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I was working for a Medicaid managed care plan and had a young son at home. The company was moving and my commute would be 3+ hours round trip each day. I decided that I would start a consulting practice. I decided i would give it a year. If I could make as much as I did working full time by working from home and being more available to my son, I would stick with it. If not, I would look for another full time job. It is now more than 12 years and I have built a national practice focusing on helping start-up health care organizations build and grow their business.

As an entrepreneur, I can’t stress enough how important it is for you to have a balanced life between work & family. Way too often my family suffered because I failed to do a good job at balancing the two & as an entrepreneur, you guessed it, the business won out, almost every time. After 40 years of struggling with that, I have come to realize it was not worth it. So take it from me, you rally need to plan family time within our schedule. Not just occasionally, but daily. There’s a sayiong that comes to mind here:“If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”.

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Sir Isaac Newton considered by many to be the greatest and most influential scientist who ever lived wrote: "If I have seen a LITTLE further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants"

I am writing to tell you exactly how I built it and this administration destroyed it. I had a good business up until 2008. When the banks refused to lend, credit companies changed our interest rates, even though we were current and Not delinquent! Forcing an impossible way out, getting no help from lenders to restructure, we were forced to close and layoff hard, loyal working employees, mostly students at the nearby university. All could have been avoided with one simple act. Distribute the funds to the people who would use it, not the banks. We hung on until end of Jan. 2011 and faced foreclosure in oct. 2011. I built it, they destroyed it should be the other website!

My company rebuilds itself everyday. Every one of us, from "the boss" to the worker bees, takes personal responsibility for what we do and how we do it. I love working here and am proud to have an income I earned honestly, giving our customers goods and services they are happy to pay us for.

I admire my fellow citizens who built this company, and hope they make huge piles of money and start even more businesses.

Signed, a Proud Non-Union Employee of a GREAT AMERICAN COMPANY!

Mr. President,
I would like to give you my point of view on your recent statement that business owners didn't build our business. I understand you have not had the opportunity to feel the pure joy and the gut wrenching heartache of ever owning your own company.
It would be easier for me to tell you when government was NOT there.
Government was not there when, with hands shaking, I signed my signature to the loan for my company, potentially losing almost everything my family owned if it failed.
Government wasn’t there to help me when I walked in to the city, county, or state building and visited office after office filling out endless paperwork for different government agencies, and yes, leaving a check behind for every one of them.
Government wasn’t there when I lay awake all night with worry when things didn’t go as planned.
Nor were they there for me when I worked all day and night and missed out on my children’s lives that horrible first year that all business owners understand. I suffered. My family suffered. You did not suffer.
Government WAS there to give me endless rules and regulations, and were quick to point out any of my mistakes.
I received no government help, no tax break, nothing, to help start my company. It was just me and some really awesome family and friends to back me up. But mostly my determination and my pocketbook. Not yours. While I made nothing, I made sure my employees were paid nor was I ever late on a tax payment. I made sure you, Mr. President, were paid before I ever was.
Perhaps I am being a little selfish with my words…I think my family and I deserve it. I’ll never receive any Noble Peace Prize for my works, and I am okay with that. The people that are important to me (employees, family, friends) know how hard I worked and still work.
I am so thankful to be a part of this really great community and to have the opportunity to grow MY business.
And I’d do it all over again.

I started this business by myself in 2004. 12-16 hour days were common for me. In many cases I made sure my bills got paid last while my employees were paid first. Through a LOT of hard work, this business has not only survived ... not because of people like Barack Obama but DESPITE people like Barack Obama. So, with all due respect, Mr. Obama. I DID BUILD THAT!!

I sold my 1965 Chris Craft that I had bought a few years before to pay for the oil tanks for my first 10 minute oil change service center. I hired my girl friend as my first manager and leased the ground and building from a local home builder. My eighth store opened on Sept. 11, 2001. Today I have 10 locations, my brother has 3 more, and we employ over 90 people. I married my store manager and have been proudest of the employees that have been able to support their families through the company I built. Yes the 100 hour weeks and lost social life was tough at the beginning, but yes, I would do it again. In a strange twist, my 1959 Chris Craft that was stolen, and the reason I had purchased the '65 that I sold, was found 22 years later and I was able to recover it. It is now fully restored and sits at my home I also built.

