In the Driver's Seat While navigating the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, your independence is your best asset.

This month's cover headline, "Retire Rich," is, Iadmit, hardly original. But it usually appears on books andmagazines that deal with investment and personal finance issues.Sure, investing in real estate or the stock market is one way toretire rich. But here at Entrepreneur, we advocate anotherway-business ownership.

Owning your own business is the first step to truly takingcharge of your future. It leaves your destiny in your hands; yourfuture is not subject to the whims of bosses or managers.

I've been on the road a lot these past few months and havemet hundreds of existing and aspiring business owners. That maysound like hyperbole, but it's not. When one of the road tripsis to eBay Live!, where 12,000 people showed up, it'srelatively easy to interact with several hundred people in a shortperiod of time. And while you may think eBay is for hobbyists orstartups, my two workshops were jampacked (people were standing inthe aisles and sitting on the floor) with businessowners-entrepreneurs just like you who were looking for insight ongrowing their companies. Most of these people didn't start abusiness to get rich. Most entrepreneurs I meet don't startwith the aim of getting rich. It is, however, a welcomeaftereffect.