Earlier this month, I had the pleasure of attending a presentation by Dr. Roger Blackwell to the Columbus Chapter of the American Marketing Association. Dr. Blackwell, a well-known marketing guru, was speaking about the concepts in his new book, “Saving America: How Garage Entrepreneurs Grow Small Firms into Large Fortunes.”

When I first started SiteInSight in 2011, and about two weeks after I quit my full time job to dedicate myself to growing the company, Dr. Blackwell was speaking at the Kiwanis Club of Columbus. I listened intently as he assured the group that the most common reason small businesses fail is that they have too much of other people’s money. Instead, successful small business owners are driven by their own precious, small investment — whether that be Les Wexner’s $5,000 loan from his aunt to open his first store, or all of the business owners who worked nights out of their basements and garages to launch their companies.

This message was extraordinarily heartening to me, because I was scared to death of failing and leaving my family in hard times, with all the responsibility on my shoulders. I left the Kiwanis Club meeting with a spring in my step and Dr. Blackwell’s card in my pocket.

Later, we met again and worked on a few projects, including his website, www.rogerblackwellbusiness.com.

At his recent presentation, we had a chance to catch up, and he was kind enough to inscribe my copy of his new book: