CINDY MCENTEE: (VO) Mo's has kind of become its own little entity where I just feel like I'm the caretaker of a legacy.

HATTIE: (VO) Cindy McEntee is owner of Mo's restaurants, the place famous for serving hot clam chowder since 1951. She has three locations on the Oregon coast and a chowder base factory. Cindy is an anchor in her local Chamber of Commerce and when she's not working on her business, she works on the business of making Newport a destination. Tourism has quadrupled in the last 10 years and business leaders are working to continue the trend. Cindy has been instrumental in attracting artists to create more than a dozen murals including this Wyland.

CINDY: It's exciting when you can do something when you impact a neighborhood. When we have our 50th anniversary which we did this year, we decided to thank the community and so we had decided that 50 percent of every ticket for every table of people, 50 percent of their ticket cost would go to whatever little community charity they wanted. And we did that one whole day in all six of our restaurants. So each community had its own, you know specific little.

HATTIE: Did you add up at the end of the day how much money you guys did?

CINDY: Yes it was about $18,000.

The Lightbulb:

HATTIE: So what motivates these small business owners to spend precious time away from their businesses? What is the result of hundreds of hours of volunteer effort? Existing and potential of entrepreneurs from all over the country can thank this council for setting a strong pro small-business agenda at the Chamber. An agenda to address the paperwork and regulatory burdens that small employers face on a daily basis. An agenda that encourages legislative change to improve access to quality affordable health care, and an agenda that reigns in an out of control legal system. One small business owner can make a difference and many small business owners can make a big difference. Small business owners all over this country find places where they can best serve as volunteers. They raise billions of dollars for existing causes. There is no single segment of the population more generous than small business owners. This is because to succeed in small business requires a servant's heart. We serve our customers and as a result we prosper. We're in the habit of serving so when we see a need or when we are asked to help, we say yes.

HATTIE: (VO) At smallbusinessschool.org there is self-help study for people who want to start a business and for those who want to grow the business they have. To learn more about this episode, choose the overview. You can read every word you're hearing today when you choose the transcript and go deeper with the case study. There's streaming video and access to interactive study guides throughout the site.