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Did you know there are more than 2.5 million veteran-owned businesses in the U.S? Our nation’s veterans are hard-working, resilient and resourceful, making them specially equipped for entrepreneurship.

While many 13-year-olds dream of becoming firefighters or football players, 13-year-old Johnathon Bush not only dreamed of being an entrepreneur but was already becoming one. While growing up in Toledo, Ohio, he realized the only way he could make money at a young age was through entrepreneurship, so he started baking cookies and selling them to friends and family. But, his bake sales evolved into something bigger than his middle school self could have expected.

You’ve been thinking about starting a small business for a while, and you’ve even done your homework to try out your idea. Hopefully you’ve read our other posts in this series for advice on validating your idea, doing a bit of market research, thinking through the financials and testing the waters by starting your business on the side. While you’ve successfully taken some steps towards becoming your own boss, we’re here to provide more guidance on certain aspects of launching a business.

This post originally appeared on the blog of our partner, CDC Small Business Finance. As an organization committed to creating access to capital for Latino entrepreneurs, we feel it is critical to share a look at the state of Latino-owned businesses. We encourage everyone to ask themselves if they are stepping up to support Latino small business growth and success.

National Hispanic Heritage Month runs from September 15 through October 15, and it’s the perfect time to celebrate the contributions of Hispanic small business owners to our nation’s economy and discuss how we can help them thrive and grow their businesses.

Once you’ve figured out that your business idea has legs and makes financial sense, the next step is to try it out. Many entrepreneurs like to dream big as they’re first launching a business—they picture their business with their own office, retail location and staff. Dreaming big is great, but starting small gives you the opportunity to test out your business ideas and perfect them before investing too heavily. Below are some ways to start small and test your business idea.

There are many excellent reasons for starting a business: being your own boss, loving what you do and enjoying the challenge of getting your enterprise up and running. But at the end of the day, you need your business to make money. Now that you know that your business idea has legs, it’s time to see if your business makes sound financial sense.

Venturize is excited to announce a new partnership with CO.STARTERS, a network that helps communities build thriving entrepreneurial ecosystems by equipping them with strategy, tools and resources. Kamiya and Tess are just one of many success stories to come out of a CO.STARTERS program, and you could be their next.

Women-owned businesses with revenues between $250,000 and $5 million struggle to find the loans they need to grow their businesses – that’s according to a new survey of women business owners about their capital needs by Invest in Women Entrepreneurs Initiative (I-WE).