them, or, more often than not, she has to leasea new apartment for 12 months and hope that after her tenantleaves, she can fill it quickly. She almost always does-shecurrently has zero vacancies.

It seems impossible that she could have funded thisbusiness-with 12 employees and a second office in Lexington,Kentucky-with a paltry grand. Until you learn how she did it.

It helped that Krapes had experience in her field already. Allshe needed was one customer to begin, she figured. Once she foundone, she signed a lease at an upscale apartment complex and paidthe first month's rent-$1,050. From then on, whenever sheworked with any client, she always asked for the money upfront.

Krapes would invest the money back into her business bypurchasing furniture and other necessities for the living quartersor her company. And the more apartments she would rent from acomplex, the cheaper the rent and the more revenue her companycould pocket.

But most important, by coming up with a formula that allowed herto always get her money first, she says, "We avoided cash flowproblems. From that $1,050, we've been able to grow very fast.We've never had any debt or loans." Krapes quickly took ontwo partners, Paul Pelnar, 39, and Joel Makela, 30, friends andcolleagues who both had experience that she didn't. They werealso able to contribute some other items, like computer equipment,but no money.

"Eighty-five percent of people get their money from savingsor the three F's: family, friends and fools," says SuttonLandry, director of Northern Kentucky University's SmallBusiness Development Center in Highland Heights, Kentucky."For the [others], some kind of bank loan is involved. Veryfew people get VC funding or angel funding."

If you're wondering what the "slam-dunkqualifications" are for getting a big bank loan, Landry reelssome of them off: "Typically, it's someone who is betweenthe ages of 35 and 50, college-educated, and who has a net worth ofa quarter of a million dollars-plus a Beacon [credit] score of700-plus-with a business plan. It almost doesn't matter howgood the business plan is, as long as they have one. Ideally,they're going into a business where they have five to 10 yearsof experience-half of it in management. Most banks will look atthat type of profile, do the credit scoring, and say 'Yeah,these people would rather die than not pay a loanback.'"

But what if you're 26, utterly broke, and wishing you hadgotten an MBA instead of a degree in American folklore? Landry saysif your credit is halfway decent, you might be able to findsomebody to cosign a loan-and "you'll need a businessplan, a good business plan," he says.

Beyond that, you're simply going to have to rely on thatcan-do spirit. "Starting your own business involvessacrifice," says Landry. "Unfortunately, we're not asociety that's much interested in sacrifice. But on a practicalside, that's how most startup businesses begin. They start parttime, and they're constantly re-investing money into thebusiness. It's the same model that a lot of immigrants havewhen they come to this country, where people work three jobs tobuild the savings they need. But instead of getting a second job,you're running your business in the evenings and onweekends."

Krapes echoes that thought. She had one serious cash crunch whenshe discovered how few people need housing during theend-of-the-year holidays: "We didn't pay ourselves for afew months."

No Job Security

Five years ago, when Clayton Christopher was 25, he quit a verylucrative job to start his own all-natural bottled iced teacompany, Sweet Leaf Tea, in Austin, Texas.

Christopher had been working at a medical supplies company sincehigh school, and by the time he finished college, he was a giftedsalesperson with good benefits and a wonderful salary. But he hadgotten it into his head that he was going to start a bottled icedtea company-he has always loved the beverage. Christopher quit hisjob, sank his life savings ($25,000) into the business, and movedback in with his parents, who were supportive but thought he was alittle, well, insane. Every day, he worked on his iced tea company,using large pillow cases as tea bags and swishing them around ingiant pots.

Before long, Christopher spent $5,000 on a 6-year-old formermilk truck with 300,000 miles on it and began traveling the state,trying to sell his tea. Today, his business has surpassed the $1million mark in sales, and his tea is in grocery stores nationwide,including Albertson's and Kroger as well as 7-Elevenstores.

