After working long hours on her feet everyday in the operating room, Taryn Rose knew a lot about foot pain. But unlike most of her colleagues, she turned her pain into money: Today she is the boss of Taryn Rose International, a $528 million company th at makes nice and comfortable shoes. At the beginning, Rose realized the only thing that could stop her was fear of failure. “I could hear my friends and family saying, ‘ w hy did you leave a good job?’ If I failed, would I be okay facing them? And: I thought, so what? I can go back for further study in medicine.” I started to accept that it would be okay to say, ‘I failed, but I tried.’ Once I was comfortable with that th ought , the fear came to an end. I realized I feared regret more than failure. And after you turn to the path you choose, there is nothing acceptable but s uccess . Now, Rose has no regrets about leaving medicine. “ What I ’ m doing is not all that different from what I was doing as a doctor. The goal is the same: to relieve pain. A former professor told me: “ You ’ re helping hundreds of thousands of women with your shoes. As a doctor, you would have helped only the few who went to your office. You’re having a much greater effect.” Looking back, Rose admits she caught a couple of lucky breaks. “ To me, luck is about being prepared for those opportunities that come knocking . You have to have an open mind, the right skills and all your senses working to see when opportunities pres ent themselves. Luck can open the door, but you still have to walk through it”.