Kauffman Foundation Study Shows Consistent Entrepreneurial Growth and Increasing Foreign-Born Start Ups . (KANSAS CITY, Mo.), May 23, 2007 – While the rate of entrepreneurial activity has remained remarkably consistent over the past decade with nearly 465,000 people creating new businesses on average each month, subtle year-to-year shifts in the gender, demographic, geographic and ethnic make-up are changing the public face of the American entrepreneur. This is according to a national assessment of entrepreneurial activity by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.  Download the report from the link below.

http://www.kauffman.org/items.cfm?itemID=861 

Backbone of the US Economy | Small Businesses Backbone of the US Economy
Dick Cheney’s comments at the President’s Economic Forum
VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: Thank you, Mitch. Let me thank all of you for being here as well too. The idea, obviously, in part is an opportunity for the President and I to be able to listen to the folks who are out there every day wrestling with these problems. I can assure you that we value very highly the enormous contribution that small business makes to the economy. The strong, healthy economy in the United States depends on the strong, healthy small-business sector. These are such a vital part of the backbone of the economy. So we appreciate your willingness to give your time and counsel and the advice. And we’ll try to do our best to have the opportunity to follow through on some of your ideas and thoughts and suggestions.
Patrick Kennedy, Strengthening Economy Means Helping Small Business and Increasing Minimum Wage Friday, February 16, 2007
http://patrickkennedy.house.gov/index.asp?Type=B_PR&SEC=%7BF3F4F818-07F4-4B53-BC61-EEA4F2286139%7D&DE=%7BE3CCB932-BB33-4003-83FB-C7085AD033BA%7D
“Small businesses represent the backbone of our economy. Every community benefits when the work force is strong.”
Small Business Discussion with John Kerry, Former Presidential Candidate and Chairman of Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Committee  http://sbc.senate.gov/
Sen. John Kerry: The federal government has done an abysmal job of ensuring that small businesses get their fair share of federal contracts.
http://discuss.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/zforum/05/sbw_viewpoint.htm
“It is often said that small business is the backbone of America = s economy. You employ more than half of our country = s workforce. You create the majority of the nation = s new jobs. You spark the engine of economic growth.”
Remarks of Governor Christine Todd Whitman, Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, at the National Summit on Small Business and the Environment Washington, D.C.  March 13, 2003
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/11b4f11f5ce2ab70852572a00065af97/e09033e8a0d7393b8525701a0052e486!OpenDocument
“If you are going to talk about business,” said Todd McCracken, president of the National Small Business Association, a trade group, “it’s more appealing to talk about small business, the backbone of the country, than big corporations.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/23/business/23sbiz.html?ex=1180152000&en=a0707ab81c97c355&ei=5070
President George W. Bush
And so I think we’re doing some things in Washington, D.C. to make it easier for people to own their own small business.  And by the way, it’s incredibly important.  As my friend, Hector Barreto said, most of the new employment in America comes from small business owners.  Small business is the backbone — (applause) — is the backbone of our economic system.  And one of the pieces of incredibly good news about America is the number of Latino businesses is increasingly dramatically — the fastest growing business sectors in many of our states is the Hispanic-owned businesses.
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2001/08/20010815-3.html
President George H.W. Bush
Both Governor Clinton and President Bush support the restoration of the investment tax credit and a proposal to reduce Social Security taxes for troubled businesses and their employees. Clinton’s economic plan is devoted to job creation and for small businesses to create jobs. As an example, Clinton would exempt any business with fewer than 50 employees from his proposal to impose a 1.5 percent surcharge on businesses that do not provide training programs for their employees. Meanwhile, President Bush proclaimed a similar theme by stating that “{S}mall business is the backbone of a growing economy,” last week to the Detroit Economic Club.
http://www.allbusiness.com/legal/laws/339814-1.html
Sunday, February 18, 2007

Worcester Business Journal Op-Ed By John Kerry
From corner stores to internet startup companies, small businesses are the backbone of the American economy. And, while Massachusetts small business owners have what it takes to keep our economy strong, they could still use a strong advocate in the federal government to make their case.
That is why we have a Small Business Administration (SBA), a federal agency specifically tasked with championing small businesses. But this year, the President’s budget offers little help for the SBA. Overall, they have cut the agency’s budget by 45 percent since coming to power in 2001.
http://sbc.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=270035
William Jefferson Clinton
Small business is the backbone of our economic strength. In the last 10 to 12 years, small business has created more jobs that were lost during the restructuring of the larger businesses of our country. However, about 3 years ago, the small business job engine started to slow down because of the global recession, the credit crunch here in America which we are trying to deal with, the spiraling cost of health care, and
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=46604
 

