I just picked up one of Seth Godin's books, Tribe. One of the things that Godin writes about that resonates with me is the thought process of why most of us do not follow up on starting our own businesses. In essence, Godin writes that a great many of us have good to excellent ideas but fear stifles us from acting on those ideas. He explains that this is not just a fear of failure or even a fear of bankruptcy. According to Godin, the fear that stifles us is the fear of criticism. The fear that others will laugh at our ideas or point out how stupid our ideas are. And ultimately we fear that should we fail then others will really humiliate us.
You should consider reading this book:
Who wants to be the guy in the movie Office Space that comes up with the "Jump to Conclusions" game idea? What a confused loser - remember he thought he was in an enviable situation after a car accident that left him in a body cast and with a halo brace screwed into his head. I'll bet a lot of our best ideas are never put into action because deep down we fear that we might be that guy.
This Kiplinger article with 8 examples of people that made a million dollars from their ideas ought to give you real perspective of what could happen when your ideas are acted upon.
