When I learned about President Obama saying that entrepreneurs don’t build businesses on their own, I was floored. 我当时正在面试一位新客户，他恰好是一家初创公司的创始人。 He answered a question I asked about how he started the company 通过 saying something about the President’s 评论 and how he guessed he really didn’t build it himself.
2003年，我在没有政府帮助的情况下创办了玫瑰通讯公司。 I pay a lot of money in taxes — as a corporation and as an individual. 我还在三个不同的州支付工资，因为我的员工在哪里工作。 我冒了很多险。 我工作了（并继续工作）很长时间。 我自学了如何创办和经营一家小企业。 在经济不稳定的时期，我创造了一个可持续发展的企业，并创造了一个让人们可以灵活地把时间花在家庭上的工作环境，我为此感到非常自豪。 The President — the one I voted for — has some nerve suggesting I didn’t build this business myself!
After my meeting, I took the time to read about his 评论s and their context and I quickly realized he wasn’t 指 to the actual business when he said, “You didn’t build that.” He was 指 to the government-funded infrastructure (like roads, education and research) we all need to be successful. Last night (more than a month later), the speakers at the Republican National Convention continued to 锤 this misrepresentation of his words. I guess it’s smart campaign strategy, but as an entrepreneur I found it hard to stomach.
The truth is without the government, I wouldn’t be here. My education at the 马里兰大学 has played a key role in my success. 它完全是由我的父母资助的。 我的父亲在越南打过仗，他的职业生涯是美国劳工部的一名勤奋的雇员。 我在华盛顿特区的郊区长大。 我的许多家庭成员的生计过去和现在都与联邦政府有关。
Since founding Rose Communications, we’ve won three federal government contracts: two with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid 服务 and one with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. We’ve also done work for the Maryland and DC 529 college savings plans. Not only do those contracts help employ my team, but they are among the more meaningful and interesting assignments we’ve had.
我的生意也和零售店或餐馆没什么不同，因为我们需要政府资助的基础设施来生存和发展。 Simply put, clients need roads and bridges to drive on to get to our offices — and we need the same to get to them. I also need talent educated in our nation’s public schools in order to serve our clients and grow in the future.
我们的制度远非完美。 There’s abuse all over the place. And I am open to voting for anyone from any party who can show HOW they’re going to fix it without demolishing what works. 但我不会坐在这里期待我的公司成立10周年，因为这是我一个人做的。 我怎么能那么傲慢？