Today I was writing one of the closing chapters of my book; entitled ‘take a leap’.  It’s about what you have to do to move from thinking about success, to doing something about it and tonight I had a vivid example of this watching Dragons Den.

It’s a UK programme in which five self-made multi-millionaires listen to entrepreneurs as they pitch their business ideas and ask for a capital injection of cash in return for a percentage of their company.  Their job is to decide whether they want to invest with them and the capital injection asked for is anything between 50-200 thousand pounds.

It’s not for the faint hearted though and you can’t help but be struck by the different fates of people who enter the den.  Some entrepreneurs get a real mauling if they haven’t prepared properly or even worse if they try to take the dragons for fools.

Some over value their company, some ask for too much money, some haven’t done their homework and tonight’s episode ended in a nail-biting climax as all five dragons tried to outbid each other to stake a claim in the business of one of the entrepreneurs who wanted £200,000 for a stake in their company.

That was a den first and you just knew that all the dragons thought that this company would really make money for them and be successful.  What the dragons are looking for is a real return on their investment and that usually requires a business that is scalable i.e. you can make it bigger over time with a greater return on profit as it grows.

From my perspective, I always walk away from the programme with mixed feelings.  On the one hand I marvel at what people are prepared to invest and lose in order to start up their own business, on the other hand you can’t but admire some people determination, even in the face of being told by the dragons that their business is never going to make money.

And then sometimes, it’s just not a business for them, they can’t invest because they won’t get a return but they think it’s a good idea.  these are often Lifestyle businesess, started because the entrepreneur is passionate about what they do and actually they can be very successful on their own terms, it may just not make you a billionaire, but then again it might.

I see lots of people with internet businesses who are making 7 figures plus, turning over a tidy profit and doing very well and the occasional one who is making millions although how sustainable it is, is anyone’s guess.

So it’s important to see your internet business in its own right.  More often that not  it won’t be scalable, nor would you ask an investment company for 50 or 100k to invest in it.  Yes we all know stories of Facebook and other internet businesses that used this model but they are following a very corporate business model, most of the people I talk to want a business for their lifestyle based on their passion

I write this because ‘taking a leap’ means that you are taking a risk at some level, to succeed or fail.  Investing capital, leaving paid employment to start-up, it’s all about taking a leap.

In a year from now I’ll look back and see whether financially it’s been worth it, but from an independence of mind point of view, I now my leap has already been a success, because I was prepared to measure success on my own terms.

If you’re ready for that leap into the unknown, you may not end up in Dragons Den, but at least you’d know that you tried and after all, there’s only one way forward and staying still won’t move you on, go on, leap……