A new breed of entrepreneurs.

LACK ENTERPRISE has long advocated that one of the more potentially rewarding though often challenging paths toward financial independence is entrepreneurship. To that end, BE is dedicated to not only chronicling the successes of today's black business owners, but to also continuing to provide useful how-to information on creating, sustaining, and growing black businesses.

The need for more successful black entrepreneurs cannot be overstated. African American business owners are more likely to hire African Americans than white firms, creating more career advancement opportunities. Black firms are also more likely to do business with other black businesses, creating a chain reaction that further empowers not only the owners of those companies, but their employees and in turn, the black community as a whole.

In our annual Small Business issue, BLACK ENTERPRISE reveals a common thread among this new breed of black entrepreneurs, those interested in the allure and rewards of unique opportunities. These successful entrepreneurs possess a strong desire to apply fresh strategies to build their businesses, rather than take more traditional paths toward upward mobility.

Some of those strategies are detailed throughout this issue--from self-published books to processing online orders 24-hours-a-day to deliver specialty foods across the country. "Entrepreneurs should always be thinking of creative ways to generate revenues if they want to sustain the growth of their business," says BLACK ENTERPRISE's Technology and Small Business Editor James C. Johnson.

Entrepreneurs who are creating and growing companies today are more self-reliant and exercise a higher degree of personal freedom in order to meet new requirements for success in today's marketplace. A prime example is our cover subject. Aundrea Lacy, founder and CEO of Luv's Brownies, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in October. The 38-year-old entrepreneur realized over the years that sustaining her online bakery would involve diversifying beyond selling fresh, heart-shaped brownies.

Today, her business is about more than selling baked goods. It now includes public speaking, consulting, and selling her books (her first self-published book, Luv Story, sold nearly 30,000 copies). She's also hard at work on a new merchandise product line. Lacy is extending her business brand by formulating a winning promotional strategy. "I rolled together an integrated marketing plan," says Lacy, who plans to release her second book, Brownie Points, in spring 2007. "This plan includes direct-mail programs, speaking engagements, partnering with wedding planners, and participating in corporate events."

What does all this mean? It means that by being the forerunners in the independence movement in the marketplace, African American small business owners are poised for an extraordinary era of creativity and entrepreneurship an era in which their creativity and bold initiatives will spawn a new generation of successful companies.--The Editors