How to Lean Into Risk

How To Lean Into Risk

In this episode of Diary of a Worthy Pursuit, we dive into the exhilarating world of risk-taking and the thrilling adventures it brings. Our fearless speakers, A and B, recount their heart-pounding experiences of standing on the edge of the unknown and embracing the thrill of taking that leap. From ziplining through the jungle to navigating the risky terrain of business ventures, they explore the concept of leaning into risk in all aspects of life. Join us as we unravel the illusion of security, the power of fear, and the art of making courageous decisions. So fasten your seatbelts as we embark on an inspiring journey into the exhilarating realm of embracing risk in pursuit of our true desires.

Enjoy!

Podcast Transcription:

Speaker A [00:00:06]:

So I’m standing on a ledge in the middle of a jungle looking down and seeing about a 100 foot, maybe 200 foot drop. I don’t know. I’m a terrible judge of distance, but I am at least strapped to a zip line with a helmet and all the things. And there’s people on the other end saying, come on. You can do it. And I’m standing there so scared for my life. And, you know, then you start flashing to, didn’t a honeymoon couple like, Someone crashed on a zipline, and all these things go through your head. And then finally, I just had to take a deep breath, say it’s gonna be okay, and let go.

Speaker A [00:00:46]:

And it was so fun and so exhilarating, but there was a lot of risk in that split second decision.

Speaker B [00:00:54]:

Welcome to diary of a worthy pursuit.

Speaker A [00:00:56]:

Where we talk about how to get what you truly want in life and in business.

Speaker B [00:01:00]:

You know, it’s funny. I was on a zipline the other day or, I don’t know, a couple weeks ago or something like that, and I feel like I ran out of adrenaline. I don’t know. You do, like, 9 or whatever runs. Yeah. And I feel like, I don’t know, 5 or 6, your body’s just like, you’re not gonna die because we don’t have any more chemicals for you to believe if you’re gonna die. So But that initial jump, is for you to believe if you’re gonna die. So

Speaker A [00:01:18]:

But that initial jump, how did that one feel?

Speaker B [00:01:21]:

Not great. Yeah. Not great. I mean, it was. You’re right. Right. The initial whatever, get off, is challenging. But once you’re going, You’re kinda at the mercy of the cable.

Speaker B [00:01:34]:

Yeah. So my biggest fear was coming to a landing at the I don’t know. You you caught a landing or whatever. Sure. Where you crash against a tree or something like that? Because we’ve been

Speaker A [00:01:44]:

Hopefully, you avoid that part.

Speaker B [00:01:45]:

Yeah. I’ve been to one where they actually gave you a break.

Speaker A [00:01:48]:

Okay.

Speaker B [00:01:48]:

It was just this chunk of rubber, and I remember I Squeezed on it and a chunk of rubber left. Oh. It can’t go.

Speaker A [00:01:55]:

Not scary at all.

Speaker B [00:01:56]:

Yeah. So tie this particular one give you gloves. So you use the gloves, right, and then just Crash into a tree with pads on it. This last one that we went to actually had the smart zipline person leader Yeah. Have some cable thing that was actually way more sophisticated and much better for breaking. So then once you do that a few times, you’re like, oh, I’m not gonna die. You’re crashing to a tree.

Speaker A [00:02:20]:

So But initially, you don’t know that. Right? So there’s this huge risk

Speaker B [00:02:23]:

Yeah.

Speaker A [00:02:24]:

That you’re taking of leaning in and being like, I’m gonna do this. I don’t know how this is gonna work out.

Speaker B [00:02:30]:

Yeah. I’m always looking at the cables thinking, okay. Who was the last guy that looked at this, and how was he like, this tree will hold Uh-huh. Or this cable looks yeah. So tough. But in the end, it’s risk versus reward. You get a lot of fun. No one tells the story about the time they sat on a couch.

Speaker A [00:02:45]:

Right. Really.

Speaker B [00:02:46]:

I hope they don’t. Right? Exactly.

Speaker A [00:02:49]:

Well and that’s what we wanna talk about today is how to lean into risk because starting a business or even running out of business and trying to grow it can be extremely risky.

Speaker B [00:02:58]:

Mhmm. Even just starting a new diet or health regimen or something like that or Deciding to have a kid, picking a college, whatever, all that stuff. There’s some facet of risk.

