Many of us have thought about starting our own business.  We have a passion, an expertise, an intuition that our idea might work.  And the reality is that, even if you are gainfully employed, rarely is a job secure and someday, you may have no choice but to be self-employed.  So why not do something now?  

We hesitate to test ideas, for lots of reasons – most of which have to do with lack of resources:  money, time, people, materials or the requisite knowledge.  And we implicitly adopt an all or nothing approach to starting a business – which sets us up for failure.

An alternative methodology is to invest small amounts.  For example, what could you do with $500.00 to assess the viability of your product, service or business model?  Set a goal and time frame to test the feasibility and whether it is worth another small investment of whatever resources are needed, to move the idea along – or re-shape it.

Don’t be in for a penny and a pound when figuring out if your idea or some version of it might be feasible. Opt for the penny.

This article originally appeared on donnadecarolis.com.