the parachute doesn't open unless you jump

Lately, my career has been punctuated with calculated risk taking.  It won't turn out for me though, unless I take action along side of the risk.  It all started when I hired a my first two employees four years ago.   I thought to myself, "not only am I going to take a chance by hiring one, I'm going to hire two".  It all worked well until we realized the shop was just too small for all three of us to work side by side.  Our projects filled the space and with all the machines crammed in there too, it just wasn't working.  So, I had to let one go.  But that didn't satisfy my need for growth, it was a side step in the wrong direction.  Not only that, but my lease was to run out soon, and after renting various shops for 20 years for my business, the next risk taking leap exposed itself.  I was going to have to buy a building.  The bankers gave their best impression of a hopeful look as they told me, one after another, "yea, this may not work for you".  Plus, there were just no buildings right for me.  A mentor of mine said, "why don't you just build one?".  I never thought myself capable, or allowed to think such things.  He knew a banker friend who was able to finagle the numbers just the right way to make me look good on paper.  Then, I got a construction loan.  I'll go deeper into the process in another post about how I built the new shop and all that.  This message is just meant to highlight taking those big chances in life and learning how to survive them.  Im happy to report that Im now occupying said shop, and it's everything I hoped for.  Im also on the hunt for a forth employee.  Im interviewing my 9th potential today, all in just this last week.  Work is flooding in, as I hoped it would when conjuring this whole shop build/growth experiment.  When you look back on life, you don't want to be disappointed with yourself by not living the most extreme and authentic version of yourself, right?  Plus, life flies by, it'll all be said and done in no time.  Cliches aside, my main point is that growth requires becoming comfortable being uncomfortable.  That's my opinion at least.