The Downside Torpedo

Over lunchtime earlier today I caught itinerant self-publicist and seemingly self-styled ‘entrepreneur’s entrepreneur’, Richard Branson, plugging his latest book on a radio show.  And in these credit crunch selling-squeeze times, I was reminded of a wonderful piece of advice I was given at the start of my sales career (when my elders and betters suspected me of running around like a giddy child in a sweet shop).

Branson was talking about how opportunities did indeed exist in the current climate, yet you must ensure that any downside to following such glory would not wipe out your overall endeavours.

In other words, be as certain as you can that chasing a shiny new revenue stream will not leave you without any cash at all, causing everything else to suddenly collapse, should it fail.

The advice metered out to me related to when I was excitedly rushing around planting seeds for the new wares that I was salivating about.  “Don’t forget to keep writing business”.  It was an eye-opener back then…