• How many times have you looked back and wished you had taken an action that for some reason you did not take?

• How often have you looked at the success or the accomplishment of another and longed for the results they achieved?

• Where in your life or business are you hiding from the slightly or outrageously new approach that you know will open doors?

People who are successful and fulfilled in their lives have learned the necessity and the joy of designing effective risks. Risk is a funny word because it can easily mean vastly different things to people. For some the word connotes danger, jeopardy even threat. And for others it points to possibility, opportunity, even likelihood.

We’ve all seen the negative slant in movies such as "Risky Business" (although funny) that lead to dire results – or perhaps in the behavior of friends and family members who undertook ill-informed risks with disastrous consequences.

But do you think we would have landed on the moon without a dream and the ability to take the intelligent risks that it required. Where would JK Rowling, the author of the Harry Potter series, be if she hadn’t sat down in her local coffee shop and risked putting her stories to paper? And what about the myriad of people you know in your own life who took the risk required to start a new business, to engage in an emerging relationship, to change long-standing habits and are the happier for it?

Intelligent, inspired and enlightened risk can be the missing ingredient in developing a life that is truly worth living. Without it yes you may feel "safe", may know all of the outcomes of your actions and may be spectacularly bored. If you want to grow, wish to have success in your professional life and desire the satisfaction of a life you fully enjoy – then risk taking is a necessary ingredient.

Personal Risk Stories

Let me tell you a couple of stories about people who took the risk that was required and the impact it has had on their lives. Deborah Jofre was a very successful lawyer with great credentials a well developed clientele but increasingly she admitted to herself that she did not like the work that she was doing day to day. It left her flat and un-inspired. As a way to engage her creative side she began designing gift baskets for friends and family. She loved it! – the personal touch of it, designing the perfect combination of elements that would "hit the mark" for someone, that would express the emotion of the event or the moment.

As she progressed with this she began doing research about the field of gift baskets as a business. She looked into the level of products that she wanted to include in her creations. She made contacts with people who could help move her forward. Eventually after drawing up a marketing plan, and bringing together the various elements she needed she launched her own business www.BlissfulBaskets.com. She took the leap, left the legal profession and has designed a business for herself that is truly satisfying to her, is very lucrative and that she can continue to grow and develop in a myriad of ways. When you speak to Deborah you can feel her enthusiasm, she easily talks about the remarkable change that taking this risk has engendered in her life. She is thrilled with her success.

There are many components of designing effective risk that Deborah actioned brilliantly. She did her due diligence. She researched the field, experimented with it to assure herself she would love it. She gathered the resources she would need: encouraging people, contacts who would be happy to buy from her, the right products, and a good delivery system. She developed a clientele rooted in her former occupation and grew her base from there. She became very clear on the niche market that she wanted to approach and developed a plan to get in front of that audience. She also allowed herself a reasonable timeline in which to accomplish all that she knew she could.

All of these are aspects of designing effective risks:

• Research the field, the product or the change you want to make.

• Check it out for yourself as much as you can. This might include experimenting with it for awhile before you take the leap as Deborah did. It might mean shadowing someone who does what you want to do to find out as much as you can.

• She found the resources she needed to make the step: the financial resources, the types of products (the elements) she wanted to work with.

• She surrounded herself with the support she needed in order to make the shift.

• She totally believed that she could do this and started to put her dream into action.

What is one risk that, if you took it, might open up a new horizon to you? You don’t have to start with an entire life changing risk as the one above. Perhaps it is a matter of risk taking a few new actions each day that cumulatively will make all the difference. Exercising your ability to stand-up for yourself in a previously difficult environment. Trying something new that you have been putting off. Or it may be time for a radical change in your life. See what it is like this week to experiment with one level of informed and intelligent risk in your life.

I took a risk lately that turned out to be very fulfilling both personally and professionally. While visiting family and friends in California recently "out of the blue" I was asked to be interviewed on Channel 4TV. I had never been on live TV before and had almost no time to prepare for it. With no time to even meet the anchors before I was on the newscast there I was in front of the camera at the news desk. And I had a great time. It was a blast! And even better it has impacted my business in very positive ways. If I had taken some time to think about it and say to myself "well I’ve never done that before, what if I’m horrible" I would have missed a spectacular opportunity. It was an experiment and one that I relished. I was open to an emerging opportunity and risked taking the step. Take a look at the result at http://www.conniebutler.biz/interview_ch4.php

Successful Risk Taking

Another successful risk-taker is Chris Zownir. Chris has been in the financial industry in Canada for years and has been very successful. However, something else in him has been dying to be expressed. He has always been interested in the fashion industry and has a wealth of contacts in Canada and internationally. While casting about for a new endeavor he came up with an idea for an innovative line of men’s cufflinks. While visiting here in Miami he developed a design for the links and proceeded to explore the manufacturing and marketing of them. Currently his sideline business is growing by leaps and bounds. His concept of having his picked up by major corporations as a corporate gift item and his plans to expand that aspect of the business is mushrooming.

Chris as well evidenced Effective Risk Taking:

• He built on an interest and talent he already had – interest in the fashion industry and financial acumen.

• He listened to that part of him that kept telling him he needed a change.

• He allowed his playful side (one that is not expressed in the same way in the financial industry) to come out in the creation of the product.

• He is successfully growing the business as a side-line.

• He will realize his dream of becoming a full-time entrepreneur with a business that has a broad reach.

Take a moment to enjoy what he is creating at www.cuffwear.com

There are other stories of risk that I could mention here. My own risk of moving from San Francisco to Miami Beach 3 years ago. I haven’t regretted it for a moment. The story of Andy Renda who moved from Boston last year to Napa Valley in CA to leave a life that his parents had planned for him. He took the risk of moving forward in the field that he loved – the wine industry – and moved to Napa where he could become involved in a very direct way. He is now wonderfully happy living in Napa Valley as the Tasting Room Manager for The Vintner’s Collective. A fantastic Room that profiles only local boutique wineries. They were some of the best wines I tasted while I was in California lately. Take a look at their offerings at www.vintnerscollective.com.

The possibilities for intelligent risk taking are right in front of us everyday.

• Listen to your inner promptings – they will tell you when it is time to take a risk.

• Sometimes what you are most afraid of has a silver lining if you are willing to risk.

• Start by envisioning the dream of what you truly want.

• Build on your innate talent and skills.

• Look at the opportunities that present themselves. They create the pathway to the fulfillment of that desire.

• When necessary do your own due diligence.

• Experiment with the leap.

• Surround yourself with all of the support and encouragement that you need.

• Believe in yourself and all you have to offer the world!

A favorite quote...

"There are two ways to reach the top of an oak tree – you climb it or sit on an acorn and wait."

Stop waiting and begin the exciting climb!!! Sources to support you, some of which are complimentary, take a look at: http://www.conniebutler.biz/divorce_freeteleclass.php http://www.conniebutler.biz/change_free_eclass.php

Connie Butler
www.conniebutler.biz