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Jessica Rovello founded in 2001 Arkadium, Inc., an online gaming development group, after she and her future husband couldn't find a version of Ms. Pac-Man to play online. They quickly learned that owning your own business isn't all fun and games.

"Starting a business is petrifying. We were leaving six-figure jobs and security and we had no capital, we had no backing," says Rovello. "We had three years where we didn’t make any money and we didn’t pay ourselves. Those were pretty rough years."

Nearly a decade later, Arkadium is on track to make about $9 million in revenue, and employees roughly 100 people in New York and Ukraine. Crain’s New York Business has praised Rovello's entrepreneurial skills and named her one of the "40 Under [Age] 40." The self-taught businesswoman says she came very close to "game over."

"Made a lot of mistakes. I mean, so many I probably can’t even count them. We should have probably quit this business no less than 500 times," says Rovello. "I think that becoming a great businessperson and becoming a great entrepreneur is making those mistakes and identifying that you’ve made them, and learning from them and changing."

Beginning entrepreneurs can also learn from other people's mistakes. New York Entrepreneur Week, a not-for-profit movement, organizes educational and networking sessions for business owners from across the country and beyond.

"You don't just go out and always meet an entrepreneur, so to be able to surround yourself with people that are facing the same obstacles as you or have been there and done that and can give you advice is absolutely critical," says Chief Executive Officer Kerry Bannigan of Nolcha.com.

While the current economic climate might seem less than ideal for starting a new business, experts say there are a number of reasons why it's actually a great time.

"In reality, that's the best time to start a company, because there's a lot more things that you can get cheaper, whether it's office space or employees," says Gary Whitehill, the founder of New York Entrepreneur Week. "Just the fixed overhead that you normally have is usually cut right in half."

"I always tell people that's the best time to start a business, because if you can survive in the hardest of hard times, then you really thrive when things turn around," says Rovello. "You may go for a long time without a salary, without any indication that your business will take off, with people telling you that you’re crazy. But if you believe in what you can do and there’s a market for it, just go for it."

That's how the next billion-dollar idea can become more than just an idea.