I also donât consider myself much of a risk taker, despite being an entrepreneur.
Partly I think itâs because I was investing my time (not my savings), and the downside was primarily opportunity cost (which doesnât feel quite as real).
Someone on my team asked me recently, âHow has your relationship with risk changed as you've gotten wealthier?â
I think people misunderstand the difference between risk and uncertainty.
I don't view myself as a very risky person.
I'm an entrepreneur.
I moved across the country without much $$$ to started companies. I've grown them to tens of millions in revenue. I have taken risks that people view as highly risky, but I don't view it as risky because the downside was always protected.
For example, my parents were always able to buy me a ticket home and theyâd let me move in with them.
So the risk was never huge.
Rather, I do think that a lot of entrepreneurs, myself included, are fairly good at going into situations with a lot of uncertainty.
The name of the game is that as your company grows, you try to reduce that level of uncertainty. In general, the goal shouldn't be to take a ton of risk. The goal should be to de-risk something as much as possible.
For example, if youâre young and want to move to San Francisco when you don't have a lot of money to start a company (like I did), then you should save up enough money that you can fly back home.
Make sure your parents are cool with you living in their house for a handful of months while you get on your feet. This way, you have accepted that the worst-case scenario might happen, and you're okay with it.
Therefore, to me, it's not a very risky decision to move out there.
Many things in life, at least when it comes to business, is about reducing the risk and eventually reducing the uncertainty.
There's always a lot of uncertainty when starting a business, and you have to get really, really comfortable with that uncertainty.