Speaker A [00:03:08]:

Yeah. Well and then even within your business, when you think about, well, starting your This is is a huge risk.

Speaker B [00:03:13]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:03:13]:

But then you think about hiring an employee, hiring your 1st employee, hiring someone to outsource Something to you know, are they gonna do this right? Are they gonna give me a bad name? And then just taking on, You know, big clients going after big deals. There’s a lot of things that really make you question, is this worth what I’m gonna put into it?

Speaker B [00:03:34]:

Fair. I can to me, the rule is that security is an illusion. And if I remember, 911. Right? 911 airplanes, buildings, all that kind of stuff. A buddy of mine said it’s never gonna be the same to fly again. They’re gonna come up with some weird rules. And I’m like, come on. How can they do that overnight? And lo and behold, TSA comes around, metal detectors, suit Cases, whatever.

Speaker B [00:03:59]:

Take off your shoes. Take off your belt. All kinds of weird hold up your arm kind of stuff.

Speaker A [00:04:05]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:04:06]:

And I remember way back when, you used to be able to hug your loved ones before they got on the plane.

Speaker A [00:04:11]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:04:12]:

Now you hug them When you drop them off. Mhmm. Right? And they gotta go wait for 2 hours, whatever. And I still remember him saying like, oh my gosh. But then you still hear about bad things happening. Mhmm. And so I think is all of this an illusion? All of this is to To appease us, to make us feel better. Like, nothing bad can happen.

Speaker B [00:04:31]:

Right? Because I had to take my shoes off.

Speaker A [00:04:33]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:04:33]:

But is it just kind of a song and dance so that we feel better, Or is it actually accomplishing anything?

Speaker A [00:04:39]:

Well, I think in the same in the same idea, you think about, like, a full time job

Speaker B [00:04:44]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:04:44]:

And how you think of that as secure Come Right. Things aren’t no matter what happens, at least I have that paycheck coming. My family’s okay. But Mhmm. Again, to your point, you you don’t know what’s gonna Happens. No.

Speaker B [00:04:56]:

You know? Pandemic shows up.

Speaker A [00:04:58]:

Pandemic shows up. People’s jobs get cut. People get downsized. It’s just You really can’t predict where the world’s gonna head. Even though a lot of us would like to think that we’re in control, it’s

Speaker B [00:05:08]:

that love to believe that.

Speaker A [00:05:10]:

That is an illusion as well. I believe we have an influence, but we don’t control a lot of things. We like to think that we do.

Speaker B [00:05:16]:

Yeah. I

Speaker A [00:05:16]:

see. That security really, that security of a paycheck, I think, is one of those things that we when we think about starting a business, it’s like, I don’t know if I can leave this. Like Right. If this thing over here doesn’t work out, I’m leaving the security, the stability.

Speaker B [00:05:29]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:05:30]:

And To your point earlier, it was almost it’s like the, the devil you know versus the devil you don’t.

Speaker B [00:05:37]:

Right.

Speaker A [00:05:38]:

Right? So I may not like this job, but at least I know what to expect. Right? And there’s a risk of moving into something that you don’t know where it’s gonna go.

Speaker B [00:05:47]:

Mhmm. Yeah. It makes me think of, my wife’s teacher. Pandemic happens. She starts teaching online via Zoom like we all had to do. Right. And I said, I walked past and I saw a screen. There was all these black boxes because none of our students had their screens their cameras on.

Speaker B [00:06:05]:

So I’m like, a teacher could teach to 500 empty screens. You don’t need 1 teacher for every 25 or 30 kids. So I asked her, do you think this is a permanent thing, or could it be a permanent thing? And what if school districts realize It’s like, oh, the students like, it doesn’t matter if it’s 5,000 kids. Right?

Speaker A [00:06:24]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:06:24]:

We can get away with a 10th of the teachers that we have. Wow. And a strong argument could be made, like, that’s not realistic. That’s not logical. Blah blah blah blah blah. Right? These are the studies. But You could also argue school districts don’t always pay attention to that. So

Speaker A [00:06:37]:

Well and I also think that education is ripe for disruption.

Speaker B [00:06:41]:

Absolutely.

