September 29th this year marks the beginning of the third annual Entrepreneur Week. Held in the Region of Waterloo, this premier event fosters the connections a new entrepreneur might require to be successful in today's business climate. It seems our region has a long history of producing people with the entrepreneurial spirit, and the week's sponsors will be there to encourage the next round of budding businesses. Featured speakers include notable entrepreneurs such as Heather Reisman (President and CEO of Indigo Books), David Caputo (CEO of Sandvine) and Jim Balsillie(co-CEO of RIM) just to name a few.

With such strong support for startups, it makes me wonder why there are not even more entrepreneurial success stories in our area. Shouldn't we be churning out new talent on a monthly basis? I think part of what is holding us back is that startups are most often associated with high financial risk, endless hours of hard work away from your friends and family, and the isolation felt outside of the corporate environment. Not exactly a pretty picture if you are thinking of taking the plunge into self employment.

But entrepreneurs should take heart. The picture of working on you own doesn't have to be set in a dungeon or a dragon's den. In the book "Startup Garden", author Tom Ehrenfeld speaks of the benefits of self-employment saying, "... you have more control over your own destiny – and realize a more immediate link between your behavior and the success of you business... You have the chance to truly design the job you want, and to create a product or service you deeply believe in."

Stephen Walli, an entrepreneur with local roots recently wrote about the level of control that working on your own provides. In his blog posting titled "Startup Mechanics: Security, Responsibility, and Equanimity," he points out that an entrepreneur is not only free to decide which direction to turn when making business decisions, but is also quite free to make his or her own mistakes. Personally taking those steps and making those decisions, good or bad, on your own instead of having them made for you can be a liberating and growing experience. Making mistakes is part of the process of learning about your particular line of business, and shouldn't be feared.

In his blog posting, Stephen also mentions that people often fear losing their sense of security when moving from the corporate world to an entrepreneurial role. He and others agree that this sense of security is a myth, especially in today's business climate. Entrepreneurs should be no more worried about failure than your average employee is worried about being laid off. Even if you do strike it out in your first attempts, you shouldn't throw in the towel. In the essay "How to do what you love," Paul Graham points out that "Plenty of people who will later do great things seem to be disappointments early on, when they're trying to find their niche." Paul also encourages people to pursue work that they enjoy and to make that pursuit a priority. He writes, "It's hard to find work you love; it must be, if so few do. So don't underestimate this task. And don't feel bad if you haven't succeeded yet."

With any luck, this year's Entrepreneur Week will inspire many a student and businessperson to take their passions to world. Maybe their mistakes and successes will end them up in the Waterloo Region Entrepreneur Hall of Fame, and most likely we'll all be a bit better for their trying.