U.S. depends on start-ups

The economy has much invested in the success of small firms. They accounted for about two-thirds of the jobs created between 1993 and 2009, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Nearly all net job creation nationally occurred in firms less than five years old, according to a Kauffman Foundation analysis of census data from 1980 to 2005.

That makes new small businesses and the entrepreneurs who create them "the engines of job creation and eventual economic recovery," according to the Kauffman Foundation.

Yet only about two-thirds of new small business survive two years and only half will survive five or more years, according to the SBA.

Hoping to help improve the odds, Anderson has come up with a list of "Five Killer Start-Up Mistakes" for entrepreneurs and small-business owners to avoid. Right at the top is failing to have the right attitude -- failing to take that metaphorical leap off the cliff and into the entrepreneurial unknown.

Besides not having the failure-is-not-an-option mindset, other mistakes that can doom new small businesses include being around negative people

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