Our very own Michael Brown summits Everest for the 4th time! This year he’s climbing Everest as a Co-Director and Director of Mountain Photography for MacGillivray Freeman Films’ latest IMAX production, ‘Return to Everest 3D’. We heard late last night that he made the summit and returned safely back to the South Col, Camp IV. He should be back down in base camp in a day or two. Keep posted to http://www.xtreme-everest.co.uk/index.php for additional updates.In addition to filming with the IMAX camera on Everest, Michael also brought a Sony 900 High Definition camera to the summit for the second time. Ryan Ross has been providing support and shooting the emotional story as it unfolds from Base Camp.

For more information visit, http://www.adventurefilmschool.com – There’s limited availability, so reserve your spot now!In DVD news: Serac will be releasing the Summit Films’ Classics this winter. We’ve digitally re-mastered Roger’s (Michael’s father) greatest ski films and put them all on one DVD! Front flips off 40 foot cliffs – on 60’s ski equipment! Check out the new trailer here, http://www.seracfilms.com/clients/summit_trailer.htm

Our most popular film, featuring blind climber, Erik Weihenmayer, ‘Farther Than the Eye Can See,’ is being re-mastered in HD-DVD and Blu-Ray format and will be available this summer in the way it was meant to be seen – in High Definition in your own home.

‘Light of the Himalaya,’ was just announced as an official selection of the Maui International Film Festival and has also been selected for the ‘Grand Prix’ competition at the Cervino CineMountain International Film Festival that will take place in late July.

Coming this fall to an IMAX theater near you is, “Alps, Giants of Nature.” Last spring Michael Brown traveled to the Eiger as the Director of Mountain Photography for MacGillivray Freeman’s latest IMAX.

Stop by Serac Adventure Films www.SeracAdventureFilms.com to check out all our film trailers and our latest news!All the best!

of: +1.720.565.9266

As a small media outlet focused on entrepreneurs and small businesses My Success Gateway, LLC wanted to interview some of the 2008 presidential candidates for our small media outlet web site My Success Gateway, LLC to learn the candidates positions on small businesses. I contacted the big six candidates, Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, and John Edwards.

If the way the candidates are running their web site businesses is any indication of how they will be running our country in 2008 we are in deep trouble. The first problem is that some of the candidates cannot distinguish between a “small media” inquiry and a potential voter. They ALL want our donations which is hard currency and they want our votes.

This is where the big problem lies. Try and find any information on the candidates web sites about US Small Businesses, there are only 25,000,000 of them in the United States employing 51% of the work force and providing substantial receipts to the Treasury in terms of tax revenue funding things like the War in Iraq. Try and find anything about senior citizens issues or medicare or the cost of prescription drugs, you will not see it. The good news is we did find 3 mentions about our veterans on McCain’s, Obama’s and Clinton’s web sites.

John Edwards was on the small business committee when he was in the Senate but right now he seems to is concentrating his efforts on poverty. Mitt Romney was a small business owner and moved to large business. McCain’s camp did say that there was a possibility for an interview which would be great and we will see if it actually materializes and he wants to address the 25 Million small businesses by doing an interview with one of them.

Working with Eric Graham a web site conversion expert we produced a Webinar and reviewed the big six candidate web sites. We were looking for solutions from the candidates as opposed to issues. We were also looking for information on three key groups of people and how the candidates addressed them: Small Businesses, Senior Citizens and Veterans. All three groups add up to over 75 million voters. We thought that the candidates would have some information on these key groups in their web sites. We thought wrong. You will not find much at all. There appears to be a lot of empty suits or web sites all asking for money and votes, not much else.

The solution for the candidates, the media and the American public is this. The candidates put all of their “issues” into an RSS feed going out of their web sites. Next to the “issues” are their positions and SOLUTIONS. Each time they go on the campaign trail they update this content framework and make it available to the different folks who subscribe to the RSS feeds. I’d like to put this challenge out there to all candidates to come up with a top 25 issues/solutions to put into their RSS feeds.

