I have a friend who is contemplating starting her own business. It’s a good business. She has some good contacts in the industry. She has a good lead engine already established. Her overhead will be low in the beginning if she does it right.

If she’s smart and leverages her contacts, there is no reason she can’t grow this business with nominal risk, and without putting herself too far out there.

Yet, that’s not good enough. She’s trying to wring all the risk out of the equation. She’s trying to make it safe and in doing so, she’s gonna fail or worse yet, not even start.

Here’s the deal.

There is no success without some level of risk and if you’re trying to squeeze risk out of everything, you’re not playing to win.

Too many people play not to lose, not to win. When you play not to lose, you can’t win. Best case scenario, is you don’t lose.  Winning requires risk. It requires you take chances, going with the unknown, letting go of control and being exposed.

I get it. Being exposed is scary. It’s uncomfortable. But, you have to do it.

There is a direct correlation to the size of the risk and the size of the return. It’s a natural law of things. Take big risks, lose big, win big. Take little or no risks, lose nothing or a little and gain a little or nothing.

Don’t get me wrong. Stupid decisions don’t constitute a healthy risk. It’s just stupid.

But, if you want to be successful in the 21st century, you must put yourself out there. You must take risks. You must be willing to be uncomfortable, it’s the only path.

Start a new business. Write that book. Invest in a start-up. Create a new product for your company. Go for it!

You can do it, and you have to do it.