“Can I be honest with you
man?” Asks a friend of mine, to which I respond, “Of course.” I appreciate honesty and genuine
communication more than most. I can take
honest feedback and not be offended.
I’ve
discovered through a long journey and much personal searching that I am cut
from a different cloth. I am by nature
and entrepreneur and leader. There’s
much debate about this, but I think it is something you are either born with or
not. This has led me to great restlessness working in the corporate world for
large corporations. In my attempts to
get out and put myself in a position where I can thrive and truly optimize upon
my skillset and strengths I’ve met and befriended many other entrepreneurs. In this particular conversation I was
lamenting about how difficult it has been for me to find opportunities to
really give myself that one shot. Every
person you speak to who is successful has one moment or opportunity that really
spring boarded them and gave them the jump start they needed. I understand that opportunity is inevitable,
it will always come, however unless you are prepared for it you will not
recognize or capitalize on it. This
process has been and continues to be about me preparing myself and waiting to
pounce on that opportunity. Within this
conversation, along the lines of looking for future opportunities, and
discussing an idea I have my friend tells me, “You just need to jump the f#@k
in man!” Before I continue, let me say I
don’t question his good intention in saying this or his business savvy at all,
it just made me think and therefore I’m writing.
Ultimately the tension I
feel when considering this advice is that between responsible and irresponsible
business actions, specifically entrepreneurial types. He wrote an article about how our culture
frowns upon failure and because everyone fears failing not many get out of
their comfort zone enough to achieve their full potential. I totally agree with this premise and think
failure actually isn’t failure at all, but more learning opportunities*. Let me explain that asterisk a bit. Failure isn’t a bad thing when it is based
upon responsible risk taking.
Responsibility and risk taking too often are considered acronyms;
however, it is my prescription that they must go hand in hand if one is to achieve
success. An example I was given was
Donald Trump. He has filed bankruptcy 7
times and look how successful he is, I was told. Hold on hold on, let’s rewind before we take
this as solid counsel. Personal and
Business bankruptcy are very different.
Trump walked away from business bankruptcy, not personal, and has a ton
of cash to blow and risk to lose.
Comparing apples to apples is fair, apples to pomegranate is not. Don’t look to Trump as a blueprint, it worked
for him, but most of us aren’t him, and thank God because that comb over is
sick!
Risk is risk for a
reason. Risk is risk because you have a
large chance at failing. I look at it as
a frozen lake. The risk of jumping in is
that you’ll die, so before you do so, if you choose to do so, have a plan, be
responsible. Just throwing caution to
the wind and jumping in is irresponsibility, not fearless courageousness that a
true entrepreneur has. I think that’s
the most difficult thing to balance here.
It’s a mighty thin line to walk being responsible yet willing to take
risks, it’s a tricky dance. So just
jumping in and looking at failure as a chance to learn is well-intended, however,
failure can be good or bad. Failure
because of lack of preparation is different from failure because of lack of
experience or other external, uncontrollable variables that impact and ultimately
drive the failure. Don’t fail because
you are irresponsible. If you fail
responsibly then you don’t fail, you learn, and grow. Don’t just jump the f#@k in, consider
everything and plan carefully, then walk that thin line until you have to jump,
responsibly of course.