Do you remember the original Star Wars moment when Han Solo, played by Harrison Ford, had to escape capture by Imperial cruisers?

Someone aboard asked him if he knew how unlikely escape was.

He shot back, Never tell me the odds!

I love that, and every aspiring small businessperson should adopt this outlook.

Weve all heard the odds that predict 90% of all start-ups will fail within three years, or so, havent we?

Who cares?

That new hair salon, and that newspaper delivery service, and that independent insurance agent down the street may close their doors, but what do they have to do with me?

They may have started out at exactly the same moment, but their destinies arent mine. Yet statistics suggest were all alike, and in this sense, statistics lie.

There are lots of reasons people strike out on their own, and profitability is certainly one of them. But another motive is to feel independent, self-reliant.

For the corporate drone who actually made it long enough to earn the gold watch from the huge corporation, doing everything by yourself and for yourself can be exhilarating.

Plus, it may be in the cards to have one or two losing ventures before you learn how to do it better. Maybe those failures are just parts one and two of a three part drama, yet theyre reported as miscues.

When I started my own independent consulting business over 20 years ago I never knew how unlikely my success was, and Im happy I didnt!