I'm a sort of rags-to-riches story who made the decision one day to start my own business. It doesn't seem far-fetched that others can do as I've done, which is to take their learned trade and apply it toward self-employment instead of working for others. So I often look for stories of regular people who venture out and succeed - it's a reminder to those who read this that yes, you too can succeed. Self-employment can not only offer more money, but give you a different kind of freedom - you work like hell, but you also get the freedom to move from 9-to-5. For single parents, it's an obvious move, if you have the temperament for it.

In the big picture, I can look out and comment on the big stories of the day - and I sometimes do - but I don't have the reach to affect any policy of any kind. What I can do is to encourage a few (or hopefully many) people to move into a world that doesn't wait for someone else to create your job and your way in life for you - instead, you create it yourself. Americans began as a largely self-employed lot. In Lincoln's day, it was looked down upon to work for someone else. Self-reliance was the mode. Industrialization brought an end to that. The move toward factories had people moving from farm to city and you needed big bucks to start your own company. But that's not true today.

Today, we live in a services-experiences economy. Can you type? Have a typing service. Are you good at socializing? Have a dating service or a head-hunting firm. Can you work with databases? Perhaps you can be a consultant. Each of these requires little investment.

As I began working for myself, I noticed that my attitude about corporate structure changed - a lot. I gained a respect for owners that I didn't have before. I've always been a rebellious, stick-in-your-eye kind of employee, always thinking of something different and always championing the little guy. But now that I've transitioned to the other side of that fence, I've come to see how hard it is to run a successful business. Many of my former habits have had to die. I now see that owners and investors deserve what they have because they took the risk and they earn it every day. From the woman who wanted to work for me, but thought that a free work schedule should allow her to take Fridays off to fly to Vegas with her boyfriend (customers don't take Friday off...) to the guy who wanted to work for me but from his home (customers don't have his phone number...), I've learned that many people want the security of their job but also want selfish freedoms along with that. Live how you want to live, but why should my business assume the risk of hiring someone who appears less than dedicated to the mission of the business? You don't have the right to employment under your own terms.

I've learned that the rich and the risk-takers in America are the ones who start businesses. Nobody else does. These businesses are the ones that create jobs, which allow people to then afford their homes and cars and clothes for their kids. These people, heroes in my book, are the ones who make it all possible in America. Through them, we have a military that defends us. Through them, we have the money to be given to those in need. We have roads and bridges and great many things. If the rich and the risk-takers didn't start businesses in the first place, there would have been no money for any of this because there would be no jobs from which taxes are collected. That makes them heroes.

But there is an active culture war underway to fight against these people. That war seeks to dilute from them the very reward that they earn through the risk that they take. If you've read anything about my own personal story, you know that I've been very poor and that I've worked my way out of it. I inherited nothing. Those people who do anything that reduces the willingness of the rich and the risk-takers to create jobs for people are either ignorant to the hurt they cause to the livelihood of the people who would have otherwise had jobs, or they are strident socialists. They either need to be educated or fought.

With that as my goal, I look for stories of small business success and stories that bolster the argument against those who oppose the success of America. Thankfully, we have nations like Germany that can demonstrate that anti-business/anti-rich policies simply don't work. And thankfully, here in America, we have a lot of small business success to crow about.