How not to be afraid of "risk" if you truly want to MAKE IT in business

Many people who write to me share a theme which is that they work for someone and want to be an entrepreneur but they are afraid of leaving and risking things. Well, let me tell you that if you are risk averse, then you are not really entrepreneurial! I left a perfectly good legal career and went down a notch working for a company in sales! Then I left that company and started my own business with no real income or savings! Risk is part of the DNA of true entrepreneurs.

Recently, I tried to buy a shampoo company! I really like their shampoo and thought they are not doing a very good job of marketing it. They didn’t want to sell. So what did I do? I am investing a lot of money and “risking” (yes risking) it in something I truly believe in. I don’t have any experience of making shampoos, I don’t have any experience of the market for shampoos and to be perfectly honest, I haven’t even done any market research (I know, it goes against what I preach!). The reason why I am doing all of this and am not even bothered about the market research is that I have a “gut feeling” and this gut feeling has been developed over many years of “risking” and getting out of comfort zones and making calculated but risky decisions. . .

If you want to start your own thing and be an entrepreneur and become successful, the first thing you need to lose is your aversion to risk. Sure, you can reduce the risk by making calculated decisions and planning things on paper but risk is there all the time as long as you are working for yourself. If you don’t want risk, work for someone else and make them rich - which by the way, is what 90% of the population does and there’s nothing wrong with it. . .

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I really go into depth with this in my book How to be a Successful Entrepreneur so do read it if you want to work for yourself and become wealthy.