Are You Afraid of Risk or Just Smart?

Most of the people I know think that I am a heavy risk taker. My friends who don’t really know exactly what it is that I do for a living think I am a HUGE risk taker. My business associates and fellow entrepreneurs have a better understanding of what I do, so the risk associated with my work is not as foreign to them. With that being said, I think that generally speaking I am not a big risk taker. The vast majority of the decisions I make that have a reasonable to large downside have some serious thought and homework put into them. I also rely heavily on my “gut instinct” which has been right more than it has been wrong during my career. Having said that, at the end of the day, how do you know if you are afraid of risk or if you are just smart and good at avoiding bad risks? The answer is simple and doesn’t require a long post. If you haven’t taken a reasonable to serious financial risk on behalf of a business or investment idea before the age of 40 years old, then you probably don’t have what it takes to be an entrepreneur as your full-time career.

Yeah, that’s right – I just called out any of you that are older than 40 that read this. Prove me wrong and post it! I am not saying you have to be some wildly successful entrepreneur before your 40th birthday. I am not even saying you have to invest your life savings in a start-up prior to the big four-oh. I am saying that if you haven’t bought a rental property or put $20K into a Subway sandwich shop by now (or better yet, bought a Five Star franchise) that you probably won’t ever do anything terribly entrepreneurial. There are always exceptions to the rule of course. But as I love to say, if you are reading this blog, you are probably Joe or Jane Normal like me and that means you are likely not the exception I am referring to.

So am I right or wrong? I would love to hear your impressions of my stance on risk. Let me know what you have experienced and seen in others. I want to know if my view of the world is the same as yours – what have you noticed, read or been through that would agree or disagree with my assertion?