August 21: Chance vs. Risk

On August 21, 2018, Kasie and Shennice welcome Brittany Matthews of The Promotion Lady to the studio to talk about Chance vs. Risk. Here are the show notes:

Start Something, Columbia! is brought to you by the Women’s Business Center of South Carolina at Columbia College

Theme for the day:

This month we’re reading The E Myth Revisited and today’s topic is “Chance vs. Risk”

Agenda review:

• Hear from the 1MC Presenter for tomorrow
• Special guest: Brittany Matthews
• Chance vs. Risk
• Talk about The E Myth and this topic
• Review upcoming events for this week

Segment 1:

Our 1MC family is taking a field trip tomorrow to Stormwater Studios, the premier art space in Columbia, SC providing studio space to ten artists and gallery space to many others.

Reached out via FB for the studios to have a rep call in. Will update.

Segment 2

The Promotion Lady and a story of perseverance.

Brittany — tell us about starting The Promotion Lady (2-3 mins)

— Tell us about a pivotal moment in the business (you mentioned January and working with WIS on “what’s next” research and strategic planning)

— Tell us where you are right now. What’s hot? What’s burning a hole in your pocket? How can we help?

Segment 3

Chance vs. Risk

This article on entrepreneur.com defines it this way:

• Taking chances means expecting things to go your way, making assumptions about variables that are outside of your control.
• Taking risks means doing your due diligence, understanding the opportunity, and reaching for something outside of your reach but having definite measurements for what success will look like.

Let’s talk about chance vs. risk. Can you think of a time when it was all chance? When you were struggling with what was yours to control? How did you get that control back?

Then let’s talk about risk. What are some calculated risks you took and how did they turn out?

Some tips from that article:

• Forget the handbook, use checklists and let your team write the processes.
• Update your processes regularly, make sure the whole team understands them.

It’s funny that article comes back to managing risk via process since The E Myth is all about building processes for your business to ensure success.

Some more advice about risk taking:

1. Risks should not be taken on a whim.
   1. Move toward your goals
   2. Act, Learn, Build, Repeat
2. Risks almost always yield dividends.
   1. Lessons learned, re-directs, and what-not-to-do are still outcomes.
3. Feel the fear, but do it anyway.
   1. If it’s not scary, it’s not a risk.

And then 7 Risks Every Entrepreneur Must Take:

1. Abandon the steady paycheck
2. Sacrifice personal capital
3. Rely on cash flow
4. Estimate your customers’ interest in your product/service
5. Trust a key employee
6. Bet on a crucial deadline
7. Donate personal time (and health) to the enterprise

How much risk should first-time entrepreneurs take on?

Two parts to risk: assessment and action.

1. Start Small — the smaller the risk, the easier to recover from loss
2. Expect to fail — it’s not a bad thing, it’s how we learn
3. Influence the outcome — control as many factors as you can
4. Watch, don’t read — pay attention to how others more adept at risk are weighing their options and making their choices; be part of a group of risk-takers and you’ll learn faster what to look for as key indicators
5. Share your passion — when you’re enthusiastic and confident, others will support you

What Professional Poker Players an Entrepreneurs have in common:

1. Live to fight another day.
2. Save your chips — poker players don’t play every hand, just the ones they’re likely to win
3. Practice makes any profession perfect — it takes years of flexing innovation muscles to really get good at creating sustainable businesses
4. Confirm your assumptions through smaller bets — iterate your product or service, keep working on it until you get the response you’re looking for.

Segment 4:

Events of the week

Blythewood Chamber of Commerce has Blythewood After Five happening tonight, Tuesday, the 21st from 5:30 to 7 pm at Sweet Pea’s Ice Cream Parlor on McNulty Street. Register for that on eventbrite.

1 Million Cups is on location at Stormater Studios on Wednesday, same time, 9 a.m.

Thursday, August 23rd is a film viewing and panel with our very own Shennice. It’s to showcase “She Did That”, a film about Black women and their entrepreneurship journeys by a first-time filmmaker. That registration is on eventbrite, too. That’s 6-8:30 pm Thursday evening at Richland Library.

The Women’s Business Center of SC is hosting a Google workshop at the McNair Center for Free Enterprise and Entrepreneurship at Columbia College on Friday. It’s a lunch-and-learn, you can register on eventbrite, and the Facebook page. The topic is: Get Found on Google Search and Maps.

Have something to say about Chance vs. Risk? Leave a comment or tweet is using #SSCola and we’ll read your comments on next week’s episode.