‘Growth Mavens’ are big thinking entrepreneurs. They are fiercely ambitious. A Growth Maven envisions the day when she can take her place among the mega-stars who also birthed their companies as home-based businesses: Bill Gates, Martha Stewart, Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs, and Michael Dell.

“I want to take over the world. Okay, so how do I do that?”

Well, first there is some bad news The odds are heavily against you. The National Federation of Independent Business’ Education Foundation estimates that over the lifetime of a small business, a scant 39 percent are truly profitable. Worse, more than 64 percent of these businesses will fail over a ten-year period. These are grim statistics. So what’s the deciding factor that determines winners vs. losers, and what can you do to beat the odds?

Fortunately, there isn’t one, huge overriding factor that will determine if you’ll end up on “Millionaire’s Row” or “Desolation Row.” (For the youngsters out there, this is from a Bob Dylan songYes, I’m dating myself.) In fact, your odds for success can be greatly enhanced just by following a series of easy but well-planned small steps.

For the Growth Maven, that first step is to move out of his house. The Growth Maven begins his enterprise in his home office to keep costs low, but is eager to expand the company to new levels. His dream is to grow from a one-man show to a multi-employee corporation and maybe bigger yet.

Does this hit the nail on the head? If you are a Growth Maven, your first move is to move out of your home office. You need to open your first “real” office and bring on some staff. But it must be done correctly so that the big leap doesn’t suck-up all of your time, money, and resources. You want to prepare yourself for long-term success. You want customers to know who you are and what you believe in. You want to develop a terrific reputation and have constant communication with your customers.

It isn’t easy, but if you are a Growth Maven, you can make it happen. This is your time to harness your inner maverick and make your vision a reality. Say good-bye to your Home Office From Hell, Growth Mavens. You’re off to build an empire!

Before you run off to sign an office space contract, STOP!

Here are two solid reasons to stay away from even relatively short-term leases, much less one for 3-5 years.

1. If the business does poorly, you’re stuck paying for unneeded office space

2. If the business succeeds quickly you may have a need for more space and dividing your new team will not be helpful.

The simple solution is to rent an executive suite, which are typically high-end, fully equipped, and ready to move into. Networking becomes less of a challenge, since there are often many other small businesses housed in the same executive suite facility. Don’t expect real estate brokers to promote these options to you because in most cases there’s not enough profit from these deals to make it worth their while. Other options include subleasing space or sharing an office with a larger firm.

Take action today by researching which executive suites are located in your area. A high-end downtown executive suite might not be the right choice for a funky software developer.