It's hard to risk what you don't have...
To this day, academics have yet to agree on what ‘entrepreneurship’ is and is not. And we’ll leave it to them to argue it out. I want to discuss the most prevalent aspect among most interpretations: ‘Risk’.
In previous posts, we extolled Harvard Professor Howard H. Stevenson’s definition of entrepreneurship − i.e., “the pursuit of opportunity beyond resources controlled”. Furthermore, we presented his thoughts on risk when he said:
“Back in 1983, people tended to define ‘entrepreneurship’ almost as a personality disorder, a kind of risk addiction.”
“But that didn’t fit the entrepreneurs I knew. I never met an entrepreneur who got up in the morning saying, ‘Where’s the most risk in today’s economy, and how can I get some?”
As described in that June 8th post, my first ‘foray’ into business emerged when I encountered a commercial property needing a paint job, and I could paint. As it turned out, this was the catalyst to launch an “Industrial Coatings Applicator” contracting business − fully sponsored by a local Paint Supply Store. The banner offered a little panache over just plain ‘painter’.
Risk? Physical, maybe. There was an occasion, once, where a rooftop hang-rail and counterweights holding up a ‘swing stage' came flying off the building's roof. It barely missed my head and left me dangling mid-air… but financial risk? No.
In this described case, the risk was avoided, with both customer and supplier assuming the venture’s financial exposure. Of course, at 23, I had no idea what 'risk mitigation' was, nor did I know how to avoid it then. It was more a case of passing on financial risk (to suppliers) only because I didn’t have many, if any, financial resources to expose in the first place.
I will endeavour to keep this discourse going because addressing the issue of 'risk' is so important and the very reason so many hesitate when it comes to adopting an entrepreneurial approach to management or undertaking a new opportunity.
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