Speaker A [00:06:42]:

You know, there’s there’s certain industries where you come along, like video conferencing pre pandemic. It just was kind of a clunky thing. Very clunky. Happen, and then they had to, like, sprint fast and far in in 6 months. And now that world is completely different.

Speaker B [00:06:59]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:06:59]:

Right? So education, more specifically, I think college, then maybe elementary school or high school, though, are ripe for for disruption.

Speaker B [00:07:07]:

Because because there’s less of a social aspect within the individual classes.

Speaker A [00:07:11]:

Mhmm. But what I think is interesting about that is as soon as people start asking the question, well, what if?

Speaker B [00:07:16]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:07:16]:

Or what if you know, what could happen? Or is that really necessary?

Speaker B [00:07:22]:

Right.

Speaker A [00:07:23]:

Then, yeah, there are huge Questions to security and a lot of risks that can be taken.

Speaker B [00:07:29]:

Yeah. You also raised a good point about the hiring employees. I was just talking with a good friend of mine yesterday, and she’s like, how do you find hiring people that are working from home? And it’s interesting because I said it and I realized it as I said it. Like, we’re finding people that are very smart and very driven, and they have some form of baggage, and that’s the reason that they have to work from home or that they believe that they have to work from home.

Speaker A [00:07:52]:

Mhmm. Mhmm.

Speaker B [00:07:52]:

The baggage could be health on their own.

Speaker A [00:07:55]:

Sure.

Speaker B [00:07:56]:

It could be a loved one that has some health issues Mhmm. Grandma, mom, whatever. It could be they have a kid that needs some help of some And Mhmm. Or often one, more than I’d like to that I think is realistic is that they wanna Take care of their newborn and hold

Speaker A [00:08:15]:

their job. Yeah.

Speaker B [00:08:16]:

And we don’t pay people to babysit. So

Speaker A [00:08:18]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:08:19]:

It’s interesting how my job in the interview is find their baggage and just see, can we tolerate whatever baggage you have knowing that they have some?

Speaker A [00:08:28]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:08:28]:

So we’re trying to look at the risk of hiring that person. Like, are the chances that you won’t be able to come into work because you gotta take care of grandma or whatever it is?

Speaker A [00:08:36]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:08:36]:

So it’s interesting that I’m risking They have the business. Right? Just like every business owner does. And I’m risking higher the employee, but then the employee is risking when they take the job. Is this a legitimate company? Are they gonna bounce the paychecks?

Speaker A [00:08:51]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:08:52]:

Is it gonna be a huge pain? Are the people that I work with gonna be weirdos? Whatever.

Speaker A [00:08:56]:

Well or also When the inevitable happens and I have to call off to take care of grandma or something happens with my health, if that’s truly the kind of person that ends up working for you, Is this company gonna put their money where their mouth is? Are they gonna be okay with this flexibility? Right. Especially in a work from home job because I think that There are certain organizations that are really pulling back now on this remote work. Absolutely. Initially were like, oh, yeah. This is great. There was just a a friend of mine works for an organization that very into hybrid and remote work, and they’ve recently started pulling back those reins Mhmm. Pulling people in. And they’re citing productivity and profitability, when it’s it’s just really interesting to me that I think that, again, they’re not leaning into this risk of yeah.

Speaker A [00:09:40]:

There’s a risk that your people may work differently or may work different hours.

Speaker B [00:09:45]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:09:45]:

But if they’re still doing the work, is that worth a risk.

Speaker B [00:09:49]:

Yeah. I guess, yeah, going down that rabbit hole. Right? I mean, I see a lot of tech companies that have Chances, they have the resources and stuff like that to make something happen, and they’re bringing people back to the office. Mhmm. And my little call answering company, we’re like, no. We can stay remote.

Speaker A [00:10:06]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:10:06]:

So there’s, it’s interesting. Very interesting dynamic to see how it’s changing and the risk on on both ends.

Speaker A [00:10:14]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:10:14]:

So but, I mean, for the big companies that are saying come on back to the office. I’ve used even talked to a guy yesterday. I met, waiting for my friend at a bar. His company, Very large company. He works in IT for that company. Mhmm. And I was talking to him trying to figure out the logistics, but the company that he worked for said you’re gonna come back 20% of the time. And what’s even more confusing I feel bad for this guy because it sounds like this was a decision that was made high level.