In November of 2008 my employer told me they couldn't afford to keep me on board full time after 17 years with the company as a window treatment installer. Mind you, I was the only employee they had. The downturn in the economy hit them hard. They had to cut me down to 2 days a week. Obviously I couldn't survive on that so I decided to finally make a go at it on my own. I continued to work the 2 days a week for them and went about starting my own business. It was difficult to do but I bought my own tools and ordered some free business cards online. I did a few jobs for some friends of friends which got the ball rolling. Right around this time my girlfriend lost her job. It really worked out because I couldn't hire someone to take phone calls for the business. We scraped together what we could and had a few lawn signs made up to advertise. We posted some free ads on Craig's List and stategically placed the lawn signs where I thought they would do well. We used to go out late at night to do this when there were less cars on the road to see what we were doing, it was embarrasing. We started getting calls from our lawn signs and some word of mouth referrals. Whenever I had any money left over after paying bills I invested it into the business. Some additional tools, ladders, more lawn signs. Business was really picking up. I was working my regular job and then going out on calls after that in the evening in addition to working all other days of the week. In the summer of 2009 I worked 70 days straight without a day off and each of those days was long. In the beginning I had to borrow my girlfriend's father's wagon to fit merchandise and my growing tool and supply collections. Then I sold my 2 seater car and picked up a small wagon of my own to use for the business. A few months later I was able to buy a used cargo van. By the end of 2009 I was so busy with work I had to tell my employer I couldn't give him the 2 days a week any more but gave him 4 months notice so I could train someone if he wanted. For the next year or so I worked 7 days a week, only taking off holidays or special occasions, like August 14th 2010 when I asked my girlfriend to marry me. I continued to reinvest what we made into the business, spending very little on non-essentials. I was looking at the big picture and knew I needed to do more to support a family eventually. 2011 was even better for business and I was able to put my fiance' on payroll. WOW was that a rude awakening, all the extra I had to pay in employer taxes to give her what was already our money essentially. A few months later I was able to afford health insurance for us both, after all we were getting married and planned to have children as soon as possible. Here we are in 2012 and I am happy to say we are happily married just over a year and we have a beautiful 4 month old daughter. We also were able to put my mom, who lost her job and was collecting unemployment, on payroll and give her health benefits this year. Our business is doing very well and I continue to re-invest in it to make it even better. I'm working 6 days a week only because I don't want to work 7 since I have a family now that I love to spend time with. I average 70-80 hours a week, many days I leave before my daughter is up and return after she is in bed. To keep expenses down, I eat peanut butter and jelly for lunch 4-5 days a week. I drive a van with over 215,000 miles on it. That van had 70k miles on it when I bought it in October 2009. Figure that monthly expense out at today's gas prices. We have 1 car, other than my work van. We are saving and hoping to be able to buy a house by spring of 2013 and have a 2nd child by the end of the year(2013). It's been a lot of hard work and sacrifice but it's the most rewarding thing I've done in my life and I will continue to work my ass off so I can provide a better life for my family. Anyone who thinks I didn't build this simply doesn't have a clue what it takes to build a business.

When the stock market crashed, people stopped buying cars and insurance companies stopped paying claims. As a result, two long time friends, a car dealer and an attorney, started REC TEC.

Ray and Ron both had a passion for grilling but the market place did not produce the grill they wished they could buy. So they set out to build the ultimate grill. We brain stormed for months and prototyped for years. From all of the time and money invested the REC TEC Grill was born. It bakes, smokes, grills, sears and dehydrates all in one backyard appliance. It features smart grill technology and is so easy a kid can use it.

Sales launched in 2011 and tripled in 2012. Last month we took our first paychecks from the business we built. No government grants, No SBA loans and no government incentives. This business was built on sweat and sacrifice by us and our families. Our families deserve a special thank you from us for doing without so we could follow our passion and build this business.

The American Dream is still alive!!!!