[champ]

(03-22-2013 02:41 AM)Hooligan Harry Wrote:  

Real risk is not financial, its personal. It encompasses everything. Its putting your entire network on the line. Going so deep into something that you risk credit ratings, personal health, relationships as you fall of the radar. Chasing something with no certainty of reward at all. While everyone else is buying homes, having families, going on holiday or enjoying their weekends off, you are working without any certainty of success at all. You whole life comes to a standstill and you could lose 2-3 years of your life for nothing. Some guys go over a decade.

That is risk. 99% of the people you come across will not have the balls to take risks like this.

Wholly shit that hit close to home. I started a business in 2007 that crashed spectacularly in 2010 at a large personal cost touching on all of the above except for (thankfully) my health. Meanwhile seemingly all of my peer group got married, bought houses, and started families.

The thing is, once you've had the taste of even fleeting success or life outside of what you're 'supposed' to do it's very difficult to go back. After a soft landing in a 6-figure life sucking corporate job I rolled the dice again and ended up here in Brazil, whether it pays off financially is still up in the air but I can say without a doubt that I've lived a more interesting and well-rounded life than my accountant / engineer / doctor / optometrist / lawyer friends.