Looking for pure sales training in a sales training seminar that is sure to make a difference?  Hi this is Jim Peake and I am pushing Blair’s Sales and Leadership program. I have trained under him and I can tell you first hand that he is the BEST trainer you will ever learn from. A Masters master. He trains the trainers. Listen to his podcasts on MySuccessGateway.com Arizona Sales & Leadership Training | November 10-11, 2007 in Scottsdale, Arizona

Donald Trump once said, “Sales and leadership are the same thing.” I can tell you, without a shadow of uncertainty, this is true.
http://www.salesdogs.com/cmd.php?af=599631 

I have spent the last 15 years working with business leaders, sole proprietors, salespeople and startup business owners in over 12 countries, coaching them to increase their company’s sales and to shift their corporate cultures into one of team, sales and accelerating profits.

I have not met one successful CEO, Chairman, Director, Entrepreneur or Investor that couldn’t sell!

Whether I’m listening to the Chairman of Singapore Airlines speak to thousands of employees worldwide the day after the tragedy of September 11, 2001 and rally them to step up to the plate for the coming economic fallout and watch amazingly as no one broke rank and propelled the airline to quarter after quarter of profits.

Learn the difference that made the difference and apply it to your business.

… Or if it’s a Mom with handicapped children, and little support from her husband, rally investors, bankers and customers to build from scratch one of the largest and most successful chain of high end jewelry stores in all of Asia (and still stay a great Mom!)

You will learn how she did it. I worked with her team and am honored to pass her incredibly simple but powerful strategies for building a business and championship team onto you.

… Or learning how Lou Gerstner of IBM facilitated one of the greatest American business turnarounds of all time.

Once again, his profound knowledge will be yours for the taking.

… Or if it’s a small business owner of a local pick-up and delivery company that went from near bankruptcy to 45 locations and 60 agents around the country within three years!  If you want to see how sales training really works in a live sales training seminar make sure you get to this event.

Arizona Sales & Leadership Training | November 10-11, 2007 in Scottsdale, Arizona Be there.

http://www.salesdogs.com/cmd.php?af=599631

About the Interview with J.J. Ramberg
J.J. Ramberg , host of “Your Business” at 7:30am Sunday morning on MSNBC, takes a few minutes to share some interesting thoughts on small businesses and her history of supporting entrepreneurship. J.J. comes from an entrepreneurial family and did her undergrad work at Duke while also graduating from the vaunted MBA program at Stanford. While many would seek a restful summer form such difficult course work, J.J. travelled to some of the most remote places on earth to discover and fulfill the needs of small business owners through the art of micro-lending. While working for the Uganda microfinance union, J.J. help entrepreneurs secure loans as little as $25 to start or expand businesses. To learn more about a current organization using the web to expand the use of micro-lending, please visit www.kiva.org.
Your Business is a show that focuses on the needs of small business owners today. Broken down into different interesting segments, Your Business brings business experts from the venture community and scholastic fields to help entrepreneurs answer the vital questions they face as they attempt to start or expand their current business ideas. One segment, the Elevator Pitch, allows one entrepreneur each week to face the panel of experts and present the summary of their business idea and receive feedback regarding everything from positioning for capital raises to marketing and infrastructure issues the entrepreneur will have to deal with. The panel of experts also answers questions sent in by other entrepreneurs regarding any business issues they face. To be considered for the Elevator pitch segment our simply to submit a question, send your information to yourbusiness@msnbc.com.
The one take away you get from listening to J.J. in this interview is her unbridled passion for solving the needs of small businesses. Whether it is travelling half way around the world, or assembling a cast of experts on a Sunday morning, J.J. is like a shot of energy to any small business owner. J.J. brings inspirational stories of small businesses that have overcome extreme obstacles to achieve success to show you the viewer that there is no obstacle to high to climb. After spending just a few minutes on the call with J.J., you will be inspired to set your alarm clock, or program your Tivo, to catch Your Business at 7:30am Sunday mornings on MSNBC. It’s a great way to start your day, and you are bound to hit the ground running as you face the obstacles in your life.

