I admire a good entrepreneurial story.Turning nothing into something takes determination, and entrepreneurs are risk takers, adventurers, sacrificing for dreams without knowing the outcome.In the end some prosper and some fail.I recently chatted with one of these “adventurers” for insight. What’s the motivation?Holly Douglas opened Beauty and the Bull downtown on Chapel Hill Street in December. Along with spa and medspa services such as facials, manicures, salt and tea baths, B&B offers nontraditional services such as anti-aging cooking classes and space for events such as wedding parties, networking and corporate events.the spa serves men and women. Douglas even has private spaces partitioned for couples complete with romantic décor and fireplaces.after starting with partners what eventually became a successful spa in Raleigh, Douglas decided to follow her dream and start her own multi-ethnic service.”I wanted to start a new place in the heart of downtown Durham to execute my vision for what I think is truly the way it should be done,” she says.She’s wary of the many carcinogens found in beauty products and the effects that certain foods, like dairy, can have on a person’s appearance.”I feel that it’s got to change,” the 41-year old single mom says about the beauty business. “I wanted to take science and nature and get great results.”Why does beauty matter so much to Douglas? she says inner beauty is most important. as she puts it, you can be around gorgeous people who not kind hearted and therefore unattractive.Her greatest joy came while working in the plastic surgery industry, watching surgeons transform insecure people into confident ones. Working with patients post operatively allowed her to help them through the recovery phase.”In time I realized that although plastic surgery is a good thing for many people, there are other alternatives to feeling good about yourself that are non-surgical.”Now I can’t relate too much to Douglas’s work – she has a B.A. in biology health science and certification in well over a dozen beauty and treatment procedures. but I can relate to the dreamer she is and the love of a sport we both played.From an early age, Douglas aspired to be a tennis star and spent hours daily on the court. High school was all about tennis and she even lived with her coach and his wife. It was a disciplined life – no partying, no going out.Douglas eventually went to Grand Canyon University, a small private school in Arizona, on a scholarship. Her team ranked second nationally, and things were going well until she injured her ankle a third time.”I was dejected,” she says. “Science and health were my favorite subjects so I thought I’d become a physician assistant after getting my degree in biology-health science. but while doing my internship, I was sucked into the world of surgery and aesthetics.”Douglas was just as fascinated by the “knife” as most of us.”I was able to be in the O.R. and watch every surgery there is in plastics, even assist,” she says. “The greatest joy was being able to help (patients) make a change physically for something that really bothered them.”After her experience starting the medspa, Douglas pondered her own start-up for seven years.she eventually decided “I can lay it out in layman terms for the average customer or talk to a Ph.D.” – so why not start her own business in what she knows best, skin care and events?she sold jewelry, used credit cards, borrowed money and even slept in her space at the Penny Furniture building to open her spa. At times, she admits, she’s cried.but making people feel good about insecurities makes her struggles worthwhile.the Greater Durham Chamber of Commerce tells me that small business success rates aren’t tracked at the local level. even federal numbers are suspect since most small businesses don’t have to report their figures. but numbers tend to agree that about half make it through five years.I ask Douglas to sum up herself in a word.”I would say fearless,” she says. “I had to learn to meet fears head on.”Amen to that.