Research Gives Way to Risk
It has been my great pleasure lately to get to perform some due diligence for a group of entrepreneurs who hope to present new products and services to the marketplace. I have studied, traveled, watched, met, read and “googled” myself to death. Even still, I have set more interviews and plowed back through my older findings in hopes to uncover the reasons that my client’s new products will or won’t work on the market. But regardless of how hard I research, at the end of the task – even the best research will have to give way to risk.
Our lives are full of choices and decisions to make. If we want to take a new job or start a business, we do our research, talk to our friends and confidants; then we take a risk or decide to do nothing and play it safe. Taking risks means exposing money, time, reputation or relationships to the prospect of failure. Taking risks can become life changing events, regardless of the outcome.
Most successful people in life have taken risks in life - whether in business, career or relationships. And most of them have lost or failed, at least once. But how do we minimize our risk or enter into a decision with the greatest amount of confidence for success?
First, be true to yourself. Is a potential risk driven by the right motivation? Is your heart in it, or is it just a quest for something better? Passion breeds a determination that overcomes the obstacles that virtually every new venture entails. But don’t let your passion blind you to the realities of risks involved in a new obligation. Let a good business plan temper your enthusiasm.
Saturate yourself with information. Ask the experts. Learn from other persons’ successes or failure. Hold your own focus groups by asking strangers or potential customers what they think of your new idea. Measure the downside of the risks. If I choose poorly, will it cripple me; or just set me back a bit? Will the reward be greater than the risk?
Bathe your decisions in prayer and meditation.
But when all is said and the research is done; you have to make the choice. Never fear failure. Never doubt that you can recover from it. And never doubt the fact that what may appear to be failure may merely be genius disguised in bad timing or the wrong package. For it is the risk-taker that changes lives for the better. They more often find success, happiness and love. And more often in life, it is the risk not taken and the regret of adventure that we mourn the most.
So do good research, pray and let it give way to the risk at hand. God knows we need new answers and solutions to the problems that beset our lives. Good luck!