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Be a Great Entrepreneur: Managing risk as an entrepreneur

by Alex MacMillan

Property does go down.
Household name companies go bust.
Banks can and do run out of money
Base interest rates change (We have ranged from 17% to 0.5%).
Recessions happen.
Internet marketing that works today is obsolete tomorrow.
Competitors do call your clients constantly.

All the above problems are avoided or catered for by contingency planning.

My advice is don’t take risks unless you really have to. If you really have to, cover yourself with a ‘Plan B’. Then cover your Plan B with a Plan C.

Contrary to popular myth, entrepreneurs are not great risk takers.
They won’t take the risk of leaving their future prosperity in the hands of their employer for example.

Entrepreneurs play safe. They look for opportunities that work, ask how something would work, test the market and then get on with it. They go to great lengths to be negative (see negative thinking article) and look for ways that things might now work. This knowledge leads to having a ‘What if X happened’ plan.

Don’t’ take risks unless the pay-off is worthwhile and risk is reduced.


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