About J.J. Ramberg
Link to www.yourbusiness.msnbc.com
The weekly, half-hour program, hosted by JJ Ramberg, which focuses exclusively on America’s small business entrepreneurs, is the place to go for news, advice, guidance, and tips for small business owners.
Each week, “Your Business” presents a profile of a small business owner, highlighting both the challenges and successes they have each faced. Guest panelists, who include venture capitalists, angel investors, business journalists, academics, and successful entrepreneurs, weigh in with their expertise and answer questions from viewers.
“Your Business” also features a segment titled ‘Elevator Pitch,’ where entrepreneurs get a chance to pitch their new business ideas to a panel of experts. Also included in the program are the latest small business headlines, interesting websites for small business owners, and the ‘Small Biz Top Five,’ the weekly top 5 tips for improving your business.
“Your Business” telecasts weekly on Sundays at 7:30 am (ET) and re-air the following Saturday at 5:30 am (ET). ..
Host JJ Ramberg joined MSNBC from CNN where she reported on a wide range of topics from breaking news to profiles of the country’s top business leaders. Passionate about small business, Ramberg has first-hand experience, co-founding the search engine GoodSearch.com. Ramberg has a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University and an MBA from Stanford Business School.
Scott Leon is executive producer of “Your Business.” A veteran broadcast journalist for over 30 years, Leon was formerly executive producer of MSNBC’s “Entertainment Hot List” and “MSNBC At the Movies.”
JJ Ramberg is the host of MSNBC’s new small business show, “Your Business.”
Before joining MSNBC, Ramberg was a reporter at CNN, where she covered a wide range of topics, ranging from breaking news to profiles of the country’s top business leaders. Her extensive field experience includes reporting from Biloxi, Miss., and New Orleans in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. She also hosted the daytime talk program “The Flipside” on CNNfn and was a producer on CNN’s profile program “Pinnacle.” She began her television career at NBC News, where she was an associate producer at “Dateline NBC.”
Ramberg is passionate about small business and has firsthand experience as an entrepreneur herself. With her brother, she co-founded GoodSearch.com, a search engine that donates 50 percent of revenue to the charities and schools its users designate. Ramberg also spent two years after business school as the director of marketing and one of the first employees at Cooking.com, an Internet-based cookware retailer.
Ramberg has spent her career balancing business with public service, spending considerable time during the past few years working for microfinance organizations in Uganda and India.
Ramberg graduated cum laude from Duke University with a bachelor of arts degree in English and received her MBA from Stanford Business School.
The weekly, half-hour program, hosted by JJ Ramberg, which focuses exclusively on America’s small business entrepreneurs, is the place to go for news, advice, guidance, and tips for small business owners.
Each week, “Your Business” presents a profile of a small business owner, highlighting both the challenges and successes they have each faced. Guest panelists, who include venture capitalists, angel investors, business journalists, academics, and successful entrepreneurs, weigh in with their expertise and answer questions from viewers.
“Your Business” also features a segment titled ‘Elevator Pitch,’ where entrepreneurs get a chance to pitch their new business ideas to a panel of experts. Also included in the program are the latest small business headlines, interesting websites for small business owners, and the ‘Small Biz Top Five,’ the weekly top 5 tips for improving your business.
“Your Business” telecasts weekly on Sundays at 7:30 am (ET) and re-air the following Saturday at 5:30 am (ET). ..
Host JJ Ramberg joined MSNBC from CNN where she reported on a wide range of topics from breaking news to profiles of the country’s top business leaders. Passionate about small business, Ramberg has first-hand experience, co-founding the search engine GoodSearch.com. Ramberg has a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University and an MBA from Stanford Business School.
Scott Leon is executive producer of “Your Business.” A veteran broadcast journalist for over 30 years, Leon was formerly executive producer of MSNBC’s “Entertainment Hot List” and “MSNBC At the Movies.”

Myth: Large companies, including large, multinational corporations are taking away federal contracts specifically intended for small businesses.

Fact: Several things are happening here, but large businesses taking contracts that have been set aside for small business isn’t a real factor. A very few contracts are awarded to firms whose size is challenged – not household names but firms at the boundaries of small business status. SBA has, however, proposed new regulations to keep such contracts from being counted as small business contracts. What is happening is small companies that get long-term contracts are profiting by those contracts, and growing into large businesses. Also, large companies are acquiring small companies that hold long-term federal contracts, which can last for up to 20 years. In fact, many large, multinational corporations have acquisition strategies based on acquiring small companies with long-term federal contracts. In addition, some contracting agencies enter their contract data into the federal database incorrectly as awards to small businesses.

: : Large companies, including large, multinational corporations are taking away federal contracts specifically intended for small businesses. :

Myth: Then why are these large, multinational corporations listed in the GSA’s database as holding small business contracts?