Speaker A [00:10:42]:

Sure.

Speaker B [00:10:43]:

So looking at data, not necessarily individual people. Mhmm. And so they had property, beautiful campus, Sold that, and now they have 3rd floor and some office. So they don’t have enough workspaces for everyone to come in. But they still want you to come in 20% of the time, which is essentially one day a week. Right. So now you have to juggle when you get to use this desk.

Speaker A [00:11:06]:

I make it even harder.

Speaker B [00:11:07]:

Oh my gosh. You just took a somewhat simple thing, made it a problem, and then made it more of a problem.

Speaker A [00:11:14]:

Right. Well, and I think What’s interesting for a lot of these companies too is leaning into the risk of it’s the unknown.

Speaker B [00:11:22]:

Totally.

Speaker A [00:11:22]:

But My husband works for a software company, and one of the things that they look at when they recruit is, who are they going up against and the benefits that they need to provide to win over candidates that are also looking at other big tech companies in Silicon Valley, in New York City, in Chicago, in Austin, wherever. And so they’re risking, you know, the fact that this person’s going be worth it and going to be a good worker, yet we’re gonna pay them more in these benefits and these perks and those sorts of things, hoping that this figures out. And, you know, this Works out and that this investment is worth it because we’re going to recruit better people. Right? But therein lies a risk too. You have to you have to invest first before you understand if there’s a reward or not

Speaker B [00:12:07]:

Right.

Speaker A [00:12:07]:

Which I think falls into this idea too that we were talking about a little bit before we turn today, and that’s the the risk has to come before any kind of confidence.

Speaker B [00:12:16]:

Yeah. Absolutely. That’s a great line.

Speaker A [00:12:18]:

Well and I I got it from this fearless living camp that a friend of mine is doing that’s been so helpful. But I think what was really interesting about it and the reason it’s really resonated with me is When you start a business, you’re waiting for the confidence. You know? And sometimes you’re like, someday, I’m gonna feel it, and this is just gonna take off Mhmm. And explode. Explode. Right? And maybe not everyone’s like that, but I’m like, oh, there’s I’m just gonna get this light inside of me, and then this thing’s gonna take off. And what I feel like enough people Don’t recognize or maybe I just I’m assuming that more people are like me and don’t recognize this is that you have to take some risks. Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:12:54]:

And then the confidence will come later. But so many people have to are scared of the thing and have to do the thing anyway, and only later realize realized that, hey. I was really good at that thing, and turns out that paid off. Turns out that could not have paid off too. Right? But you will never know if that thing was worth it if you don’t take the risk and Try it.

Speaker B [00:13:12]:

Right. There’s gonna be fear as a driver. Mhmm. So you have to understand what

Speaker A [00:13:15]:

it is. Paralyzer.

Speaker B [00:13:17]:

Or a paralyzer.

Speaker A [00:13:18]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:13:18]:

But, yeah, I guess in the end, it comes down to perspective. Mhmm. Is this fear well, I guess this is where I say use logic versus emotion. Mhmm. Because fear is an emotion. Yeah. But you can look at something like your zip line. Right? You can look at that logically and be like, okay.

Speaker B [00:13:32]:

Thousands of people have done this. Mhmm. The people that are leading this have done it Thousands of times.

Speaker A [00:13:37]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:13:38]:

We’re on trees that have been here 50 years, whatever. You couldn’t knock it down with a bulldozer. We’re fine. Right. Yeah. We’re fine. We’re out of our elements, so this fear is truly unfounded. Mhmm.

Speaker B [00:13:50]:

So and you can just move on with your life. Or you can get paralyzed and say, oh my gosh. Think of pandemic. Right?

Speaker A [00:13:55]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:13:56]:

How people reacted to that? I can’t go outside. I don’t wanna even go to the grocery store. I want everything delivered, and I want it sanitized once it gets here, right, wearing your body condom or whatever.

Speaker A [00:14:06]:

We all kinda did some crazy things Yeah. Right? Pandemic. No judgment. But I think a girlfriend of mine who had kids before I did, I think her oldest was, like, 8 or 9 by the time I had my 1st kid. And she says this thing that I continue to come back to it’s you have to think in probability, not possibility Sure. Which kinda is a different way of saying the same thing. Logic versus reason. Right? So she’s Like, when you have a kid, your heart’s on your sleeve.

