Originally published on Linkedin Pulse.

Back when I was a 23-year-old, newly minted pilot, the Navy put me in charge of my first flight squadron division. It was a role that called for leading a team of about 40 highly trained aviation technicians. Like any first-time leader, I was thrilled with this opportunity and could hardly wait to greet them with an inspiring talk.

A friend of mine and I have a running theme whenever we talk about our work.

Essentially, it boils down to this one catchphrase. Everybody--no matter how successful, rich, or powerful--wakes up every morning "scared sh!tless."

Small is a failing formula. This is no longer a world of being reasonable. Steve Jobs was obsessed with market cap, much to the dismay of his employees. But during Steve's time at Apple he managed to push the company to #1 in market cap in the world. Steve Jobs was obsessed with dominating the marketplace and knew if you aren't first, you're last.

I often read stories and articles about creating a new niche to either start or grow a business. Admittedly, don’t quit thinking, creating, and building but for the majority of us we won’t have that epiphany breakthrough.

Originally published on Linkedin Pulse.

I sit in the lucky position as an investor / shark on the popular ABC show Shark Tankand I've seen hundreds of hopeful entrepreneurs pitch their businesses there. I’ve invested in a dozen, and a few have succeeded even beyond my expectations. I’ve learned that the most successful entrepreneurs all came up with their new business ideas the very same way: by turning their personal interest into a business while still maintaining a full-time job. Here are a few examples:

Originally published on on Linkedin Pulse. 

Discovered on Linkedin Pulse. Originally published on Forbes. 

The growth tales of travel insurance company Seven Corners Inc. should be a familiar one to midsized companies in every industry.  Founded by Jim Krampen and Justin Tysdal in 1993, the company grew steadily year after year in its first 20 years, to just shy of $40 million in revenue.  Believing nothing could stop them, the founders (who made themselves co-CEOs) raised their ambition: $100 million in revenue by 2020.  But in 2014, growth came to an abrupt halt, and it left the founders searching for answers.

Article originally published on Linkedin Pulse.