Movin' On Up Facing the decision all entrepreneurs hope to face: Do you take your company to the next level or do you maintain the status quo?

There comes a time in every entrepreneur's life when your business-your baby-grows up. The adolescent years have come sooner than you thought, with complications like client conflicts, personnel issues, technical difficulties and space limitations galore plaguing your business. Now as you gaze wistfully at your creation, remembering the good old days when things were so simple, so manageable, you are faced with a major decision: Do you take your company to the next level, or do you keep things status quo?

At that moment, status quo feels pretty safe. You can continue to make enough to cover your expenses and incrementally increase profits, only hire additional people as the projects come in, and juggle those bills (because now you have it down to a science). Grow? Who needs to grow?

But instead, you decide to take the plunge and go big. Is it the right thing to do? When I first started Cybergrrl in 1995, my goal was to be able to work from home, set my own schedule and pay my bills. It wasn't until nearly a year later that I realized I wanted to build a media empire, but I was faced with tough decisions about an outside investment.