Open Book: Small Business Is 'The Engine of America'

I did my homework and found that there were shelves full of business books both narrow in scope and general in approach. There were those by professors and those by economists. There were, of course, those by politicians professing leadership in business matters. They ranged from the "dummy" level of writing to the most complicated and intimidating manuscripts you could imagine.

I thought I found a gap -- a space where I could express my views and compile those of the men and women I so respect and who we can all learn from. Timing, as always, was everything.

Suddenly in our country, the biggest of companies are buying out or firing by the thousands, as they shut plants and offices in dozens of industries. At the same time, quietly, small business was seeding new jobs and new opportunities for millions of Americans. All of us sense that the American economic train was being pulled by a new engine, not one marked Fortune 500, but one marked small business.

I wanted to help fuel that new engine. I confess another reason for the book was to give me a good reason to travel the country and visit with small business owners and with SBA folks and SCORE volunteers and the Chamber of Commerce leaders who contribute so much.

Now that the book is a reality and the traveling has begun, I am even more committed and excited than I was when the idea was born. Perhaps that is another lesson for all entrepreneurs: If you have an idea, run with it and run hard. I did, and I am glad I did.