risk versus caution.
How do I walk that tightrope or how should you walk that tightrope?
It's a very good question, and it's a balance that's very difficult, I think, to strike. I think
the answer depends very much on
on what is your temperament and where are you in life.
But I do think there's certain factors that can
probably make you more confident to be a risk taker.
I mean, I look back at my early days, you know, in my twenties,
I would take extraordinary risks.
And I think I did that probably because I thought I was invincible.
And I guess I only thought I was invincible
because I had never really had a downfall.
Now, you know, when I was, you know, 27, 28 years old,
having risen very high, having made a lot of money,
I lost it all pretty much overnight.
You know, my
my invincible attitude, you know, had ultimately led me to build
a business on that on a bed of sand. It was a deck of cards that you know, ultimately collapsed.
And I lost everything pretty much overnight.
But when I started up again the second time round,
what I learnt very quickly was it was
much easier for me to build second time around than it was first time
because I already had knowledge, I already had skill sets that I didn't have from five years ago.
So I guess what that has done is taught me that
I can have a skill set
that will give me the confidence to be able to take risks if that makes sense.
now I'm older,
I guess I am acutely aware of the fact I don't have as many years left in me as I had 20 years ago,
so I might not take some of the super wild risks that I would have taken back then.
I guess, you know, back, back, back in my twenties,
I was not afraid to lose everything
because I probably didn't have that much to lose.
you know, now I'm in my early forties.
I don't want to lose everything I've got now. I'm not saying I'm not prepared to lose a lot of it, and I am,
I’m always prepared to take risks.
I'm always prepared to go backwards before I go forwards.
But, you know, I don't want to lose everything.
So I think as you as you build more wealth, you can then take a personal view of how much you are prepared to risk. But I think the thing for me that will always keep me relaxed at risk taking
is that I know I've got the skill set
to to be able to make it back if things go wrong.
I'm not saying caution is a bad is a bad thing. I think you need to have a nice balance of caution with risk.
And sometimes it's very difficult for an individual to be simultaneously, you know, a risk taker
and somebody who's good with caution.
And that's why often it's good to have whether that's a business partner, whether it's a mentor or a sounding board, you know, a team of directors who can maybe bring different viewpoints to things.
But I think ultimately, as an entrepreneur, we're always going to be risk takers and we're always going to put risk ahead of caution.
But that doesn't you know, that doesn't mean that we need to go wild.
So I think, you know, for you guys, where are you in life?
that will dictate
what the balance between risk and caution is
But you can't grow without taking risk.
But I think the way that you'll get comfortable with that risk taking
is knowing that if you do fall backwards, you can get forwards again.
And the best way to have that confidence
is to have money making skill sets, to have skill sets that you know can produce income for you
in a time of need.