For the past eight months, Ive met a lot of local, national and international entrepreneurs who have all shared a passion for their businesses. Ive met as many people who have always envisioned themselves as business owners, as I have people who became entrepreneurs as a means of avoiding the unemployment line. Ive known people who have liquidated their assets, and risked it on nothing more than a good idea. Ive encountered people who have opened and closed a half dozen businesses all in the name of profit, and a few who did so simply because they were looking for something hidden meaning within that was missing.

Everyone Ive met, in the course of all the interviews and photography sessions, share something strangely inherent about entrepreneurs: they are driven by the love of the game known as entrepreneurship. Everything about the business world, is enjoyed in some fashion, and savoured over the course of a good conversation, like a fine wine. They enjoy the adrenaline rush of profit and loss, as much as they know they are providing a valued product or service.

You see, while owning your own business is merely a dream for many, and it is an often harsh reality for others. It carries with it as many financial advantages as it does corporate responsibilities and personal or familial misgivings. In order to fulfill our dreams of owning our destiny, we mortgage off a certain percentage of the things we hold near and dear to our hearts such as family, time, energy and money.

We do it because deep within us, we know things like these have to be done. We have to stay up late at night to balance the books, write the reports and surf the Internet, in order to remain competitive and stay in business. We learn the hard way that there is no freedom without cost, and likewise, no reward without risk. We risk our savings, for example, in hopes of acquiring more profits later. We leverage our time through hirings because we believe the revenues we accumulate later, will be more than enough to cover the "cost of doing business".

In essence and in truth, entrepreneurs are risk-takers, all rolling the dice, hoping the rewards will far outweigh the risks. There is little to differentiate the gambler at a casino sitting in front of a slot machine from an entrepreneur, except perhaps, a bit of common sense.

The North American continent is home to two of the strongest economic nations in the world, largely because of our belief that entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship alone, will build a better country. While they are not perfect, and while there may yet be some who are excluded from all parts of our economic growth, these two countries, particularly Canada, continue to stand as examples of what is possible, if governed by common sense and freedom of choice.

As entrepreneurs, we are always looking into the crystal ball, attempting to delve into the minds of our customers, hoping to come up with "the million dollar idea". I am thankful I live in a country that allows me the freedom to seek out those ideas and the opportunity to enhance my lifestyle. I am thankful this country affords me the freedom to work as hard, or as little, as I want, and still be included in the voting process. I am thankful I have the luxury of being able to assert my native heritage in the same breath I can call myself "Canadian". I am thankful also, that we can gather together to disagree about policies without the fear of being taken behind a building and dispensed with for having slighted a self-appointed ruler.

So why do we go into business and stay in business? The short answer is: YOU.

It is for you, the reader, that we create value within the economy, not only by opening businesses that provide the goods and services you purchase, but also by developing ways and means to stay in business each and every year.

As purchasers of the goods and services we provide, you hold the fabric of our economy together. Trends dictate which businesses will survive one year and die the next, and you, the reader, are the force behind many of those trends. You decide whether Coke or Pepsi is the preferred drink of champions. You decide whether Levis stays in business one more year. You decide whether a Northern diamond is more valuable than any other diamond on the market. You decide whether to fly to Edmonton to buy a vehicle or to stay in Yellowknife to make the same purchase. You decide the supply and demand curve for every marketable product and service. You are a force to be reckoned with, and on behalf of entrepreneurs locally, nationally and globally, I say "thank you".

Thank you for allowing us the privilege of being of service to you. Thank you for helping us create an economy rivalled by few. Thank you for including us in your purchasing decisions. Thank you for distributing the wealth to those who may not otherwise have had a share. Thank you for believing in each and every one of us who dares to stand upon a dream and offer you something more, something better and something rewarding each and every year.

You see, YOU have enabled entrepreneurs, such as myself, to believe in something more than the power of our own dreams and ambitions. Through every purchase, whether its renting a video or getting a haircut, YOU help make every entrepreneur a little stronger in some respect. YOU provide the foundation upon which larger dreams can be built, simply by buying from us, the things YOU need to make it through another day, another month, another year. For that and more, thank you.