Alan Hall

I recently received an email from a young executive in Mali, Africa, in response to an article I’d written for Forbes. “Can everyone be a successful business builder? Is it a realistic notion?” she asked.

“Surely not everyone can succeed at this most difficult endeavor,” she wrote. “Why do some flourish and others fail? Clearly, the odds of high achievement are challenging.”

I liken award winners to a ride in an F-16. A few years ago, the Air Force invited my daughter, Megan, to fly in one of the Thunderbirds’ aircraft in the clear blue skies over the Wasatch Mountains.

Entrepreneurs are America’s best resource for economic prosperity and growth. They have the ideas and the fire in the belly needed to create flourishing businesses that benefit entire communities.

These undaunted risk takers are the unquestionable source of wealth creation, new jobs and a strong nation. They provide the financial fuel to pay good wages and valuable benefits. They pay the majority of local, state and federal taxes. They contribute to their communities with donations to the needy, the arts, education and health care.

Successful entrepreneurs are the backbone and lifeblood of the U.S. economy.

Winning entrepreneurs bond emotionally with employees, investors and customers when relating meaningful stories about their businesses.

Last week, I listened intently to Jana Francis, seeking money for a growing company, tell her story of why she started her online business for new mothers. In a very natural way, she described how her idea originated from the need to buy an item for her new baby.

Unable to find quickly and inexpensively what she sought in retail stores, she turned to the Internet. Not satisfied with what she found online, she envisioned building her own website to sell specific products to women with infants.

What’s new, Utah? We are about to witness a major tectonic shift in the world of finance. It’s happening beneath our collective feet and it will change the world as we know it.

What is it? The new and controversial stipulations of the JOBS Act, signed by President Obama in April, are about to be tested by an IPO filing by San Francisco-based real estate search service Trulia.

During 40 years as a businessman I have made foolish business mistakes. Many have caused the painful end of an aspiration to build an award winning business.

Kiss your boss goodbye — it’s time to become an entrepreneur

I recently read a report on the attitude of the American workforce. To my surprise, more than half of all employees are not engaged at work. In other words, most workers are not happy, not satisfied, not productive, not loyal, not inspired and will jump ship if another opportunity arises.

Last week’s jobs data was dismal. Unemployment is up again, at 8.2 percent. With just 69,000 new jobs, the fewest in a year, May is the third consecutive month of disappointing results.

Is now the time to take the entrepreneurial leap? Boomers are entering the entrepreneurial ranks at such speed that many are calling entrepreneurship the new mid-life crisis, according to fellow Forbes contributor Marty Zwilling.

Scores of those in Generation Y are becoming new-business founders, according to USA Today. In 2012, 29 percent of entrepreneurs are ages 20-34.