In his speech tonight in the first few minutes, Barack called us out:

“The weight of this crisis will not determine the destiny of this nation. The answers to our problems don’t lie beyond our reach. They exist … in the imaginations of our entrepreneurs and the pride of the hardest-working people on Earth. Those qualities that have made America the greatest force of progress and prosperity in human history we still possess in ample measure.”

“In the imagination of our entrepreneurs” –that’s us. Our creativity and innovation of starting and running our businesses is the path out of this recession. It does not exist in the CEO suites of large corporations or government bailouts. Small business owners create jobs, wealth and opportunities for others. We don’t give up, we get busy. We find a way. It is within our grasp to guide this country out of the recession with every time sale we make, every time we service a client and with every new innovation we make.

I agree that the “only way out is through” – and that is through us as entrepreneurs and small business owners. We all need to do our part.