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Entrepreneurship Is About Making Bets
When you are your own boss, going “all in” is often necessary.
I played a lot of poker in college.
The World Series of Poker was wildly popular on ESPN and encouraged our amateur adoption of the sport. One evening, in the dorm study room, a few friends and I were engaged in a serious battle of poker. We used pretzels and mustard as poker chips, which presented a problem where the currency was both editable and delicious.
Anyway, as the night went on, the game grew more uninteresting by the minute. Looking to end the night, I decided it was time to say the three magic words: “I’m all in.”
No Rules Rules
I recently read No Rules Rules, the philosophy behind Netflix’s business culture. Netflix’s founder Reed Hastings, at one point, equates entrepreneurship to taking bets. He wants all employees to feel empowered to take entrepreneurial bets on things they believe will benefit the company.
Hastings provides a good analogy. Not all entrepreneurial bets are big, all in moments. Many are small choices that either helps your business grow or provides a learning opportunity.
I make small entrepreneurial bets all the time in my freelance business. Investing money into a certain marketing…