Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, founder of The Black Farmer brand, on how he embraced uncertainty to pursue a childhood dream.

Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones is perhaps best known by his alias, The Black Farmer, which adorns every pack of his eponymous brand's sausages.

But the distinctive moniker almost didn't come to be.

Considering a name for the soon-to-launch business at his Devon farm in 2006, Emmanuel-Jones took inspiration from what the locals affectionately called him: the black farmer. "It was great anyway, but had an extra edge, because people might not be sure whether it was politically correct or not," explains the entrepreneur, who tested the title by carrying out some research.

The results said emphatically that he should avoid the name, because it will offend people. "I went with my gut," says the founder, who learnt an important business lesson. "Research will tell you what people think today, but it won't tell you what people will think tomorrow."

Embracing risk and uncertainty is a common thread that runs through Emmanuel-Jones' life before launching the Black Farmer brand. He says that he first saw such a thing in his parents, who moved the family from Frankfield, Jamaica to Birmingham in the Fifties. "Leaving behind everything that you're familiar with is a really entrepreneurial thing to do."

The 11 of them lived in a two-up, two-down terraced house in Small Heath, which made things extremely cramped. He found quiet and comfort in his father's allotment. "It was like a peaceful oasis that enabled me to discover what I wanted to do," he remembers.

Inspired by the rented plot, an 11-year-old Emmanuel-Jones vowed to one day own his own farm, but it would take him 30 years to realise that dream.

The only people whom the retailers fear are consumers, so get them on side as your sales force Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, The Black Farmer

After leaving school at 16, he joined the army, and swiftly got kicked out. “It was the best thing to happen to me, because that entrepreneurial spirit of wanting to challenge the status quo did not go with following orders,” says the founder, who then became a chef.

But realising that he would never earn enough to buy a farm, Emmanuel-Jones took another risk – ditching his career to work in TV. "Being dyslexic and having left school without any qualifications, everyone thought that I was nuts," he states.

After two years of networking and knocking on doors, he secured a three-month trial as a runner at the BBC, working his way up to become a producer-director of food programmes, launching the TV careers of Gordon Ramsay and James Martin, among others.

Still not satisfied that his job could help him to realise his farm dream, Emmanuel-Jones embraced uncertainty again, launching his own food marketing company, helping to bring the likes of Lloyd Grossman sauces and Kettle Chips to market.

The founder looks back on all of it as his training ground. because finally, in 1999, the venture had put him in a strong enough financial position to buy a farm on the Devon-Cornwall border.

In 2006 came The Black Farmer. "I saw an opportunity to launch a mainstream brand that stood out," says Emmanuel-Jones, who wanted to put rural produce on shop shelves, while showing people that agriculture could be diverse. "I also wanted to create something that was quintessentially British – and you can't get more British than a sausage," adds the farmer, whose products are his own in terms of recipes and marketing, but made by other companies, such as Cranswick and Traditional Norfolk Poultry.

An expert marketer, the Black Farmer had no issues raising his brand's profile. "We launched at the start of the internet revolution, when Facebook had just gone live," he says. "The web really democratised things in terms of getting your message out there."

Shows like Dragons' Den are not good, because they tell aspiring entrepreneurs that they need someone else to achieve success Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones, The Black Farmer

He also spent time travelling the country and getting people to taste his products. He urged his fans to write directly to the retailers and encourage them to stock Black Farmer sausages. "The only people whom the retailers fear are consumers," he explains. "The trick is to get them on your side and make them your sales force."

The approach worked, and as the company grew, so did its range into chicken, bacon, eggs and other pork cuts. It recently branched out into tea and coffee, bringing annual turnover at the five-employee-strong business to £10m.

The greatest challenge to have faced the founder is a personal one: four years ago, he was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia. "I was on death's door," admits Emmanuel-Jones, whose life was saved thanks to a risky stem cell transplant.

He wrote a book about his experience and business journey called Jeopardy, which argues that humanity's natural instinct to be cautious and play it safe is holding budding entrepreneurs back.

Instead, he argues, they must embrace uncertainty. "We tend to fear the consequences of everything going wrong, but if you haven't failed, you're not living your life and learning your craft – you're surviving."

Key of that, thinks the brand owner, are start-ups not relying on so much outside investment and support early on. "Shows like The Apprentice and Dragons' Den are not good, because they tell aspiring entrepreneurs that they need someone else to achieve success," he says. "I believe that you need to go through the first few years of pain [yourself], because that's how you learn – you don't want to be carrying the baggage of someone else's expectation."

Access to bank finance is another "great challenge" that faces start-ups today, he thinks. "How can we encourage people to be entrepreneurial when conventional banks demand so much information?" he asks. "It's killing off talent that could be getting on with it."

The founder would like to see fewer hoops to jump through and the Government give high street lenders more of a "kicking" when it comes to supporting new companies. "We need to get back to a level playing field, so that if a person has passion and works hard, they're given a chance," he says. "Instead, we live in a society where if you don't understand the rules, you're a non-starter."

Jeopardy – The Danger of Playing It Safe on the Path to Success is published by Piatkus and available from The Daily Telegraph's online bookshop here