...high end does not necessarily equal high price. It's a matter of attitude.

Community. A friend started a real estate brokerage a few years ago. By the time she'd added her second employee, she was a pillar of her 35,000-person community. No rule says that only the local banker or car dealer can organize the program to raise supplemental funds for the public library or send the high school band on a well-earned special trip. Participating in community affairs, with time more than dollars, is good business from day one. It gets your name around, adds to your distinctiveness, and, best of all, makes you an attractive employer (which is the key to sustained success).

But there's no substitute for getting smarter faster. And the way you get smarter is to screw around vigorously. Try stuff. See what works. See what fails miserably. Learn. Rinse. Repeat.

Mistakes are life. Mistakes are not to be tolerated...they are to be encouraged. The bigger the better.

Brand inside is more important than brand outside for sustained success.

Only those who constantly retool themselves stand a chance of staying employed in the years ahead.

You have to stand out if you want to move up.