Do you ever wonder what it would be like to own a company that becomes a leader in its field?

If so, you may be interested in hearing what Duane Jackson, CEO and founder of KashFlow has to say. Make no mistake, Duane is not your ‘average’ entrepreneur. For a start he’s been in trouble in the past, even spending a couple of years in prison.

But, as many people can and do, Duane turned his life around to become the successful businessman he is today. In 2006, he set up Kashflow – an easy to use accounting software package for small companies – and since then has received numerous awards and even praise from Microsoft founder Bill Gates!

Here’s what Duane had to tell the Big Academy about being an entrepreneur and staying motivated.

What do you love most about being an entrepreneur and having your own business?

The thing that I love most about my business is that it’s mine, so I can do whatever I want with it! It’s like having one big toy.

If tomorrow, I decide that I want to totally change what we do or how we do it then I can do. There is no boss to answer to or justify decisions to.

I like the fact that every day is different, that I can pick and choose what aspects of the business I work on and that I get to work with some very talented people.

I love technology too, so being able to play with new technology and see where and how we can use it to improve the business and benefit our customers is something I really like spending time on.

Why do you think you are successful at what you do?

I would love to claim that the reason we are the leading company in our field is because of a great foresight on my part – we were the first to do what we do, which is to provide the software online for a very low monthly fee instead of charging a large chunk of up-front cash. But, there really wasn’t any great foresight!

It was luck – I just happened to be in the right place at the right time and did what seemed the sensible thing to do.

Six year later, the whole software industry (including the mighty Microsoft) is moving to the business and software delivery model that we use.

I think our continued success is due to being genuinely passionate about what we do and understanding our customer needs. The product was developed for my own use when I was a running a very small business, so early on, my customers’ needs were the same as my own.

How do you keep motivated?

I think that a common misconception of entrepreneurs is that they super-motivated all of the time however I’m certainly not.

There are often days when I think life would be so much easier if I got a job working for someone else, maybe as a milkman! But you get over it and move on.

When I feel like this, what keeps me motivated is having and focusing on a goal. So not stressing over dealing with the smaller short term challenges, but instead seeing them as small steps needed to achieve the overall ambition.

What would you say to a young person who is feeling uninspired about life and work?

When you were young, your Mum probably told you that you are very special. Your teachers probably told you that if you work hard and get good grades then you’ll go on to great things. Both your parents and your teachers were lying.

You’re not special and having good qualifications doesn’t entitle you to anything.

Once you realise that and see that if you want something in life then you have to go and get it yourself, then things get a lot easier. Whether it’s the man / woman of your dreams, or a promotion or a big pile of cash – no one is going to turn up and hand it over to you on a plate.

You really can do just about anything you want to do in life, but it’s up to YOU to do it.

So if you’re feeling uninspired about life or work and you’re waiting for someone to come along and inspire you then you’re going to have a very long wait.

Go and look for inspiration, or better still – inspire yourself.

What do you think about The Big Academy and the work we’re trying to do, in helping all young people to get inspire and achieve success

Anything that brings together information for young people to help them achieve, has to be a good thing.

From what I can remember, going from education to the big bad world can be quite a daunting experience. So it’s great that you have one central location where people can go to in find out more about the opportunities that are open to them.