Researching again – honestly – your correspondent’s eye was caught by the story of a Cambridge graduate who has left her safe, well-paid employment to set up a belly dancing business.

...well, actually, your correspondent’s eye was caught by the picture of a pretty girl with a nice smile in a belly dancing outfit, but it turns out that there was also a business-related story attached to it.

Ignoring the exotic nature of the business for a second, here are many of the elements of the classic model of entrepreneurial success.

First, a talented person becomes frustrated by the routine of the nine-to-five and by being told what to do by the less talented.

Second, unlike most talented people, she also has the guts – no pun intended – to do something about that frustration.

Finally, she finds her passion.

It is one of the great paradoxes that if one is so passionate about something that one wants to do it even if one is not successful, the more likely one is to be successful. The passion keeps one going in the tough times. The passion drives one to keep practising until one gets good.

So, while there are no guarantees in business, this brave dancer has the most important ingredient for success: she has a fire in her belly – again, no pun intended – for what she is doing.

Of course, the passion of the true entrepreneur is for enterprise itself, so the actual business matters little, but without a passion for something, and the courage to follow that passion, one cannot succeed in business or anything else.  

Certainly, once one finds that passion, there is no going back to life as it was without it.