Sterling Terrell

recovering economist

Maybe Start With Small Risks?

Maybe Start With Small Risks?

Small risks are better than big ones.

There, I said it.

Sure, everyone wants a big bet with a big payoff than wins the day.

But his is thinking about the wrong thing in the correct way.

Generally, people want to go all in on one thing.

They quit their job to do X full-time, they invest 100 percent of their money in Y.

This is misguided.

While looking for a big payoff – which is what we all want – we should want to create as many possibilities as we can to bring this to fruition.

Don’t start one business and force it. Start 20 businesses to see which one sticks.

Don’t pray for a viral post to come along. Build and test on 5,000 decent posts.

Does that make sense?

In this way, investing and art are the same.

Sometimes, it’s not the big bets that pay off but the small ones that get you the big win. If you don’t have to go all in, don’t. Why not start with a smaller risk? Most significant change begins with a simple step, not a giant leap. You don’t need to see the whole path to know what your next move is; you just need to take the next, right risk. Small changes over time can lead to massive transformation.

-Jeff Goins, Real Artists Don’t Starve

Good Investing And Good Creative Work Are The Same?

Good Investing And Good Creative Work Are The Same?

Good investing can be hard.

But recently I have heard more and more of the wealthy taking the same approach.

They keep 80-90 percent of their assets in safe or very safe investments.

Think government and corporate bonds.

With the other 10-20 percent, they are extremely risky.

The logic goes that – if we use a baseball analogy – you get more swings at the ball. You get more tries – if you will.

Here is the catch:

You only have to win once.

See, if you invest $10,000 in every reasonable idea that comes along, one day you are going to hit it out of the park.

And it only takes one early stage Facebook, Amazon, or Exxon investment to change your life.

The same goes for writing and all other creative work, I believe.

One post, one article, can change your life.

If you have one thing that catches on, everything else you have ever done becomes more popular.

Go and keep going, and wait for that little piece of traction.

There is this great line from venture capitalist Ben Horowitz: “There is no silver bullet. . . . No, we’re going to have to use a lot of lead bullets.”
-Ryan Holiday, Perennial Seller
Sterling Terrell