What do Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and you all have in common? No business degree. Today’s Accidental Entrepreneurs starting up businesses are wary of starting up a business without having a business degree. Not only are they wary, they’re fearful. And that’s costing them, big time. How so? Because that question: how do I start up a business without a business degree, is playing into their number one fear about starting up a business – what if I fail? And that is shutting them down.

Well, I’m here to tell you that nothing could be farther from the truth. While having a business degree would make some things easier, having a business degree does not guarantee business success, and is no guarantee that your business won’t go belly up.

If you’d like to allay your fears and get an answer to your question, you’ve come to the right place. Here are five steps that everyone with a business degree has to do before starting up a business, that you can do too.

Five Steps to Take Before Starting Up a Business to Insure Its Success

1. Check your passion and conviction levels – Bill Gates is passionate about his work. He loves what he does and willing does it. Despite the many challenges, problems, and headaches he faces, one of the things that drive him is his absolute passion and conviction about what he is doing. Do you have that same level of passion and conviction?

2. Understand the business industry you’re getting into – Your next step to starting up a business is to get to know your industry. Find out how other people in similar businesses are doing. Ask successful business owners hat their biggest problems are. Find out from failed business owners what mistakes they made. Both Bill Gates and Steve Jobs learn from their mistakes and the mistakes of other businesses. So can you.

3. Determine if you have something that other people want – Who is your niche market? How big is that market? Does your product or service fill an unfilled or underserved need? How do you get in contact with them? Bill and Steve know how, do you?

4. Tweak and test again – Next, test out your product on your market. Then pay attention to the feedback you receive. Then tweak, and test again. Steve Jobs has perfected tweaking and testing to the point where Macintosh has one of the most stable operating systems in the industry.

5. Create a Business Plan – The most important reason to have a business plan is to clarify where you are taking your business, what you are focusing on, and how you plan to get there. Do you think Bill or Steve started up Microsoft or Apple without a business plan?

Don’t have a business degree; you’re in good company. According to SCORE, most people starting up a business do so without a business degree. They are started by people with passion and conviction who believe in what they are doing more than anyone else, and have done the research, testing, and planning to back it up. Follow the five steps above and you won’t need a business degree to start up. After all, neither did Bill Gates or Steve Jobs. What do Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and you all have in common? No business degree.