Speaker A [00:14:32]:

You don’t know what’s gonna happen to them, but you can’t keep them sheltered. You gotta let them out in the world. Right. So when they go to daycare, they could catch every single thing. They could get hand, foot, and mouth, and strep, and the flu, and all these other things, but you have to lean into The probability of if they catch those things, how bad are they really going to be versus the possibility of they could catch the flu and they could die from that.

Speaker B [00:14:55]:

Right.

Speaker A [00:14:55]:

You know? And that’s also crippling

Speaker B [00:14:57]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:14:57]:

That feeling of worry. So I think the idea of how can we take the Feelings that come with fear and risk and try to transition them into something that’s a little bit more empowering

Speaker B [00:15:09]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:15:09]:

That really pushes you forward or at least Helps you rewrite the internal story you’re telling yourself so you can motivate yourself enough to take the risk because you’re not gonna know whether or not it was a good choice until after the fact.

Speaker B [00:15:21]:

Right. Yeah. After just hindsight 2020. Right. Exactly. It’s really a very interesting point about the story that you’re telling yourself. I even think of my kid when you let him go bike around the neighborhood with his buddies. Yeah.

Speaker B [00:15:33]:

And I’m like, But then I think when I was 9, We were gone the whole day.

Speaker A [00:15:39]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:15:39]:

And if somebody would’ve knocked on my parents’ door and said, hey. Where’s your kid? They would have a ballpark idea of a Square, 2 miles, maybe 3. Like, somewhere in this vicinity. Mhmm. But there’s no GPS tracker, anything like that. There’s no phone, and I probably didn’t even have a dime to make a call if I needed to. You know, if you got hurt, you just rub some dirt on it. Yeah.

Speaker B [00:16:02]:

Waiting for fun with your life. So it’s interesting how being a parent now, you’re like

Speaker A [00:16:07]:

Right. And you forget let them go. Right. Well and that, again, Parenting is a huge lean into risk. Right? That’s a whole different side of this. But I think what’s really interesting is that Having risk is just a part of life because if you don’t take risks, to your point, you’re gonna end up on the couch. And what kind of story is that when you get to the end of your life? You know, I was Initially, I’ve I’ve always wanted to write a book, and one of the the ideas that I had for this was I wanna go out and interview people who are later in life and ask them what What do they wish they would have done that they didn’t? What are their regrets? And turns out people have written books like this, so it’s not a new idea.

Speaker B [00:16:44]:

I’m reading a book called Boulder.

Speaker A [00:16:46]:

Yeah? Okay.

Speaker B [00:16:47]:

I just started it last

Speaker A [00:16:48]:

But I think what is really interesting and one of the things that people say aren’t the things that they didn’t do or aren’t the things that they did, but the things they didn’t Right? I wish I would’ve started the business. I wish I would’ve gone on that trip. I wish I would’ve, you know, taken that job or taken that chance. And, you You know, to your point, sitting on your couch

Speaker B [00:17:05]:

is just not a good story. I suppose it’s really tough to tell a story about that time that you didn’t jump out of the airplane.

Speaker A [00:17:12]:

Yeah. Right? Who’s gonna Right.

Speaker B [00:17:13]:

Like, everybody else is jumping. They’re like, woah. And you’re just like, yeah. It’s like a good story. A really good story.

Speaker A [00:17:21]:

My friends used to call the and then I found $5. Because if your story doesn’t have a point, you need to add some kind of excitement. And if your story’s like, and I didn’t jump out of the plane, but I found $20, then then your story’s cool.

Speaker B [00:17:33]:

Sorry. Right?

Speaker A [00:17:34]:

So if you have to end all your stories like that, then they’re not great stories.

Speaker B [00:17:37]:

Oh, funny. I suppose you don’t wanna be on your deathbed. Right? If only I watch more Netflix.

Speaker A [00:17:41]:

Right. Yeah. Who’s really gonna say that?

Speaker B [00:17:43]:

That’s funny. We have okay. We had fun is rare. We have, risk before confidence. We must have backup plans for risk.

