New enterprises.

How high is the cost to be the boss? Higher than most people will ever be prepared to pay. It's one thing to be worried about your own career prospects, job performance and earning power. It's quite another to be responsible for the productivity and payroll of employees, government and tax regulations, protecting your market share from hungry competitors and satisfying increasingly demanding customers and clients.

You show me someone who wants to quit their job and start a business so that they can be their own boss and "not answer to anybody," and I'll show you someone who has no idea of what it means to be an entrepreneur. And if you think you've faced race discrimination at the job, wait until you apply for a bank loan to finance the launch or expansion of your business, or try to land your first contract in an industry where the concept of a black entrepreneur is either a curiosity, an oxymoron or, worse, a threat to the status quo.

So why do the most recent Census figures show the creation of more than 200,000 new black-owned enterprises--a 46% increase--between 1987 and 1995? Because the most exhilarating, exciting and empowering business experience you can have is being an entrepreneur, even though it is as tough and risky a task as you can undertake.

I know, because I've been there. Nearly 30 years ago, I launched a little venture called BLACK ENTERPRISE. Although the times, trends and business climate have changed, there's nothing you'll face that I haven't gone through already or don't wrestle with now. My businesses have grown and prospered, but it has never--not for one second--been easy, nor do I expect it ever will be.

But that's okay. Because at the root of every challenge, I see an opportunity. To win, that's how you have to think, whatever your ambitions. But if your goals include entrepreneurial success, this mind-set is monumentally important. And make no mistake: Business ownership remains key--perhaps now more than ever--not just for those individuals ruled by an entrepreneurial spirit, but to the economic strength of all African Americans. Indeed, this reality is the essence of BE's editorial mission.

That's why, nearly 30 years after I began my entrepreneurial journey, I still identify so strongly with those men and women launching new enterprises, beginning their maiden voyages as business owners. I will always share the boom times and the lean times that test and often redefine the limits of our courage, ingenuity and imagination. More importantly, we at BE remain committed to being your consultant, advocate and, inasmuch as the success of our business is inextricably tied to the success of your endeavors, your faithful partner.

How high is the cost to be the boss? So high, it can't be measured in figures alone. Yet, perhaps more often than we have a right to expect, it's worth it.