To me, starting a new business is just about the most exciting thing you can do (in a work context, I hasten to add). I find it really thrilling to think of all that new business we’re going to win, all that publicity we’re going to attract, all those diems we’re going to carpe. It’s like looking through the window at a brand new covering of snow, and getting all excited by the prospect of crunching around and having a big snowball fight.

But what I sometimes forget is that lots of people don’t see it like this. What looks like an opportunity to me looks more like a risk to them; whereas I tend to focus on the potential outcome, they worry about all the problems in between here and there. Where I see fresh snow, they see slippery pavements and dirty footprints on the hall carpet. I think the big challenge for entrepreneurs is to take these people with you, to convince them it’s a risk worth taking – and if you can’t do that, you need to make sure they don’t suck all the energy out of you before you even start.

I was reminded of that this week when I told some of my senior team about my plans for the new business – which is good to go, now I’ve agreed terms with Ace (the new guy who’s going to manage it for me). Ordinarily, I’d do this kind of thing individually – people tend to be more sensible on their own – but the timings were awkward because of holidays etc, so in the end I had to get them all in a room at once. I’d discussed it with them at various stages before, of course, so they know roughly what was happening – but that didn’t stop them being a bit fretful.

Will you be spending less time on the core business? Aren’t you worried about doing something new in the current climate? Do our clients actually want to pay for this? Is this new guy going to be a good fit with the rest of the team? Will this involve any extra work for the rest of us? How is this going to affect our options? Thhis was the kind of stuff they were asking. And that’s fair enough – they’re all good questions, and I tried to answer them as best as I could. But I wasn’t exactly overwhelmed with their enthusiasm, let’s put it that way. In fact, most of them seem more nervous about failing than excited about winning.

Surprisingly, the most helpful contribution came from my money-loving salesperson Mammon. I had thought he’d be a bit dubious about any idea that didn’t involve him being the star of the show, but he’s actually been quite supportive. It helped that I took him to meet Ace the other night and, after about half an hour of circling each other like rutting stags, they got on like a house on fire (though I’m not sure whether to be pleased or worried about that). Well, it won’t be easy,’ he said, when someone asked him for his opinion. ‘But I think we have to trust SD’s judgment on this one. If she thinks it’s a winner, then I’m going to take her word for it.’

I know what you’re thinking: there’s a man who knows what side his bread’s buttered on. But that’s the kind of attitude I expect. I don’t expect them to be as enthusiastic about this (or indeed anything) as I am – it’s not their style, and to be honest I probably need people like that around to rein in my excesses. But what I do know is that pessimism is catching – and if we go into this expecting to fail, then we definitely will…