Can anyone make a million? Our guest editor Simon Woodroffe, founder of Yo! Sushi, thinks so. He offers 10 steps to business success and introduces a host of people, products and companies making a serious name for themselves.
I've met all sorts of people who've become successful, and many who've made millions. Creative sparks and plodders. Analysts and freethinkers. Happy people and dour do-ers. People who are good at figures or those like me who can hardly read a balance sheet.
What I've learnt is that there's no one formula. I think that as we go through life we metaphorically collect a box of tricks and techniques, both from experience and learning, things which work for us. We find out what is our own style.
There is, however, one exception, a common trait that I've observed, and that is that successful people don't go around succeeding all day. Successful people are willing to pick up the phone and be rejected, successful people are willing to try new things, successful people make mistakes and successful people fail.
It's only by stepping outside our comfort zones, risking rejection and discomfort and trying new things that opportunities to succeed arise. All initiatives, when analysed, have risk in them. That's why I think, especially for someone starting out, that a degree of ignorance combined with great enthusiasm is a winning formula.
We hear the statistics of failed businesses, but we don't hear what happened to those individuals who went on to do other things with the knowledge of what they learnt. I never met the person yet who went out to do what they dreamed of, even at the risk of their own financial security, and regretted it, regardless of whether they later succeeded or failed. But I have met many who looked back from later in life and wished they'd grasped an opportunity when it was there.
So I grasped the opportunity when I was invited to guest-edit this edition of Caterer. I want to share with you 10 lessons - thoughts and experiences, really - that I've learnt myself and from others when it comes to being an entrepreneur. Don't be afraid. Like I said, there's no one formula, but if you want to know how easy it is to make a million, then read on.
Watch an exclusive interview with Simon Woodroffe on CatererTV here >>
Read Simon Woodroffe's leader here >>