Entrepreneurs are a potential source of regional economic prosperity. Lifestyle entrepreneurs can enhance quality of life by creating new retail outlets, entertainment venues and services. Other entrepreneurs start companies that employ numerous workers and grow the regional economy. Self-employment, or proprietors, is one of several entrepreneurial measures. Within the Capital REgion, the number of proprietors increased by 26,570 or 90.4 percent between 1983 and 2003*. In comparison wage and salary employment grew by 58.4 percent in the region. Self-employment growth rates varied significantly across the region and the nation. Many metro and non-metro counties alike experienced large increases in self-employment, while also growing at rates faster that the national average. Other counties experienced growth at lesser rates, or declines in self-employment. There are a variety of available resources to entrepreneurs. One extensive resource, teh Wisconsin Entrepreneurs' Network (WEN), provides access to services such as one-on-one counsulting, educational workships and strategies to assess technologies and access captial. WEN is available at www.wenportal.org.