In 2013, I will celebrate my 30th year as an entrepreneur and a business owner. Three decades of hard work in the highly competitive and ever-changing world of Federal IT contracting has taught me many valuable lessons – as many from failure as from success – and the most important lessons were often the hardest to learn.

Today, with so much experience under my belt, I find it gratifying to share what I have learned with new entrepreneurs, small business owners and young people who are taking their first steps into the world of business. I also enjoy speaking to at-risk teens and adolescents about the importance of never allowing others to dictate the limits of their success.

Growing up the oldest of seven children in Brooklyn, I understand the many challenges faced by at-risk young people today. I, too, was considered “at risk” at one time as a young girl, so my personal narrative differs slightly from the norm. Inner-city youth are accustomed to hearing “success stories” that involve a peer who rises above their circumstances through remarkable athletic or academic achievement, earning them the inordinate opportunity to attend one of our nation’s leading institutions of higher learning. I applaud those special young people and wholeheartedly support any program that offers disadvantaged youth an opportunity for self-improvement. However, for every scholarship awarded, countless others are turned away. My story clearly demonstrates that not having the chance to attend college does not necessary mean you are automatically relegated to a lower stratum of achievement. Hard work, passion and determination can open the doors of success to anyone.

Furthermore, struggling to get ahead in a highly competitive, traditionally male-dominated industry was not the easiest path forward for a young Latina. But if I can make it, coming from a similar background, so can they.

A great deal of work must be done before you can make your mark in the business world, but the first and most important criterion is believing in yourself.

After high school, my first job was as a receptionist for a software distribution company. From that vantage point, I could see how their sales team operated on a day-to-day basis and I knew I could do better. All I needed was a chance to prove myself, so I asked for one. And when I got the chance, I gave it everything I had. One year after joining the company, I was its top salesperson.

After affirming, to myself and others, what I could accomplish through hard work and determination, I started my own business, Software Control International (SCI), in my mother’s basement. I had $1.7 million dollars in sales my first year. Today, my company is known as SCI Consulting Services, Inc., and it is a well-respected Federal IT contractor that employs more than 300 people and meets the IT needs of U.S. government agencies such as the Department of Homeland Security, Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency.

Recently ranked 108 in the Top 500 Hispanic Business in America, I am proud to say that SCI is among the most successful female and minority-owned/operated businesses in the country.

When I lead discussions and seminars on entrepreneurship, I provide several concrete recommendations on how to start, sustain and grow a business in a competitive marketplace. It would be nice if you could learn everything you needed to know about leadership and management from a book, but that simply is not possible. If it were, I would have written the book myself. In business, the best way to learn is the same way a skilled laborer learns his or her trade, by apprenticing with someone who has taken the time, maybe a lifetime, to master their craft.

At heart, all serious entrepreneurs must be risk-takers, audacious believers in themselves and in their vision, but above all else, they must be doers. Relentless doers who take responsibility for everything and refuse to quit until the job is done.

Stepping out of the boardroom, I also believe that entrepreneurs have a responsibility to give back to their community. For my part, I have created and supported several charitable organizations dedicated to fostering the development of underprivileged children, and I recently launched a nonprofit program called Stars, Stripes, & Hearts in honor and support of Latino/Hispanic military service members and their families.

As much as I enjoy serving as president and CEO of SCI, I also cherish my role as a mother, grandmother, charitable organizer and supporter of our brave sons and daughters in uniform. For me, success comes from the feeling I get knowing that I can have a meaningful and positive impact in the lives of others. Because of this, I believe I am truly blessed!

Lynette Spano is president & CEO of SCI Consulting Services, Inc. and a 2011 Anna Maria Arias Foundation award recipient.