Do You Dare To Bite The Apple Of Risk?
Yasser Khan
You know the story.
Don’t you?
The one steeped in risk.
Betrayal.
And then falling badly from dizzying heights.
And finally, emancipation.
No!
I’m not talking about the forbidden fruit!
Well, not that one, anyway.
I’m talking about Ronald Wayne…
About 35 years ago, Wayne and two young businessmen founded a startup tech company in California.
Wayne was still fresh from a rotten, bad business deal that took him almost two years to recover from, and he worried greatly about risking his remaining assets, should this company also fail.
He wasn’t a bad judge of people.
Nor was he a bad businessman either.
He just couldn’t bear the failures, or the thought of losing everything.
Now, he was on the verge of a possible breakthrough, or it could be a probable nightmare. Which was it, this time?
He couldn’t decide. Almost.
He almost went for it.
In the end, he changed his mind and sold his personal stake in the young company for $800 and later relinquished his entire stake for another $1,500.
He is now a 76-year-old retiree in Pahrump, Nevada who collects stamps and owns several worthless patents that he never did anything much with.
So where did he go wrong?
He didn’t bite the apple.
Because rich people constantly see opportunity and focus much more on the rewards, they are almost always willing to take risks.
Not-yet-rich people (like Ronald Wayne), on the other hand, expect to fail. (Relax! I’m not putting him down)
They lack confidence in themselves and in their abilities.
They believe that should things not work out, it would be catastrophic.
And because they constantly see obstacles, they are usually unwilling to take the risks that matter most.
Which is really too bad for Ronald, because those two young businessmen were Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, that company was Apple Inc. and Ronald Wayne became the guy who saved $2,300 and lost out on a piece of a $65 billion-a-year business because he COULDN’T risk it.
Here it is: When it comes to your wealth, if you’re not willing to stomach the risks, you’re NEVER going to be able to enjoy the rewards.
Even in failing, Ronald Wayne left us important, chilling lessons.
Need I say more?
What does risk mean to you? Do you feel it’s worth the risk to venture into the unknown? Share this post now with your Twitter and FB friends by clicking on the share buttons below.
To Your Success,
Jul 28th 2011
Yasser,
You could also say Ronald Wayne “stopped three feet from gold”.
Sometimes it’s only a gut feeling… sometimes there are others we can ask for counsel… but we should never quit just because of the fear of failure.
There has to be a more substantial reason to quit, when one is on a quest for something that has an element of risk to it.
Willena Flewelling
Sep 5th 2011
This is a great post. To become successful we have to be able to overcome the fear of failure. We also have to admit that failure is a part of the process. We must be willing to fail forward to success as John C. Maxwell would say it. People who allow fear to take a good grip of them, never take any step. What a good example you narrated above. Thanks for sharing.
Sep 8th 2011
Hi Yasser
What a great post.
Do you know what is the biggest regrets people have on there Death bed ?
“WHY DID I NOT TAKE THE RISK”
One day i want to pass on and say i am glad i did take all the risk’s that i could
and find success through that.
Greate post thamks
Regards
Theuns