Fearlessness vs. Recklessness
[I promise you that those who make it to the end of this will be rewarded with some serious truth bombs. Stick with me.] Risk is an unavoidable piece of being human. We will always take risks. We are probably especially likely to take risks when the fruition a dream or goal is at stake.
Some risks are easier to take than others.
Telling someone I love you for the first time and risking rejection, for instance, if you've been involved with them romantically for several months... probably doesn't feel as risky as, say, skydiving on a whim because your best friend brought it up when you two were drunk last night and you can't back out of it now because then you'd be seen as a wuss.
I once had a mentor tell me that he knew that I would be successful professionally because I was really good at taking just enough risk.
In other words, I'm fairly good at calculating risk before embarking on any particular endeavor.
I accepted and believed when he said it that this characteristic would help me in my nonprofit career, but I didn't realize that it would also later apply to my entrepreneurial ventures.
I had been stuck in survival mode for quite some time by the time I decided to jump into the virtual business world. I had spent so many of my adult years being single and living alone or living with deadbeat roommates/boyfriends while simultaneously racking up student loan debt for college and then graduate school that all I could do was survive. (That sentence felt like a mouthful!)
I was so much in survival mode that even when I first saw my friend Toby posting about his new business venture in 2014, even though my gut told me that this was something special, I spent nearly two years putting him off and making excuses for why I couldn't yet. Thank goodness Toby didn't give up on me!
I moved in my with current and super awesome, amazing, and non-deadbeat boyfriend in November 2015.
I was still recovering from a lapse of employment and income that spanned almost a full year in 2013-2014. I was also still making about half what I should have been in salary because apparently people think "nonprofit" should also mean, "all employees are impoverished."
After about six months of us living together, I approached him about this business. I said, "I really think this might be a good thing. I can't find anything to make me think otherwise. Prove me wrong."
He came back to me a few days later and said, "I can't prove you wrong. I gotta say I think it's a good idea. I was skeptical, but this seems super legit."
"Yay!," I thought.
"Please wait for us to be more settled before you jump in, though."
"There he goes being practical," I thought.
A few more months passed by and it was November 2016, and a new product had just been announced and was ready to hit the market. Something like it hadn't been done before, and it was big. (It still is, actually, it's done $200 million in sales in this first year.)
I got a voicemail message from Toby right after the product was announced at the annual convention but I didn't return his call for a week or two because it took me that long to work up the nerve to talk to Nathan again.
This time Nathan said yes!
I was so excited! Then I realized I needed to figure out how to come up with the start-up funds because I had zero dollars in savings and I was living paycheck-to-three-days-before-paycheck.
Womp womp.
Toby shared a link on Facebook right about this exact moment that said, “Top Credit Cards of 2016.” Along with the link was this really eloquent status-essay about how nothing changes until something changes and that if you want something more you have to go after it, etc.
Toby made a really good point: Most business owners have to take out a loan to get started.
I started googling “Best credit card offers,” a couple of days later. I don’t have great credit. I was a nonprofit employee with mega student loan debt and my dog and I are both medically fragile. So, I looked at the cards that required, “Good/moderate credit.”
I applied for a Chase Freedom Card and got approved instantly. It offered 0% APR until 2018, 1.5% cash back on ALL purchases, and if you put $500 on the card in the first 30 days, you’d get $150 cash back (plus 1% cash back on literally every purchase.)
My first purchase was going to be my business kit, and that was going to hit that $500 mark, so I freaking did it. I used my cash back to pay back onto the card balance.
Do you know I almost threw up while I was enrolling in my business?!
Like, legitimately said to Toby on the phone, “I’m shaking and I feel like I’m going to throw up a little.”
What’d Toby say? “Punch fear in the tits. You can do this.”
I did. I am.
Boy am I glad I did, too, because it has opened up an entirely new life for me in these 11 months! Oh, by the way, did I mention that I lost my day job due to medical disability, this past Friday?! So this is it, this is my make-it-or-break-it!
Here's the thing, and here come those truth bombs I promised you at the beginning of this post:
Not all opportunities are created equal, especially when it comes to virtual businesses and direct marketing opportunities.
There is a difference between fearlessness and recklessness. You don't want to be reckless.
Let's take a look, shall we?! (I'll be adding more text after these definitions to keep going, you're almost there!)
fear·less·ness
ˈfirləsnəs/
noun
noun: fearlessness
lack of fear.
"she quickly earned a reputation for fearlessness, despite her stature"
reck·less·ness
ˈrekləsnəs/
noun
noun: recklessness;
lack of regard for the danger or consequences of one's actions; rashness.
"to fire a loaded shotgun was an act of utmost recklessness"
Definition of calculated risk
a hazard or chance of failure whose degree of probability has been reckoned or estimated before some undertaking is entered upon.
an undertaking or the actual or possible product of an undertaking whose chance of failure has been previously estimated.
So, knowing that fearlessness > recklessness, and that I am really good at taking calculated risks, would you like to know why I chose this opportunity and not any other?
Sure ya do! If you didn't you wouldn't still be here!
Consumable products backed with science and created by world-renowned professionals in their field
Products that people will want to keep buying because they love their results hold the key to not just building a strong virtual business but creating residual income for oneself
Name and brand recognition -- the women who created this brand are best friends and practicing doctors who have now created two Billion Dollar brands
No minimum sales requirement, no inventory, no parties, no nonsense
I can literally build this business from anywhere, including, as it turns out, flat on my back on the couch or sitting in the waiting room for one of my one million doctor/specialist appointments
Clinically proven results and an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau, and finally,
Very low overhead (about $120/month)
I do not know of another business that can live up to all of those attributes.
Without this business I never would have started this blog, or found my creativity again and started writing a book! (YES! I am totally writing a book and it isn't about business!)
I never would have started studying marketing and reading all these super dope professional and personal development books I've been reading. (You should totally check out Personality Marketing by Brittany Bullen, by the way.)
I wouldn't have met all the amazing people I've developed friendships with, both in the business and outside of it by way of networking.
I would have zero income right now because my Plan A (day job) failed due to my medical disability!
I am 35 years old.
I might have had to resign myself to permanent medical disability without this business opportunity! That would be crazy!
So... if you are reading this and thinking, "I need something like this in my life," or "I don't want to keep settling either, I want to dream again too," join me!
Let's punch fear in the tits together and build something great in the space in which fear used to live!