Steve Donahue, a motivational speaker, life coach and author,thinks Christopher did the right thing. "Job security is amirage," says Donahue, who has been big on desert imagery eversince he crossed the Sahara desert and wrote about it in his book,Shifting Sands: A Guidebook for Crossing theDeserts of Change. "In fact, job security is one ofthe biggest mirages we follow-your company could be bought out,your security manager could imitate Enron, new technology mightmake your project or product irrelevant."

If you need convincing that leaving your job is the rightdecision, Donahue suggests some alone time. "Go somewherequiet, turn off the TV, unplug the phone, and ask yourself whatreally matters and what you really want."

He also suggests a "reverse risk assessment":"Ask yourself 'What are the risks if I don't leavewhat I'm doing?' Fast forward, and imagine yourselfembroiled in the same office politics, doing the same things. Workis such a big part of our lives. Our work shouldn't be killingus-it should be feeding us."

Indeed, every once in awhile, Christopher thinks about what hislife might be like if he was still in his old job-and he shudders."Life's just too short to waste it doing something youdon't want to do, like selling medical supplies."

No Plan

Jeff Goldstein, 36, plunged into his business without a businessplan-but with his two best friends, Todd Eischeid and ChadWalldorf, both also 36. Today, they own StickyFingers RibHouse, a chain of 14 casual-dining ribs and barbecueeateries in Florida, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.They have also partnered with Amazon.com to offer their productsvia mail order, and their business brings in $25 million peryear.

Goldstein says that the friends still don't have a businessplan. His idea for a ribs and barbecue restaurant came from hisparents, who moved from Tennessee to Charleston, South Carolina.They noted the lack of such a place to eat and then suggested,half-jokingly, "You should come down here and open aMemphis-style rib house, and it would go over reallywell."

At the time, says Goldstein, he had been working at exactly sucha restaurant "for 10 months, and that was about the extent ofmy experience." He began pestering his friends, insisting theyshould go into business together. They finally agreed-after afew drinks at a bar. "But when I first called them," saysGoldstein, "they thought I was crazy."

Goldstein says they didn't have a plan or much of an ideabut "knew how to cook ribs and barbecue. We knew the type ofequipment we had to buy, we knew the brand of ribs and porkshoulders that were the best, and we knew how important it was thatthose were perfect every time."

They shared the startup costs of $25,000 by persuading all theirparents to cosign loans. The downside was that, because theydidn't have much of a plan, they never really knew what theywere doing. As Goldstein recalls, he was saying goodbye to one ofthe last customers on opening night and asked how everything was.The reply was bittersweet: "We didn't get anything weordered, but it was sure good."

There was a lot of stress among Goldstein, Eischeid andWalldorf. One night, they almost got into a fistfight in thekitchen-something to do with baked beans, Goldstein recalls.When they considered opening a second restaurant, Goldstein wasagainst it-until his partners pointed out that, with tworestaurants, they wouldn't have to work near each other asoften.

"Our 20s are a complete blur," says Goldstein."We made every mistake in the book, but we covered up for itby working really hard and being especially committed to greatservice. We learned quickly and got lucky. Of course, some mightargue that we still don't know what we're doing."

What may be more vital than a plan is settling into some sort ofrhythm of doing business. Goldstein says they don't have anytimetable for adding new restaurants-it depends on when anemployee has risen through the ranks and fully understands how tomanage and operate a Sticky Fingers. He says that they will neverfranchise; the only way to run a Sticky Fingers is to start out asa server or a cook.

And while business expert Frank Fantozzi recommends having abusiness plan-few people would argue against a plan-heagrees that, "You don't need a full business plan to starta business." More important is understanding who your clientbase is, says Fantozzi, president of Planned Financial Services inCleveland. "You [need] somebody who's going to buy yourproduct or service. If you can't do that, you're acharity."

If there's a reason for their success, says Goldstein,it's that "we're always trying to make our businessbetter," he says. "We're successful because wedon't think we're successful. If we're any good at all,it's because we think we suck."

is a writer in Loveland, Ohio.