I guess Mr Gates, Branson, Sugar et al, to name but a few were all p*ssed on when they were starting out.
Sure. Compare yourself to Mr. Gates, Mr. Branson, Mr. O'Leary or whoever you want if you think that's going to help. When we start our own business we're always looking at the shiny examples, "10 habits of highly effective people" and similar things. What we do not realize, often, is that most of these guys have had a succession of lucky breaks, being at the right place and time when something important happened. Plus, to a large extent, they had a unique vision of what their customers wanted and the industry was not providing. Branson vs. BA for instance.
But now that we're talking about the shiny and successful companies in aviation, here's a list of just a few airlines that went bust in 2008. (Taken from the Dutch aviation forum atcbox.com.) Most of these thought they were the next Virgin, Easyjet or Ryanair but somehow failed. Leaving in their wake debts, angry customers, insurance claims, shattered dreams and so forth.
01/01/2008 Alpi Eagles
06/01/2008 Aero Airlines
08/01/2008 BRTJ BritishJet.com
23/01/2008 CST Coast Air
14/01/2008 FFP Prima Charter
30/01/2008 City Star Airlines
11/02/2008 VID Aviaprad Airlines
29/02/2008 Boston-Maine Airways
08/03/2008 BigSky
13/03/2008 GirJet
18/03/2008 DHI Adam Air
25/03/2008 QSC African Safari Airways
30/03/2008 Freedom Air
30/03/2008 Airclass Airways
31/03/2008 JAA Japan Asia Airways
29/04/2008 NTW Nationwide Airlines
28/04/2008 AAH Aloha Airlines
02/04/2008 AMT ATA Airlines
09/04/2008 OHK Oasis Hong Kong Airlines
27/04/2008 ESS Eos Airlines
20/04/2008 VCX Ocean Airlines
07/04/2008 SKB Skybus Airlines
05/04/2008 SYW Skyway Airlines
11/04/2008 SWX Swazi Express Airways
03/05/2008 Mihin Lanka
13/05/2008 AOL Angkor Airways
09/05/2008 EMX Euromanx
13/05/2008 FEA Far Eastern Air Transport
23/05/2008 Club Air
30/05/2008 SLR Silverjet
31/05/2008 CCP Champion Air
10/06/2008 Magnicharters
11/06/2008 Aerocondor
16/07/2008 Yeti Airlines
21/07/2008 Ankair
21/07/2008 One-Two-Go
29/07/2008 Riau Airlines
13/08/2008 GCO Gemini Air Cargo
04/08/2008 SER Aerocalifornia
05/08/2008 Avolar
05/08/2008 Nova Air
28/08/2008 OOM Zoom Airlines
28/08/2008 UKZ Zoom Airlines (UK)
09/09/2008 FUA Futura International Airways
09/09/2008 FGL Futura Gael
11/09/2008 Air Bee
12/09/2008 XLA XL Airways UK
15/09/2008 APKX Air Pack Express
15/09/2008 AeBal
17/09/2008 Dalavia Russia
06/10/2008 Galaxy Airlines (Japan)
09/10/2008 Lagunair Spain
16/10/2008 Flysur Spain
17/10/2008 LTE Spain
17/10/2008 Omskavia
17/10/2008 Interavia
17/10/2008 Tesis
17/10/2008 Vyborg Airlines
18/10/2008 Hansung Airlines
20/10/2008 Flysur
21/10/2008 Aladia (Mexico)
29/10/2008 Sterling AirwaysAirlines
31/10/2008 Air Comet (Chile)
31/10/2008 Kras Air
01/11/2008 Domodedovo Airlines
08/11/2008 Alma (Mexico)
11/11/2008 Inter Airlines (Turkey)
01/12/2008 European Aviation Aircharter
01/12/2008 Primaris Airlines
01/12/2008 Siem Reap Airways International
03/12/2008 Flightline
06/12/2008 OK Air
What is your unique vision? What is your microlight school going to offer to your customers that other microlight schools are not providing? For starters, how many potential customers are there in the area where you intend to setup your business, and how much competition? I haven't seen any mention of the word customers so far in this whole thread. But they're the ones that eventually are going to pay off your debt and pay for your future dreams.
And just for the record, I have an MBA. But I found out that the MBA doesn't teach you to setup and run a successful business. What it teaches you is the basics of all the things that are required to setup and run a successful business: finance, HR, marketing, logistics and so forth. But at the end of the course you still have to identify that unique place in the market where money is to be made, because you are providing something to your customers that nobody else does.