Successful entrepreneurs don’t yield when confronted with a challenge, even one that seriously threatens their company’s very existence.

Almost every business leader will at some point confront such a challenge; capital costs, regulations, scale economics, to name but a few examples.

An entrepreneur is defined by the spark, ingenuity, innovation and even the courage to conquer these barriers. A daunting task but, believe me, there is always a way.

The sensational City tailor Graham Browne bespoke, for example, can’t compete with the major high-street department stores when it comes to competitive pricing – their inventory will be smaller and each item will, therefore, be more expensive.

The competitive focus, therefore, should be on quality, online presence and customer care. Pretty basic, straightforward thinking.

Another challenge many businesses face is finding the right systems with which to operate.

When I founded Today Translations, a platform with the capacity to handle and monitor complex language projects simply didn’t exist and, on a handful of occasions, working without an integrated management system cause me more trouble than I would have cared to have been in.

Having those insights was crucial for the business to run effectively, so I took upon myself to learn Visual Basic computer programming and begin building a database of my own.

That was more than 10 years ago. Since then it’s gone through a number of updates and refinements but it has always remained the core component of all business processes at Today Translations.

I also recently discovered that the workflow solution I’ve created is very special indeed and has been valued in the seven-figure region. When the time is right to commercialise the software, I believe it will offer other business leaders the same streamlined approach to project management as it offered me.

What did I learn? That taking a bold initiative can have as much an impact on your business as it can on you. And that I may have to found another business, as well.