Not sure if you are much of political junkie, but a few weeks ago, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said he would bet Rick Perry $10,000 that one of the claims Perry was making about Romney was false.
No need to get into the details here, but the point is that the media went nuts saying that this showed how “out of touch” and elitist Romney is because he’ll bet such a whopping amount of $10,000 when we’ve got all these poor people living paycheck to paycheck. (I’m not for Romney necessarily, but the way this was portrayed is what struck me.)
What a bunch of B.S. !!! I wasn’t offended at all and I know many people who use similar terms in speech all the time. I can remember a few years ago, one of my relatives said he’d bet me all his money against all of mine that a marketing strategy I was suggesting had never been tried in his industry. (By the way, I sent him a link to a company that was doing a variation on what I suggested, but he never paid up. No problem, I’ve got enough. )
I don’t know if you want to call it “betting” or “wagering”, but entrepreneurs are risk takers and put their savings and sometimes more on the line all the time. I have “bet” literally millions on the businesses I’ve invested in and, in some cases, my banks and investors have done the same thing with me. In my case, I’ve always pretty much won the bets or at least covered my ante, but sometimes I get on losing streaks. And, we all do if we’re real entrepreneurs.
I have a mastermind member who has been going through some major “betting” recently and he has come out on top for the time being, in spite of some really big risks. I’m proud of him and all of you who are willing to get in the game of business and ante up your chips every day.
It’s the reason we make a profit and can afford to hire people, buy goods and services and make our economy run. The “occupiers” just don’t get this. If any of us make a little profit, we must be taking it from somebody else. In our world, the “house” has plenty of money and we can all benefit by investing, growing, taking risks and succeeding.
So, that’s part of the reason you associate with me. Like my new client in central Indiana who has been successful for years, but has had some legislation changed on him, that has dramatically reduced his income potential.
He’s not looking for any bail-outs or for somebody to give him a hand-out. He’s hiring me to help him devise new national strategies, look for additional revenue streams and, in all probability, dramatically transform his business. He’s “betting” with his substantial investment in my fees and there will be many other investments I’m sure he will be making to re-ignite his business.
I encourage your comments below and look forward to touching base with you. Happy 2012!
John C