From the course: 20 Questions to Help You Start a Business

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What is the worst that can happen?

What is the worst that can happen?

From the course: 20 Questions to Help You Start a Business

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What is the worst that can happen?

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- It's such a simple but revealing question. What's the worst that can happen? That's exactly what one of my mentors asked me when I opened a coffee house 30 years ago. My answer was telling. I said, "Losing everything." He replied and said, "Is that a risk you're willing to take?" And I said yes, it was worth the risk to me. Now, as things turned out, I did end up losing most of everything. I closed that business after it drained most of my savings, the profit from my other business and more. But it's not always gloom and doom. When I left the law firm to go out on my own, I asked one of my mentors whether I was making a mistake. She said no. She said, "The worst case is that you try this for a year and then you come back to the law firm." She added that, in fact, I'd be in even better shape returning to law because being out on my own would mean I'd have better bargaining position coming back. So sometimes the worst…

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