By David Ryan, an EO Ottawa member and President of Electronic Time Capsule.

At age 31, I have just sold my nine-year-old insurance business to live my dream.

As entrepreneurs, we extrapolate, create and execute. We spend much of our time doing and orchestrating, but it all begins with one thing: To live the dream, one has to dare to dream. I think, as entrepreneurs, that’s where it all begins.

Over the years, I’ve had more than one dream that I was eager to pursue— ideas that hit me and that I thought I could put into practice. Some that might have worked (such as a lawn ornament to cover gas meters) and others that were shot down by market studies (like my idea for an internal automotive garbage system to decrease litter).

Sound familiar?