Speaker A [00:17:51]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:17:51]:

So knowing that you a little bit of a safety net, I suppose, or just knowing that there’s a a plan b or a plan q. Yeah? We so it’s funny. I start I, man, I had so many jobs before I started my business. One of them was delivering beer. Mhmm. And I got my CDL driver’s license. Right? So I can drive big trucks. And I got that CDL after You could be grandfathered in, so you get it once and it’s forever.

Speaker B [00:18:19]:

Mhmm. I have to go get a physical every couple years to make sure that I’m not dead or whatever. So Because they don’t

Speaker A [00:18:25]:

let dead people drive.

Speaker B [00:18:26]:

Yeah. It went very well. There’s some drivers that I’ve seen that maybe whatever.

Speaker A [00:18:30]:

Yeah. Right.

Speaker B [00:18:30]:

My dad was one of them. He was not a healthy person. Yeah. At any rate so I keep my CDL as kinda like one of those plan z.

Speaker A [00:18:41]:

Sure.

Speaker B [00:18:42]:

Like, if the world goes Terribly wrong. People are still gonna trans need to move stuff. Mhmm. Then I was thinking, what are they self driving cars, James? Now you’re playing c’s. Like, where they have self driving semis or something like this.

Speaker A [00:18:53]:

Oh, I’m sure we will see that in our lifetime.

Speaker B [00:18:56]:

Totally. Yeah. Absolutely. We should. Mhmm. But it’s yeah. Go ahead. Interesting how it’s just I have that safety net way in the back of my head.

Speaker B [00:19:04]:

And it’s also if anyone needs help moving, I can drive a big Sure. It’s kinda

Speaker A [00:19:07]:

fun. That’s cool. I’ll keep that in mind if I’m ever moving.

Speaker B [00:19:09]:

It’s kinda fun. Yeah.

Speaker A [00:19:10]:

Yeah. But I think that as a as a business owner, we all kinda go through that, and that’s one of the things that really helps Just take that risk. That that jump is well, I have this set of skills that that company should find valuable. So even if this doesn’t work out, if I try it for a year or 2, I can always go back and get a job. Absolutely. And I think that that’s That’s why I tend to see people starting business after, like, 10, 15, 20 years of working somewhere else. One, they’ve built up some from skills and expertise, but 2, they have enough that they feel like they could jump back into the job pool if this business thing didn’t work out.

Speaker B [00:19:46]:

Yeah. That’s exactly how when I started Doc Jam. So that was it. Mhmm. I was making I don’t know. I was making $11 an hour or something like that.

Speaker A [00:19:52]:

Mhmm.

Speaker B [00:19:53]:

And my thought process was I can find a crap job anytime. And it’s interesting because I just had this conversation with 1 of my managers yesterday because I had a new employee reach out to me saying, hey. Something’s wrong with the training. This guy that you have trained me doesn’t know what’s going on. In his defense, he’s newer, but the way that he was communicating that was not the greatest. And so I had to reach out to him and just do some olive branch stuff on both ends. Right? I called her, put together a new plan with a different trainer. Mhmm.

Speaker B [00:20:23]:

Call him and say, look. You gotta understand something. When we hire an employee, we’ve gone through this whole process to find them. They’ve checked a ton of boxes. They’ve made it through a bunch of hurdles, And we have to trust that they’re going going to be a good employee. We have to assume good intent.

Speaker A [00:20:38]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:20:39]:

Then we send them equipment. Right? So now we’re financially invested into them. And then on day 2, when they say, hey. Something’s messed up about your training. This guy doesn’t know what’s going on. We have to trust that they have been in other jobs and other positions and that their goal is not to leave this job because they gave us warning. Mhmm. This woman reached out to me and said, hey.

Speaker B [00:21:01]:

This is a thing. And she actually it wasn’t just like, this is terrible. She actually had bullet points of the problems that she had. And it was funny because the manager guy was just like, oh my gosh. We gotta just get rid of her. And I’m like, I feel like that’s a little premature.

Speaker A [00:21:17]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:21:17]:

And I don’t in the end, I don’t maybe he’s right. Maybe she’s right. Who knows? Right? We’ll find out in, I don’t know. 5 years? I don’t know. Yeah. After she’s trained and been with us for a while.

