Are you a risk taker? Do you think you have a stronger appetite for risk relative to your friends and family? We asked some folks from the community about their approaches to risk and have shared their thoughts below.

Lawrence Smith | Chef

Risk is an inherent part of being overly ambitious and being overly ambitious seems to be a habit of mine. It all started when I was young, my love of sports consumed me and I decided NFL or nothing. Thankfully I had people in my corner, namely my parents, who naturally had their concerns and urged me to take educated risks. They would advise to give everything I had to football but to understand the chances of making it to my dream where slim. Stay in school and set yourself up for life after football whether that be making it to my dream or not. I’m proud to have made my dream a reality and as it came to the end the ambition lead to new unfortunately less calculated risks, like moving across country, with random or no jobs chasing the chance to continue dream. Read more>>

Brian Tate | CEO

As a professional poker player of 12 years, analyzing risk has played a crucial role to my success. The decision to leave poker and build a brand in the breakfast space also came with a considerable amount of risk. There are two key factors to making a big life or career decision that would be considered “risky”. Appropriately measure the upside – Most people dwell on the worst case scenario, and don’t appropriately measure the potential benefits of taking that shot. Deciding to start a business doesn’t result in a simple win or lose scenario. Giving your all to a new profession or craft will give you a ton of life experience. You’ll be exposed to new opportunities that you didn’t know to exist before. Even if that path doesn’t directly result in a win, you’ll see the world in a different way. Take chances, learn from your mistakes, and stay open to new opportunities that come your way. Read more>>

Michael & Priscilla Sweet | Bakerpreneurs

Risk taking is a must for our business. Capitalist business entrepreneurs like us both know full well that the market is the deciding factor to the risk we’ve taken. We embrace it full heartedly, with wide open eyes, and keen awareness. Risk for us means being open to and testing potential opportunities. Knowing that some will come at a loss but those losses are lessened by the gains we achieve. Risk taking also means being aware of our outcomes and adjusting accordingly. Risk has allowed us to branch into uncomfortable circumstances knowing full well how we are doing, how to manage ourselves (our values, emotions, actions), and handle the outcomes that follow. We never take on risks that stretch our boundaries so far as to potentially sabotage our business in its entirety. Nor do we take on risks that have nothing to do with our niche business focus. Read more>>

Eva Louis | Filmmaker , Actor, Speaker, Public Figure, Fashion & Author

There was a period of time in my life, where I was told to constantly wait until everything was perfect or wait for all the conditions to be just right. Then, two years in a row, I had two life changing surgeries where I could have died from either one if things didn’t go right. After that, I said to myself, I’m waiting no longer to life my life fully. It was at that time, I decided I would take the risk to live the life I was supposed to be living. I risked everything to push myself and my career to the next level in 2006 and have never looked back. I moved from the midwest to Arizona and basically moved my entire life without family to start over with a new company and figure out what life would be like on my own. I’ve learned to get the most out of life by taking calculated risks. There are ups and downs you can experience but life with no risk does not seem legit real. Read more>>

Kimber Lanning | Founder

When I went off to the school bus stop for my first day of kindergarten, my mother hollered at me down the street, ‘just remember, Kimber, nobody can ever MAKE you to anything!” I smiled back- ‘got it, mom!’ And so it was. My mother built me to be tough with a solid poker face, understanding that power was not something to be feared; it was to be challenged. Risk taking to me has to do with challenging power structures and being able to accept the consequences. Sometimes people don’t take risks when the consequences are so minimal it’s hard to fathom the miss. I find it fascinating how many people just pass on risks due to some internal compliance barometer. When I started Stinkweeds, I was 19 and knew the general area in which I wanted to open the store, so I just started calling the numbers on the signs in the windows of places that seemed interesting. Read more>>

Hummus xpress Hantas | Chef & Founder

Taking risks is something I am used to. For it is all I have ever done! One risk that turned out great was moving to Arizona. I was a young man, knew no one here and I started all on my own. It was difficult at the time but looking back at that risk that I was so afraid to take, I would do it all over again. These choices I have made, as risky as they were at the time caused a great impact on my life and on me as a person. I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Read more>>

April Amarillas | Hairstylist Barber

I believe that risk taking is an important factor in building up your own business. If your too comfortable you’ll never grow with success. Read more>>