Tell FOX Business About Your Hometown 'Little Engines'

Unemployment was high, consumer confidence was low and wallets across the country were tight. But for a determined Blake Scotland, winter 2010 was the perfect time to pass on the corporate world and launch her dream business.

“I was going to set out on my own and start creating opportunities for myself,” said Scotland, the owner of Ferality, a trendy clothing boutique on the lower east side of Manhattan.

Like many of America’s super-resilient entrepreneurs, Scotland found a way to lay the foundation for a growing company, despite the odds stacked up against her. (Click here for Scotland’s full story from idea-for-the-business to now.)

And she’s not alone.

Are you, or do you know, a well-established mom-and-pop and/or thriving startup that started out at the bottom of the barrel? How did they dig out and climb up? FOX Business wants to hear from you about your from-roadblock-to-success stories, and those of your entrepreneurial heroes.

They are the little engines that could and today keep chugging and pushing our economy back on better footing, and for that they deserve the spotlight. Send us details at smbs@foxbusiness.com about those in your neighborhood or city, and we’ll feature some in upcoming articles in the FOX Small Business Center special series, “Determined.”