After doing everything I could to get into law school, one of my first experiences was somewhat bizarre. There were about 200 of us in the night program and we were all sitting in an old auditorium in the historic town of Boston. It was hot, we were all anxious, and I was personally overwhelmed with anxiety. A few professors got up and told us what to expect, and gave us the realistic view of what law school was really going to be like. They told us things like close to 40 percent of us would not graduate, that we would eventually alienate our friends, and then they dropped the bomb. They asked how many of us were married.

Now, this was the night program, so all of us worked. Most if not all of the class raised their hands when asked if we were married. Then the professor said, “Ninety percent of you will end up divorced.” I was shocked and appalled. How could they be so sure? The professor went on to say that not only is law school demanding, but it changes you as a person, and then the profession of practicing law is even more difficult and most marriages do not survive. Law school requires all of your time. Then, when you actually graduate, studying for the bar requires more than all of your time. You are studying when you are sleeping, showering, or using the bathroom. Then, if you are lucky enough to pass the bar exam and get a job as a lawyer, sleep is not an option and all waking hours you are thinking about the law. In other words, something has to give. When I say you have to give 5 Percent More at your job, or with your family, it can be done. But if there literally are not enough hours in the day, something does have to give. For me, the professor was right, and I ultimately chose my profession over my marriage.

I have learned, however, that it can be done and can be balanced. I have a very good friend who is a partner at a very large law firm in Boston. He graduated from a small school in the Northeast. That's how he describes Harvard. He has been married for more than 20 years, has two beautiful daughters, and is in a great marriage. I asked him how he does it. This is the key: He and his wife sat down and discussed his career and how much time is involved and how competitive the practice of law is. When I was discussing with him my book at 11 PM one night while he was still in the office, he said to me, “Mike, in what I do, the difference between life and death or winning and losing, many times is just 5 Percent More effort on my part.” Now again, he and I were talking about his relationship, management of time, and my book, so this was on his mind. But he said that he and his wife knew that, in order to actually make their marriage work, there had to be some sacrifices.

They knew that opposing counsel was also in the office late at night plugging away and crafting their argument. What I am saying here is that 5 Percent More does, in fact, apply to every aspect of your life, but you need to assess the situation, clearly define the goal, and, if other people's lives are involved, they have to understand what it takes to get to the next level. Like anything in life, sacrifices have to be made in order to reach a goal, but if everyone understands the plan, it is a lot easier to not only achieve the goal, but keep the other aspects of your life on track. I didn't have the discussion my friend did, and when it did get brought up it was too late. I was gone too much and hyperfocused on my career. Five Percent More is a powerful tool, but you also need to understand how to apply it with balance.

This book, like my last, is not an autobiography and is not designed to shine a light on how great I am or how great my company is. It is completely the opposite. I have made a lot of mistakes, I used to dream, I spun my wheels, I have been broke. But I have also seen a lot, I have met a lot of successful people, and, yes, I have achieved a lot of success. But I also want to accomplish so much more. Writing 5% More has reminded me how well it actually works. I am far from perfect, I am always working to get better, and I also struggle. But what gets me through the struggles are those baby steps, those small action plans, those mini victories. Those victories offset the temporary defeats that also come along the way.

Blue Vase, through not only a 5 Percent More mentality, has gone from a small company with five people to an internationally recognized company that has generated tens of millions of sales, year in and year out. We want BIG things, and myself of all people want them now, but we know as a company that the small incremental changes are what have enabled us to withstand the tough economic times, and grow at a rate much greater than 5 percent. We have been recognized in Inc. magazine as one of the fast-growing companies for the past three years with amazing growth. Last year, our three-year growth was 74 percent!

We run our business at a level that any Fortune 500 business does. We are accountable for our actions, and we always want more. Remember the geometric progression principle? My first week in business, we did $25,000 in sales; we now do close to $100,000 a day in revenue, sometimes more. This success comes from many things, but we have asked for just a little bit more in each department, from each employee. Ask More, Get More helped change our culture at Blue Vase, but 5 Percent More has changed our business, so that everyone at every position at the company can relate. Each person knows they can do 5 Percent More; they know they can do just a little bit better each day, each week, month, and year; and that turns a small, fledgling company into a multimillion-dollar enterprise.

Now, in full disclosure, I want to reiterate what I said above, that writing 5% More reminded me of what we were essentially already doing at the company. It wasn't a term we used day in and day out, but it's what we applied. It happened organically for many reasons, one being the fact that I know what it's like to be asked to do more at every position in my company. The other major reason is, throughout those years when we were financially strapped, we couldn't go bigger; it wasn't an option. So we methodically, with relative caution and a little bit of risk, grew the business every day.

As a businessperson and entrepreneur through and through, I want to go big on so many things, but going big too fast doesn't allow you to work out the kinks, it doesn't allow you to adjust your plan like I discussed earlier. And, of course, we learned that lesson when we tried to grow too fast.

But forget about the past now and let me give you another contemporary example. When we test a new advertisement, we spend about $5,000 the first week, then maybe $7,000, then $10,000, $15,000, and so on. When we get to about the $15,000 mark, I instinctively want to press the gas pedal and go hard and fast. In all honestly I still do, and nowadays we can afford to. But almost every single time when we do we start to see breakage, and the media doesn't perform as well as it did when we slowly make small increases.

The reason why is simple. When we increase too fast, we are not able to see everything clearly and we aren't able to adjust every aspect of the business accordingly in order to maximize profitability from the ads. Can we do it? Can we grow that way? Absolutely; but the incremental growth of 5 percent, whether it be a day or a week or a month, has always seemed to work better for us.