"I'm ready to take on the world. Okay, so what's the first step?"

Great! Now for the bad news The odds are stacked against you. An estimate by the National Federation of Independent Business' Education Foundation states that over the lifetime of a small business, only 39 percent are truly profitable. More than 64 percent of these businesses will fail over a ten-year period. These are some rough numbers to face. You need to know what separates the winners from the losers, and what can you do to start shifting the odds in your favor.

Fortunately, there is not just one 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.) Actually, your chances of success can be greatly increased just by following a series of easy but efficient 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 ring a bell? If so, it's time to act like the Growth Maven you are and take the first steps to building your empire-you'll need to move to your first "real" office and hire some staff. But you want to make sure your move doesn't divert your time, money, and resources from the actual business of growing. You want to set yourself up for long-term growth and success. You want clients to recognize your name and what you stand for. You want to develop a great reputation and have a consistent flow of dialogue between you and your clients.

There will be challenges, but as 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!

Don't just run out and sign a lease for office space.

I'll give you two important reasons to avoid even relatively short-term contracts, much less 3-5 year leases.

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.

Renting an executive suite is often the simplest solution. They are classy, fully equipped, and ready to move into. With many other small businesses housed in the same facility, networking with other entrepreneurs becomes a daily event. Most real estate brokers won't even bother to mention this option to you because in most cases the commission from these deals is not large enough to justify their time and effort.. Other options, depending on your type of business, might be to sublet space or share space with a larger company.

So, get started by researching what's available in your area and what's appropriate for your business. A classy downtown executive suite might not be the best option for a software programmer.