Small-business owners, what are you doing to stand out from the crowd? Each week, we focus on an entrepreneur who has lessons to share that we think will resonate with other small-business owners.

Bill Decker, co-founder of corporate meetings host, the Hub, answers our questions:

What are you doing to stand out from the crowd?
Having hosted meetings for hundreds of corporate clients, we know first-hand just how involved such events can be. Clients may need digital projector screens, whiteboards, Wi-Fi, coffee and refreshments. By providing such amenities, we help them avoid the minor mishaps that can easily derail a meeting. We also will come to you. By offering to manage clients’ in-house corporate spaces, we can eliminate much of the operational overhead — for instance, hiring staff and maintaining technology — that companies normally pay for.

What's the best part about owning your own business?
Controlling my own destiny on my own terms and being accountable for both our successes and our failures.

What's the biggest challenge of owning your own business?
Knowing how much depends on making the business a success: employees’ livelihoods, investors’ money... my children’s future.

Name: Bill Decker
Business: The Hub, a corporate meetings host and managed services firm.
Industry: Hospitality
Location: Philadelphia
Year founded: 2004
Number of employees: 25
Web address: www.thehub.com

What's the biggest hurdle you've overcome?
Creating a successful business in an industry that isn’t typically known for embracing new concepts and products.

What's the biggest mistake you've made?
We simply took too long to get started. We spent 18 months with five people working full time to get the doors open on our first location. By the time we opened, we had too many people spending too much time trying to perfect their piece of the puzzle, whether it was asset development, process planning, branding or technology.

It would have been better to just have two people raising capital and finding a location while the rest of us stayed in our corporate jobs and assisted from the sidelines.

What's the best business advice you can offer?
Be flexible with whatever vision you have for your business and remain positive through the rough patches.