When I first got started in business it was all about “faking it until you make it.”

It was “act as if.”

“Don’t worry about debt, just build your business and the rest will take care of itself,” they would all say.

It was advice that was hard to ignore and came at me from everywhere.

“Kid, you don’t have an expense problem, you have a revenue problem,” Bob said.

As I look back on almost 29 years in business, some of that was true. When you’re in growth mode and starting from the bottom, it’s difficult to manufacture confidence and momentum.

But, boy, some of that advice was so wrong.

Look, we should ALL level up. In All aspects of our lives.

Level up, do better, and BE better. Reach for the brass ring – that’s the only way to get what you want out of life.

The only way to get BIG in business and in life is to go BIG.  Stay within your means BUT change what YOUR means are.

Think about it.

It’s not about being something you’re not, about faking anything or acting.

It’s about being what you CAN be. What you want to be.

Build something great and reach your potential, day by day, with no excuses.

Billy Beane, vanguard general manager of the A’s who perfected Moneyball once said, “Adapt or die.”

I would say the same thing about growth.

We either expand, or we contract. But you never stay the same.

So, which will you choose?

-J.D.