Fact: Historically, size status – whether a company is large or small – has been determined at the time of the initial offer on the contract and is retained over the life of the contract. However, federal agencies are increasingly using long-term contracts that, with the exercise of contract options, can extend to 20 years. During that 20-year period, some of these companies become large because of their success, and some are acquired by bigger companies. The problem arises because up until now, under federal rules, federal agencies have been allowed to continue counting those as small business contracts for the life of the contract, even after they have become subsidiaries of larger firms.

: : Then why are these large, multinational corporations listed in the GSA’s database as holding small business contracts? :

Myth: The SBA hasn’t done anything to stop the misrepresentation of these as small business contracts, and has made it easier for large businesses to misrepresent themselves.

Fact: : The SBA hasn’t done anything to stop the misrepresentation of these as small business contracts, and has made it easier for large businesses to misrepresent themselves. : The SBA has taken very strong steps to correct this problem, and make it difficult for companies to misrepresent themselves. Most importantly, SBA will implement a recertification rule in June requiring companies with long-term contracts to recertify their small business size status at the end of the first five years of a contract and every time an option is exercised, thereafter. In addition, whenever a small business is purchased by or merges with another business, it must recertify its size status for all its contracts.

– more –

As of June, the recertification policy will require those contracts to be reported as contracts held by large companies if the companies holding them have grown beyond the size standards for small businesses or been acquired by a large company. The federal procurement regulations will also be revised to reflect these requirements.

Other steps taken by SBA include: hiring more contracting staff to help procurement officers identify small business contracting opportunities, implementing a Small Business Procurement Scorecard to monitor federal agencies’ small business contracting performance and grade them on it, and requiring federal agencies to review discrepancies in their contracting statistics.

Myth: The new “five-year” recertification policy allows federal agencies to report billions of dollars earmarked for small businesses to large, multinational corporations until 2012. Fact: The new recertification policy prohibits a small business that merges or is acquired by a large business from claiming small business status for future work on an existing contract from that point on. The policy also limits how long a small business that grows large may be reported as small to not more than five years. For current long-term contracts, a small business must recertify its small business status before it is awarded an option. Calling it a “five year” policy is also a misnomer – in actual practice, contract options are often annual, which triggers annual recertification.

The new recertification policy applies to all current and future long-term contracts. That means whenever any of the events that trigger the requirement for recertification occur – exercise of a contract option, merger or acquisition, or the end of the first five years of the contract –the small business must recertify itself as small at that point, or concede it has become a large business.

Because it applies to all current contracts, recertification can be required as soon as the law goes into effect, as soon as one of the triggering events occurs, whether it is hitting the five-year mark or exercise of an option or merger or acquisition.

Myth: There have been no penalties or consequences for large businesses getting small business contracts.

Fact: A business that bids on a small business contract will be denied the contract if the SBA determines that it is not a small business, and the contracting agency determines that termination is necessary. SBA is proposing strengthening these rules by staying awards until size status is determined. If a business intentionally misrepresents its small business status, it is subject to fines and its owners to imprisonment under Section 16(d) of the Small Business Act. Private businesses may also file civil suits under the False Claims Act, and may challenge the size claims of competing companies that win contracts.

: : There have been no penalties or consequences for large businesses getting small business contracts. :

Myth: Small businesses are forced to compete with large businesses under the new recertification policy.

Fact: : Small businesses are forced to compete with large businesses under the new recertification policy. : On contracts set aside for small business, a business must be small at the time it submits its bid. The new recertification policy actually protects small businesses from competing against large businesses by requiring a small business that has merged or been acquired by a large business to recertify its small business status.

– more –

Myth: SBA refuses to release names of small businesses awarded federal contracts.: SBA refuses to release names of small businesses awarded federal contracts. Fact: Federal contract award data is readily available to the general public through the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation. Any individual may request a special report through the General Services Administration, which operates the database, if he or she has difficulty in obtaining data.: Federal contract award data is readily available to the general public through the Federal Procurement Data System-Next Generation. Any individual may request a special report through the General Services Administration, which operates the database, if he or she has difficulty in obtaining data.

