Going it alone in business may be rewarding, but don't expect it to be easy. Ask Carrick-on-Shannon-based businessman Stephen Hennessy.
An accountant by profession, he worked in Dublin and London before returning to north Roscommon. He decided to start his own business in 1994 and Country Cooking Co Ltd went into operation with a staff of just two from premises in Drumkeeran, producing high-quality frozen meals.
"From being a potential consumer and having seen the success of Marks and Spencer's food in the UK, I saw there was a gap in the market for convenience food that tasted good," he says.
He employs trained chefs to guarantee quality and Country Cooking products are now available nationwide in all major supermarkets.
By 2000, the company was a success story. Employment had risen to 14 and a vegetarian organic range won an award for Best New Food Product in a national competition.
But Stephen didn't get much time to enjoy success. In August 2000 the factory in Drumkeeran burned to the ground. He was forced to let go staff and had problems getting restarted. After 10 months the company was back in production from newly built premises in Carrick-on-Shannon. There are now eight staff but he hopes to expand later this year or early next year and return to production levels reached before the fire.
He decided to start his own business because he had "a yearning to do something for myself" as opposed to working for others.
"It is a big step into the unknown from having a job and getting paid," he observes.
He believes attitudes have changed since 1994. "More and more people have done it since. Then people thought you had lost the run of your senses, but now it is seen more as a career progression."