It is many people's dream to be their own bosses. But turning that dream into a reality can be a long and torturous road along which few succeed.

Most businesses fail because the wannabe entrepreneurs have not properly planned what they are going to do or expect a return too quickly.

But Erna and Alvin DeGraff were determined to buck this trend and go out on their own with a wholesale business that would be a success.

It was the brain-child of Alvin who thought up the idea of a wholesale business two years ago, and he was backed by his wife who was keen to start working for herself. But it took a year and a half to get the idea off the ground and for the dream to become a reality. The couple did not want to be saddled with debt and have to make repayments every month on top of trying to make a go of it. They decided they had to get their own financing in place and find a suitable location for the store that would be easy to get to with parking for their customers.

"We went to see the Small Business Development Corporation early on and they were a great help," said 35-year-old Erna. "They helped us with a business plan and gave us realistic goals about when to expect a profit."

At the time they said there was little competition and they saw a gap in the market for a warehouse-style store that sold cheap household goods, electrical equipment and tools.

And so, with this plan in hand, the couple took their savings, used their initials as the store's name, found a space in a store on North Shore next to SeaView Gym, and A and E Wholesale was born.

Alvin, who already owned his own carpenters store - Al's Carpentry - worked after hours to get the store ready. Overheads were kept to a minimum as the couple toiled through the night, bringing in family and friends to help out. Alvin built the shelves in the store, and the couple went on buying trips to stock the home-made shelves.

Finally the store was ready to be opened in April this year, and Erna has been running it as a going concern since then.

"We have a lot of regulars who come back, and anyone who is new in the store, I make sure I stop and speak to them," she said.

They sell everything from their small store from a 50 cent snack to $6,000 plasma 42 inch plasma television, with the best sellers including paper towels, juice boxes, detergent and water.

Erna and Alvin are working on the premise that it will take a year to really start seeing things turn around, but secretly hope that they will be turning a profit before next April.

And the couple are hoping that one day they will be able to not only make a success of A and E Wholesale, but also start up other businesses into a mini DeGraff empire.

"We would like to call our next business Jasmine, after our three-year-old daughter," said Erna, who is the more sceptical one of the couple, who has got contingency plans if everything fails.

Alvin, on the other hand, is the optimist out of the two. "If prices are cheaper, people will come," said Alvin. "So making a profit shouldn't be a problem. And if this one does not work, we will go on to the next project."

The business currently has two staff, and some seasonal workers, and the couple are this week travelling abroad on another buying trip to build up more stock.

"The store is now like a meeting place," said Erna. "Since we opened up the place I see friends and family that before I might see once or twice a year. We should really call it The Meeting Place.

"People know where to find us, and word is getting out. What we have found is that in Bermuda, word of mouth is the best advertising you can get. "