Thanks for linking to that article by P.T. Barnum, Boyd and Elizabeth.

I thought this part was quite interesting....

Among the maxims of the elder Rothschild was one, an apparent paradox: "Be cautious and bold." This seems to he a contradiction in terms, but it is not, and there is great wisdom in the maxim.

It is, in fact, a condensed statement of what I have already said. It is to say, "you must exercise your caution in laying your plans, but be bold in carrying them out."

A man who is all caution, will never dare to take hold and be successful; and a man who is all boldness, is merely reckless, and must eventually fail. A man may go on "chance" and make fifty or one hundred thousand dollars in speculating in stocks, at a single operation. But if he has simple boldness without caution, it is mere chance, and what he gains to-day he will lose to-morrow. You must have both the caution and the boldness, to insure success.

(I've edited it slightly since I think there were some mis-scans in a couple words.)

I think this is great advice!

Especially the lengthened version -

You must exercise your caution in laying your plans, but be bold in carrying them out.

That's a good one to print out and stick on the wall (or wherever you stick these things). I once had maxims like this stuck to the shelves of my bookshelf, on thin little strips of paper that would fit there.

A lot of people are NOT cautious in laying out their plans - they are impatient. So they leap into ANYTHING that looks good to them. (That's how people fall for scams - lack of patience in their plans. At least that's how it looks to me.)

They are "bold and bold" - they are bold in leaping into any plan, then they may throw tens of thousands of dollars at it. However, if you look into a business plan first, rather than leap in an instance, you will proably not fall for scams. I think it takes a certain mindset to fall for a scam - you have to not be willing to do the required "homework" first to look into the scam - you have to not be willing to be cautious enough in the beginning.

However, you can also be "cautious and cautious" - that is, you are cautious in the beginning, and you know of some good businesses to start, and you are careful in your plan. But - then, you are too cautious to carry it out. If you have a good plan and have planned well, and in such a way that the risk to you is low - then go for it!

I think one key item though is to minimize your risk, which is always possible to do. In fact, it's what many of the great entrepreneurs seem to do. They have many techniques of minimizing their risk. They always have an "escape hatch" in any business plan, so they can recover their money, or at least cut their losses. I think every business plan should have an "escape hatch" especially if it involves a lot of money - just in case things don't go as planned.

Anyhow, thanks Boyd and Elizabeth for linking to that - it's got a lot of good solid advice. :)

Cheers,

Dien


"The Art of Money Getting" by P. T. Barnum, that Boyd and Elizabeth linked to