Speaker A [00:21:28]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:21:29]:

But I guess my point is that I was trying to teach him that this employee is risking just as much with working with us Mhmm. As as we are with hiring them.

Speaker A [00:21:40]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:21:41]:

And that she can go at any moment and find a job. We’re in that the way the workforce is now or jobs are now. Mhmm. You can find a job probably in minutes if you really want

Speaker A [00:21:49]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:21:50]:

And we’re not exactly, I don’t know, paying 6 figures or anything like that. So if she wanted to find a job equal in pay if you look at pay alone, Mhmm. Work from home alone, she could probably find 1. Mhmm. So we have to offer something better. And I believe that we do, but that starts. It’s gotta start on day 1 with the trainees that they understand every single day they’re saying, is this worth a risk?

Speaker A [00:22:11]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:22:11]:

And we have to make sure it is. Mhmm. And I didn’t get a response from that from that guy yet, so I have to think about that. From my manager guy. Because I got him my little my soapbox a little bit to let him know this is a big deal. Yeah. Yeah. That’s our job to take care of the people, and then the people can take care of our clients.

Speaker B [00:22:27]:

But Well,

Speaker A [00:22:28]:

and I think that that is a really interesting point of leaning into risk because you There are certain things that you can plan for when you hire a new employee. Right? You’re you’re planning that you’re gonna send them equipment, and they’re gonna go through this training process, and they’re not be a 100% efficient at the beginning. Right? But then to your point, there’s also certain things that you need to react to. And this seems like one of those things where It kinda came up. You, you know, may not have had a plan for this thing to come up, but now that this has been brought to light. You’re taking the opportunity to try to make it better because you can’t plan for every contingency. You’re not gonna think of everything that could happen in the world.

Speaker B [00:23:06]:

I always think of the wolf From Pulp Fiction. Yeah. You gotta be the wolf. He’s just like, okay. We got a car with a bunch of brains in the back. Fix it. Right? There was next to no emotion.

Speaker A [00:23:19]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:23:19]:

Right? He has more emotion about the coffee than he did about just this we gotta fix this problem.

Speaker A [00:23:23]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:23:24]:

Let’s just fix it and move on with our lives. And it’s one of those, like, you gotta have that mindset where you can’t cry, you can’t scream. I don’t you wanna reduce to a point a little bit of laughter And just get the job done.

Speaker A [00:23:37]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:23:38]:

And then move forward. Right?

Speaker A [00:23:39]:

Right. So I think it’s I got a call from sister on the way here this morning that,

Speaker B [00:23:44]:

Is that good?

Speaker A [00:23:45]:

It is good. I talk to her every day. So it wasn’t that’s not out of the norm. But, my nephew just got his driver’s his license. Oh. Maybe 2 weeks ago, and he’s been working hard the past 2 summers to pay off to earn this truck. And he’s a farm kid. It’s to him, it was this Cool truck.

Speaker A [00:24:00]:

It’s like a flatbed. Everything he wanted. He’s been polishing it for 2 weeks.

Speaker B [00:24:04]:

Like Oh, nice.

Speaker A [00:24:05]:

You know, kid in his 1st car loving it, and He really wrecked it this morning with a deer.

Speaker B [00:24:13]:

Oh, no.

Speaker A [00:24:13]:

It, like, just came out of the ditch, and he just took it out. She’s like, I went down to see the truck, and it is It’s like, this kid’s heart is broken. Oh, no. And it’s so interesting because alright. This just happened. Right? And so clearly, there’s some ocean Yeah. Going on, and his babies all crashed. But what when we get to the other side of this, I really wanna see He leaned into the risk, and this is an immediate choice.

Speaker A [00:24:38]:

Right? When a deer comes out in front of you, you either swerve or you hit it. Right? Yeah.

Speaker B [00:24:43]:

Hit the brakes.

Speaker A [00:24:44]:

Yeah. Well, hopefully, you hit the brakes, and you don’t swerve. Right? But he’s 16, so he’s never had to actually go through the

Speaker B [00:24:51]:

Alright.

Speaker A [00:24:51]:

Right? So I said, to be proud of him in this situation that, one, his brother was with him in the car Alright. You know, in the truck, and It could have ended. They’re both fine. It could have ended a lot worse. Like, he did about accidents where people were to hit the deer and they roll or to miss the And so I was like, at some point, he’s going to realize that he has the right instincts, that in that moment, while it was a risky moment, he made the right move.

