We have seen 26 years of changes and challenges, no help from our government asked for or received. The local government only placed obstacles in my way.

I was a stay at home mom for 20 years, mostly because our youngest child traveled for softball and played short stop. We were afraid of an injury and so I traveled all over the country with her. When she went to college I tried to find a job but no one would hire me because I hadnt worked in so long. Never mind that I had done tons of volunteer work and could run circles around most people on a computer. I had made enough money creating team videos to help pay for my daughters traleling expenses and so my husband said maybe I should just pursue that. So, I now do commercials, documentaries, social events, video for web sites. Sometimes I stay up until 3AM and get back up at 7AM. I'm not sure I'd want to do that for anyone else nor would anyone want to do this for me. Many people travel along the same road that I do (that by the way I PAID for with taxes) but no one else would put the time, along with missed family events to meet deadlines, that I would do.

I was an employee at a major airline during the time after 9-11 when airlines were faltering and going bankrupt. Even with 17 years with the company my future was not assured. I didnt want my future dictated to me so I decided to secure my own future. It didnt take long before my business really took off. I was working 40 hours a week at the airline and 40 to 60 hours a week at my business. I am now retired from that airline and my business provides the opportunity for 7 people (and growing) to support them and their families. To say I didnt build my business was a slap in the face and not appreciated.

In 2009, a month before my first child was born, my business partner and I launched Pathways. I worked two part-time jobs for the first year to be able to support my family until we had money to pay the bills. We are a brokerage firm for employer health benefits. We've built a game-changing service model that has produced thousands of dollars in savings for our clients and their employees both in premiums and in billed charges for health care. We take a fresh approach to brokering benefits. We believe in free market, historically-responsible solutions to health insurance industry. We built Pathways and continue to make daily sacrifices to live the American dream and fulfill our hopes for reform in our industry.

Started my sole proprietorship business 16 yrs.ago (after a 15 yr.employment at the local YMCA).Through prayer,sweat,worry & the support of my wife I took a giant leap of Faith, starting with a few clients and over the course of months built my clientele to numbers that would sustain my business!My clients workout in small group sessions, keeping their cost low and maintaining loyality with me. Currently my workout facility is 1950 sq. feet with ample exercise equipment. Today,16 yrs. later I still am my own boss,it's just me, working 5 days/week and giving my clients the best I can possibily give. An additional note:twenty-one months ago I took up folk art painting (after never having painted before, having no formal training). Today my side business is:Rustic Folk Art by Neil Derrick! I paint for pleasure and sell paintings as a second small business. Yes, I did build both of my businesses, the government has not offered to help me one time, in fact it's small businesses like mine that support the government...without us, they would NOT survive, the government is still alive because of the small business men & women that make up this Great Nation, AMERICA!! GOD Bless America!!!!

As an active duty military member coming up on retirement I decided I don't want to work for someone when I'm out. After hurricane Katrina I was looking for new countertops and discovered the beauty of decorative concrete. I wanted to do it for myself. I began taking training as I could afford it and when I could take the leave. Eventually I felt like I knew enough to do this on my own. So in 2008 I purchased a piece of property with a shop and a small apartment. In the beginning I was basically do work for friends at cost. Working my nights and weekends between training trips and deployments to other countries. For the last year I am finally up and running full speed, although I still have to do the work in the evenings and weekends until I retire next month. Im planning to move my business to N. GA or northers AL. It's been slow and it's been costly but it will pay off in the long run. My only "employee" is my wife She's awesome, gets right out there beside me helping me form and pour the countertops. It's my hope to eventually have at least one full time employee maybe more. That would be a good sign of success; wouldn't it?

We use to have 7 employees with 5 trucks. Since the recession/depression, it's down to me and one truck with a referral customer base. With no help from anyone, advertisment is not in out budget, but we are still in business.

I'm retired from the U.S. Army and after working various jobs for others who did not appreciate the values and hard work ethic I have, I chose to start my own company. I found zero assistance from the Small Business Administration or the VA. I had all of $3000 in the bank and a friend of my wife's who offered to let me use his business van as my work vehicle. I did what I needed to do to form my company and then go out and start getting customers. In the past 3 months I have signed 50 customers to annual contracts and rest assured I BUILT MY COMPANY!

We began with the blood, sweat and tears from our own work.... Our own savings and credit with ZERO loans or help from the govt, a bank, or anything else for that matter. Six years later, we now have 11 employees, yearly revenue at about 1.5 million, employee benefit plans, and over 1500 customers in 2 states and still ZERO in govt or bank loans. Yep, I DID built that!

Michael designed a kit for a PC, including a keyboard, a number pad, a monitor. Later, BYTE Magazine determined it was the first PC, with the Altair 8800 predating him, but it only had a panel with lights and switches. Micheal selected Ctrl-Alt-Del as three keys that would clear his 4K or ram without recycling the power, which was hard on the equipment. Michael was a creative genius, but not much of a businessman. He sold $760,000 in less than two months, worked for several months putting kits together and shipping them nation wide. He got way behing and had orders cancelled because he was having a difficult time obtaining all of the parts. This was 1975 when parts were in short supply because there was no pc industry yet. He eventually folded and lost everything.