America is the land of entrepreneurial opportunity. The American l. Dream is one of doing better than your parents' generation in terms of education and standard of living. Entrepreneurship is often the path that leads people to that dream. The level of entrepreneurial activ­ity in the United States leads the industrialized world. At any given point in time, over 10.6 percent of the adult population is pursuing an entrepreneurial venture or is the owner of a new business less than forty months old.* Yet this statistic is misleading because there are different types of entrepreneurship. Individuals such as Bill Gates (Microsoft), Arthur Blank (Home Depot), and Michael Dell (Dell Computer) have founded companies that not only became industry leaders but also changed the way we live and work. At the other end of the spectrum are the mom-and-pop owners of the local dry cleaner or pizza shop. Then there are all the entrepreneurial businesses in between. We describe these types of entrepreneurship as lifestyle, foundation firms, and high-potential ventures. What type of entrepreneur are you? More important, what type would you like to be?

Throughout our careers as entrepreneurs and educators we have seen many companies remain small even though they aspire to greater rev­enues and more wealth. In fact, the majority of all businesses operating in the United States today may be considered "small." Of these almost 6 million firms, 4.8 million have less than one hundred employees (80 percent of all the firms in the country). Many of these small compa­nies-which often employ less than ten people-do not lack for cus­tomer demand or entrepreneurial talent, but cannot break through the $l-$5 million sales barrier. Many others that grow to $20-$30 million get stuck. So why can't these companies break out and achieve their founder's vision? We have discovered that they make four key mistakes:

. They don't think big enough in terms of the opportunity and the team needed to exploit their opportunity.

. They spend too much time and effort looking for the wrong resources from the wrong people. Matching the right deal with the right investors brings smart money to a business and gives it the best chance to grow.

. They don't instill entrepreneurial thinking in their team. Many small firm entrepreneurs struggle mightily to learn the art of delegation. But we have found that some entrepreneurs don't make the link between growing the opportunity and growing the team. They tend to think they can expand their personal capacity to fill the needs of the opportunity. Often they end up tired and frustrated.

. They don't think in terms of harvest strategy. Most entrepreneurs start with a vision-a perspective on how they will create a great and prosperous company-but lose sight of it as they struggle to put out fires that arise every day.

The aim of this book is to help small business owners re-engage their entrepreneurial roots, guide them through problematic small business thinking, and help them create a wealth-building mentality Entrepre-neurship starts with opportunity, so we will ask you to reassess your company and your instincts. The reality is that many of the 4.8 million small businesses in the United States are undervalued because they have failed to reach their full potential.