Speaker B [00:25:16]:

Right.

Speaker A [00:25:17]:

And he couldn’t have like, I’m sure they talked about that stuff. Right? But in the moment, you have to make a gut reaction.

Speaker B [00:25:23]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:25:23]:

And You don’t expect that to happen. No. But I’m like so someday, you’ll be able to tell him that you’re proud, that he didn’t swerve, and that everyone’s okay. But for now, you can let him Sad.

Speaker B [00:25:34]:

Yeah. It’s interesting. I guess in that scenario, you wonder how much math is your head doing where it’s like, I love my truck, so I will sacrifice the truck For my brother?

Speaker A [00:25:45]:

Yeah. Like, no.

Speaker B [00:25:46]:

The truck’s going down. Right?

Speaker A [00:25:48]:

Well and I think that ration versus emotion, you know, I’m sure that there was There’s the right thing to do, and then there’s the emotional thing to do. And if he would have had more time, maybe he would have made a different decision.

Speaker B [00:26:00]:

Rather for truck time. Yeah.

Speaker A [00:26:02]:

Right? Oh my Goodness. But, ultimately, there are a lot of risks that we take not just in our business, but in living every day. So I think the more that we can lean into to that and and then just evaluate. Did that work? Did it not? How can I evaluate risk better in the future is really the best way for us to move forward?

Speaker B [00:26:18]:

Yeah. You raise an excellent Point. Because you make that decision. Right? You’re gonna do this risky thing.

Speaker A [00:26:23]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:26:23]:

But it’s not to say that you can’t adapt as you’re going through. Right? You’re gonna start your business, whatever. I started my business coaching business Mhmm. And that has evolved. Mhmm. Right? I started the printer repair business that had to evolve because Printers did different things and all this stuff. Right? Sell it, move on. But it was interesting even especially with the business thing.

Speaker B [00:26:46]:

People are like, hey. I remember when I sold my business, they said you got rid of your baby. And I never perceived my business as my baby. I’m like, because my business was a tool to accomplish goals that I had. I never like, they didn’t say when you quit your job, you quit your baby. Right? But business, they considered it. I’m like, that business was a huge pain in the butt. I was making less than minimum wage.

Speaker A [00:27:10]:

When you factor everything

Speaker B [00:27:11]:

I put into it. Yeah. That was the worst baby in the world. But it was interesting how people attach that Analogy

Speaker A [00:27:19]:

Mhmm.

Speaker B [00:27:19]:

To it. And I’m like, That’s not right at all. Not the way I perceive it as.

Speaker A [00:27:23]:

Yeah. Well, what’s interesting though is that they’re recognizing the risk of starting a business in that particular situation, but I think that they also don’t understand all of the day to day things that go into running a business and keeping a business afloat if you aren’t in it.

Speaker B [00:27:39]:

Right. I consider I told them it was like a boat because the rules about the boat. Right? The best time to The best 2 days in your life with a boat or when you buy it or when you sell it.

Speaker A [00:27:48]:

Right. Uh-huh.

Speaker B [00:27:49]:

And I’m like, that’s the same with a business.

Speaker A [00:27:51]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:27:51]:

To me, 1st day you buy it or that 1st week, it’s honeymoon Period. Rainbows, moonbeams, yoorah rah. And then when you sell it, she’s like, you know what? That is awesome.

Speaker A [00:28:00]:

Yeah. Right.

Speaker B [00:28:00]:

Look at all this garage space. Right?

Speaker A [00:28:03]:

And cash flow.

Speaker B [00:28:04]:

Yeah. Cash flow. Yeah. Somebody else’s headache.

Speaker A [00:28:07]:

Right. Alright. Well, this has been diary of a worthy pursuit.

Speaker B [00:28:11]:

I forgot what our tagline is.

Speaker A [00:28:12]:

Don’t worry. Hope you get what you truly want in life and in business because we’re so busy talking about risk, we can’t remember this.

Speaker B [00:28:19]:

Great details.

Speaker A [00:28:21]:

Alright. If you like this, please Subscribe and, let us know what you want us to talk about in the future.