More than 70 percent of business done in America is by small businesses. If you are a business owner longing to make it to the Forbes 400, your goal should be growth.

Does that mean you'll be the next Bill Gates? Likely not, but at least your ability to grow and sustain your company should be paramount. Even with an excrutiatingly slowly improving economy, most business owners are still reeling from a recession that has pounded the nation for the past couple of years with all estimates that improvement is not going to be quick in coming back. What to do in the interim?

Far too many business owners let fear affect them and their choices, according to business consultant Jim Muehlhausen, author of "The 51 Fatal Business Errors and How to Avoid Them", quoted in a previous article.