Hustler Series: Taking The Risk

06: Taking The Risk

You should now have a pretty decent estimate for how much it’ll cost to launch your product. So… you really only have one question to ask yourself: “should I take the risk?”

Now this is a big question. Moving forward will mean spending a lot of money, working countless hours, and taking on a lot of stress. But if you’ve made it this far you’ve probably already made up your mind to take the risk and go for it. However, if you’re apprehensive about moving forward, continue reading and let me give you some practical advice followed by my perspective.

First, the practical advice. You’ll want to hedge any risks that you can. If you’re concerned about money, then don’t quit your job to pursue this. Put in the 8-10 hours at work then come home and put in 4-8 hours pursing your idea. Work on it during your lunch break and during your commute. Work on it during the weekends. There are 24 hours in a day and it’s perfectly possible to work a full time job while pursuing your idea. You just have to be dedicated and efficient.

If you’re concerned about your lack of experience, then seek out more knowledgeable people and ask for their insight. It’s human nature to want to help. You’re bound to find someone who’s both knowledgeable and willing to answer a few questions so long as you nicely ask enough people. Feel free to send me questions too. I can’t promise that I’ll have time to give detailed guidance if I’m busy, but I try to read all my emails. tim@designsbytimothyjames.com

If you’re concerned about failure, then look for all the ways that you can still succeed even if you fail. Your product could be a bust but you won’t know that until you’ve already put in a lot of product and business development work. The new skills and knowledge you gain through the experience of trying to launch a product will be invaluable to you. It’ll make you better prepared for your next product attempt or make you a better candidate for that next job interview. Failure won’t mean wasted time and money; it will mean you traded your time and money for new skills and experience.

So be conscious of what risks you’ll face and try to hedge accordingly. Between creativity and some hard work, you should be able to hedge every risk in at least some capacity. Now onto my personal perspective of risk taking. Hopefully this can act as the pep talk you need to get off your ass and decide to move forward.

My perspective on taking risk is quite simple: what’s the worst that can happen? Is this likely to kill me? Will this make me broke? If the answer is no to these questions, then the risk is probably worth taking. I’m confident that I’ll be able to pull through any situation so long as my heart is still beating at the end of the day. That’s my mindset. Any difficulty I face is just an opportunity to gain more experience and be better prepared for when I face similar obstacles in the future. I see it all as a challenge. Can I figure everything out? Am I smart enough, mentally strong enough, and determined enough to give whatever it takes to pull through and come out on top? I like to think so but there’s only one way to find out: by taking the risk and going for it.

Now, of course you’ll feel fear and uncertainty before deciding to start developing your product. Dreaming about being an entrepreneur is fun. It doesn’t require any effort or stress. But really putting your money on the line, your time and effort on the line, your reputation on the line, all to try and prove that your idea was worth something? That’s borderline insanity. But, if you can pull it off, if you can make it through all the difficulties and achieve your goal, just imagine how incredible you’ll feel. You would have brought something of real value to the world. And you would have learned an incredible amount about yourself, about problem solving, and about what it takes to be successful in life. For me, that’s worth every potential struggle in my future.

So, if you’re scared or uncertain let me reassure you: this is perfectly natural. You’re scared because you care about this. You genuinely care about the outcome. You enjoy daydreaming about how successful your product will be and, deep down, you know that actually working towards making it a reality could spell the death of those daydreams. But that’s just more reason to do it. Everything of value in life is on the other end of fear. Embrace the fear. Channel it. Turn it into the fire below your feet that marches you to success. And remember that, as long so long as you’re still breathing, you’ll always have another opportunity to make up for a past failure.

Now get out there. Take that risk. Hedge your bets. But bet on your own ability to make things happen. And start getting your creative juices flowing because the next step is the initial design phase.