You can’t run a business without taking on some level of risk. In order to be rewarded, business owners must take a risk – and, in most cases, the greater the reward, the greater the risk. So, how does an entrepreneur go about learning and gaining practical experience of risk?
Entrepreneurs usually take a handful of calculated risks every year. That means it takes years to gain experience and practice with regard to assessing risk. On the other hand, the world of gambling allows us to learn by taking hundreds of risk on a single day. The following are just a few of the lessons we can learn from various forms of gambling.
Casino Games
Almost any form of gambling will teach you a different lesson about risks and rewards. If you have a Betfair login, you can visit their online casino and play games like poker, blackjack and roulette. There’s a lesson to be learnt from almost every one of these games.
With some forms of gambling, you rely entirely on chance, while other forms of gambling allow you to wait until the odds are stacked in your favour. As an entrepreneur, you should always be aware of the type of bet you are taking and risk your capital accordingly. If the odds are stacked heavily in your favour, you should be prepared to risk some capital. Not enough to wipe you out if you are wrong but enough to justify the effort you are putting in. This is your chance to make a return on the time and effort you’ve put in.
But, if the odds are stacked against you, you should only risk a very small amount, and treat the cost as a tuition fee. Sometimes, you have to test an idea to see if it has potential, and you can’t always do that for free.
Poker
The second lesson, which comes from the poker world, follows on from the first. If you follow the careers of any of the best poker players in the world, you’ll see that things don’t always go well. They know this all too well. That’s why they never risk so much on one decision that being wrong can wipe them out.
Poker players know that, by playing thousands of hands over time, if they follow a profitable strategy, their payday will come. But they also know that if they lose too much, they can’t carry on playing, and their payday will never come.
Entrepreneurs need to balance risk-taking with the fact that, without taking any risk, they can’t expect any reward.
Sports Betting
In the world of sports betting, cold hard statistics and human emotions collide. This is where the saying, “bet with your head and not with your heart,” is most relevant. People tend to bet on teams out of emotional attachment and a sense of patriotism. This seldom pays off. It also creates the best opportunities for those who are able to remain detached and make objective decisions by analysing past results.
Entrepreneurs need to be able to separate themselves from their emotional attachment to certain ideas and strategies. Very often, if they take an objective look at what they are doing, they’ll realise they are on the wrong track when the right path is obvious. Allowing emotions to cloud judgement is, in itself, a business risk which, like any risk, needs to be managed.
Conclusion
These are just three lessons entrepreneurs and business owners can learn from gambling. There are many more to be learnt by reading about sports and betting or heading to the nearest casino.
