As you can probably imagine, my ghostwriting work takes me to a variety of different parts of the web; places I might not choose to go of my own volition (don’t worry, I’m not referring to anything NSFW here).
But I must say that what I’ve learned (and what I’ve been learning lately) has been hugely valuable.
I get to research a lot of topics. Not all of it interests me, but when I’m tasked with writing marketing or entrepreneurship related articles, it’s generally a good day.
Recently, a certain English business magnate inspired me with his writing.
A Page from Richard Branson’s Book
Yesterday, as I was writing an article about taking risks, I happened upon an article by Richard Branson (sadly I can’t find this article anymore), in which he recounts a formative story from his early life. Learning to swim earned him more money than he had ever made before as a four-or-five-year-old! Of course, he had to risk his life to earn it, but this is a hugely valuable lesson.
What we can learn from Branson is that if we want to build businesses, we must take risks, even when things don’t look like they are going to work out. It’s altogether too easy to remain in your comfort zone, never doing anything new. The main problem with this is that you end up getting the same results you’ve always gotten.
You may not need to risk your life to earn huge sums of money, but there’s a good chance you’ll need to do some things you’ve never done before to reach your goals. You will need to risk something.
You may not need to risk your life to earn huge sums of money, but there's a good chance you'll need to do some things you've never done before to reach your goals. Click To TweetIs Life Getting Stale? Then Consider a Different Approach
If life has lost its luster and you don’t seem to be progressing, you must ask yourself if you are taking enough risks. I’ve often said there are no bored people, only boring people. If you’re bored, you have no one to blame but yourself.
There are no bored people, only boring people. If you're bored, you have no one to blame but yourself. Click To TweetI’ve talked about the fact that failure is the companion of success many times before; both on the blog as well as the podcast. Taking risks is another way to say the same thing.
If there’s risk involved, it means there are no guarantees. You could win, and you could lose. If you must risk it to win it, however, then you can expect the rewards to be greater too.
If you must risk it to win it, you can expect the rewards to be greater. Click To TweetRisk can lead to innovation, breakthroughs, and new ways of thinking. It doesn’t always turn out that way, but what you learn in the process can always be leveraged in future situations.
My Finger is Pointed Back at Myself
You may be wondering what risks I am taking right now. I plan to submit an article to Entrepreneur before the year is out. I’ve never written anything for them before, nor do I have an amazing track record as an entrepreneur (I’m on the journey of failing more so I can one day succeed), but the thought of rejection scares me a little, and that tells me it’s something I need to do.
Update: I’ve tried applying as an Entrepreneur writer, but I never heard back from them. Apparently, to become a contributor, what you must become chummy with an existing contributor and get a recommendation from them. Good to know! I can’t leverage my existing connections because that could end up in a situation where I compromise the identify of those I’ve ghostwritten for. That means I must connect with someone new.
Ready to Take a Risk?
Have you been inspired to take a risk you’ve never taken before? Choose a single action you intend to take, and plan do it as soon as possible. Then let me know what you’ve decided to do in the comments below!
Interested in Learning More About this Topic?
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