Ideas don’t care about your industry expertise. Many times, ideas pop into our heads from all sorts of inspirations, and they rarely bother to discern whether we have the experience or training to bring them into reality.

So the question becomes: Can I start a business in an area I have little to no experience in?

While having a background in the industry in which you’d like to create a company certainly helps, it’s not impossible to get started outside of your expertise.

When Mashell Carissimi, founder of JMC Electrical Contractor, LLC, started she had no experience being an electrician, but she knew her other skills in combination with people who had the expert knowledge she was lacking could create a complete, functional company.

“I think the biggest thing was I knew I had the business background, the ability to have the financials taken care of,” Carissimi says. “And I knew I had some good people that I could rely on to help me with the electrical industry part.”