Myth: Since 2002, 14 federal investigations have found billions of dollars have been diverted from legitimate small businesses to Fortune 1000 companies and subsidiaries across the country.
Fact: Since 2002, 14 federal investigations have found billions of dollars have been diverted from legitimate small businesses to Fortune 1000 companies and subsidiaries across the country. : Almost without exception, these reports raise issues regarding accurate reporting of contract dollars awarded originally to small businesses on contracts that last many years. Although some report the very few occasions when large businesses have won contracts set aside for small businesses, they find almost unanimously that in a federal acquisition environment encompassing more than two million contracting actions each year, this is a very small part of the problem, mostly due to small firms that grew beyond size standards unwittingly. None of them, for example, suggest that large, multinational corporations have competed against small businesses and won contracts set aside for small businesses. As these reports clearly point out, the findings pertain to contracts awarded to small businesses that later became large through their own success or through a merger with or acquisition by a large business during the performance of the contract. Because the business was small at time it received the contract, the federal government continued to report the contract as a small business contract.

Myth: SBA’s recertification proposal is the same as the unpopular “grandfathering” plan proposed by SBA in 2004.

Fact: : SBA’s recertification proposal is the same as the unpopular “grandfathering” plan proposed by SBA in 2004. : SBA never proposed any five-year “grandfathering” rule, and in any case, the issue was completely unrelated to the recertification rule that will be implemented this year on June 30. SBA’s proposal in 2004 was a broad restructuring plan for its size standards, which included the idea that all size standards would be expressed in terms of the maximum number of employees a business could have and still be considered small. This proposal would have replaced a system in which size standards for some business sectors are defined by the number of employees and some by total revenues. No proposal for a “grandfathering” provision was ever made, although in response to concerns that some small businesses would lose their size status because of the changeover from revenues to employee numbers, SBA asked for comments whether it should consider proposing some unspecified time period to allow affected small businesses time to adjust. After a review of the comments on the entire restructuring issue, the project was dropped.

The Small Business Fairness in Contract Act passed the House by a vote of 409-13. The bill would increase the federal government’s small-business procurement goal from 23 percent to 30 percent. It would also limit the government’s ability to bundle smaller contracts into larger ones, which often puts smaller companies at a disadvantage in the bidding process. 

Rep. Ander Crenshaw, R-Jacksonville, said the legislation would give small businesses a fair shot at more government contracts. 

“Far too often they are put at a disadvantage in bidding for federal contracts when they are bundled into larger contracts too large for them to file adequate bids,” Crenshaw said. “This legislation will help level the playing field and ensure that small businesses can compete for their fair share of federal contracts.” 

The bill would also create a method for third-party arbitration between the Small Business Administration and the purchasing agency. 

Secret to success is finding a mentor, the right mentor
Marblehead, MA  May 14, 2007 My Success Gateway, LLC announces the results of their success survey.  A sampling was taken from two sources: My Success Gateway, LLC internal newsletter mailing list and Jim Peake’s Linkedin network.  Several questions were asked in the survey but the most telling information is the link to success with a mentor and without a mentor.
There were a total of 35 respondents.  The question was asked: have you found it easy or difficult to achieve success?  Six people said it was easy.  28 said that achieving success was either neutral, somewhat difficult or very difficult.  The My Success Gateway, LLC respondents’ were then asked if they had a mentor.  12 said that they had mentors.  23 did not have mentors.
In the final analysis, all six of the people who responded that they are finding success easy all currently have mentors.  In the case of six of the respondents that currently have mentors, they are still finding it difficult to achieve success.  23 of the respondents who do not have mentors are all finding it difficult to achieve success.
“It is really not that surprising that people who are finding it difficult to achieve success do not have mentors,” said Jim Peake, CEO of My Success Gateway, LLC and now we have the data to support those findings.”  My Success Gateway, LLC consistently teaches that there are 3 key human factors for success:
1)     strengthen your private network (includes your mentor)
2)     expand your extended network (chamber of commerce, trade associations, clubs, networks)
3)     invest in yourself
My Success Gateway, LLC will be holding a live call to help people link up with and assist people in finding the right mentor on the week of  May 21^st.  Sign up for the My Success Gateway, LLC newsletter on the home page to get the information.
About My Success Gateway, LLC
My Success Gateway, LLC is based in Marblehead, Massachusetts with offices in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is a Web 2.0 network and community that provides instant access to tools for success for entrepreneurs, small businesses and individuals. My Success Gateway, LLC provides interviews with dozens of mentors in podcast audio, video, text formats.  Also included are user reviews in a ranking engine. http://www.mysuccessgateway.com