I was at a seminar recently where the topic in discussion was the challenges faced by non-Swedes who chose to be self-employed. A man stood up and said "Everyone talks about how difficult it is to start-up a business in this country when in actual fact it is very easy - you register with a couple of authorities and that's it, it's done. The real difficulty comes in running a business on a daily basis, from year to year. The start up is easy!"

And he is right. Despite popular opinion, it is easy to start a business here. He is also right when it comes to running a business, that part is much more challenging.