Every year, thousands of people from across the world come to America hoping for a piece of the quintessential American Dream: to become a successful business owner. Entrepreneurship is just as much a part of our history as are basic principles such as freedom of speech and religion, because to own a successful business represents another freedom that is deeply engrained in American culture: freedom of opportunity...

Even in these, the most uncertain of times, optimism, persistence, innovation and opportunism were bywords prevalent among manufacturers, distributors and end users attending the 20th annual International Window Cleaner Association (IWCA) convention in Atlanta, Georgia. Inventions and new products were self evident at the Trade Show, while techniques and trade secrets in the form of advice were revealed in candid remarks about how their businesses were fairing as well as via their thoughts on the state of the industry at that point in time, February 18-22. Encouragingly, among those interviewed during convention week, were new entrants into the field who were not deterred by the economy, but saw opportunity instead. This report begins with the Trade Show where the explosive growth of waterfed poles and pure water systems hit home in a big way because the majority of exhibitors had them on display...

When Jeff Klass was 16, he was a janitor at his high school in West Bend, Wisconsin, where he taught himself the art of window cleaning. He went on to eventually find his own window cleaning company and earlier this year was named vice president of ABC Window Cleaning Supply’s Waterfed Division. He can thank his father and the high school for helping launch his career, and thank himself for being ingenious, highly motivated and persistent in seeking opportunities and prospering from them.

It all started when Klass, as high school janitor, was faced with cleaning a lot of door glass and remembered one of the products his father sold as a Fuller Brush Man, one of the most famous and prosperous door-to-door sales occupations a half century ago. It was a squeegee hanging in the garage at home...