It's Just Emotion Are your feelings helping or hindering the start-up process?

We like to think that we're devoid of emotions in ourprofessional lives--that we make critical decisions with a businesshead and not a bleeding heart. The truth is that our emotionsfollow us wherever we go. In fact, for most entrepreneurs, bothpositive and negative emotions become even more acute during abusiness start-up.

It's a rare individual who doesn't get excited uponlanding his first account, or who doesn't feel the pain ofdisappointment when the business suffers a setback. Business is nota constant. Like life, it changes. When those changes correspondwith our desires or exceed our expectations, we're happy; whenthey don't, our emotions take a more negative turn.

Ann James, one of the founders of AmeriGyn, an OB/GYNphysician-practice management company in Nashville, likens goinginto business to being on a roller-coaster ride. "It's anextremely up-and-down situation," says James. Still in thestart-up phase of her business, she describes her current demeanor:"At the core I feel very confident, but on any given day Imight wake up and think, `Oh, my God, what am I doing?'Sometimes you have these tremendous fears. They're not rationalfears. They're not even fears you can resolve. I thinkthat's just part of leaping off into the literal unknown:trying to create a very significant business."