By YOUNG MONEY Staff
14 June 2011

During an era when Mark Zuckerberg has taken a place for college students to keep in touch to a worldwide internet behemoth, the appeal of starting your own business seems obvious. The Wall Street Journal spoke with some young professionals who have taken the plunge and looked at what a startup needs to be successful.

Two distinct approaches present themselves from the examples the Journal highlights. Maia Josebachvili left her job as a derivatives trader to found Urban Escapes, a company that plans getaways for the kind of people Maia worked with in New York. The idea came to her after the stunning success of some weekly trips she put together just for fun, showing that a simple hobby can become a profession if the market exists.

Spencer Rubin, meanwhile, went into a restaurant-development firm with the clear goal of starting his own shop. Learning the ins and outs of the industry before risking his time and money, he was able to successfully start his own grilled-cheese restaurant in Manhattan.

In either case, starting a business requires an understanding of the market you're targeting and the willingness to sacrifice in order to establish your company. Maia suggests she worked three times as long for only around 2 percent of her prior salary while trying to set up Urban Escapes. However, the U.S. Small Business Administration reports that its small business loans have nearly doubled in size over the past two years, so the opportunity for entrepreneurs exists.