Your Riskiest Business Decision

[TheAnonymousMan]

Greetings All

I was just thinking about my own Graphic Design business and how I've made risky decisions in the past. One of these decisions involved taking on a long term, full time contract at the expense of losing new and existing clients for the next 2 years, as well as having to satisfy existing clients on the weekends. Would the contract kill my entire freelance business after 2 years? Would it be worth it?

As I'm nearing the end of the 2 year contract and I would have to say that it's paid off. This is because I managed to run my own business on the side (weekends) to retain most of my existing clients so when/if I decide to go back to full time freelancing I won't have to start from the beginning again.

In saying this I would like to know of any risky business decisions that you have made and whether it paid off or not? My 2 year contract decision did pay off but I also lost two good clients because I did not have the time to efficiently satisfy their requests.

[Kevin Lee]

Hi TheAnonymousMan,

If you ask me, I'd say the act of simply starting your business or choosing to "try again" (if you failed the first time) are the riskiest business decisions you'll ever make.

But if I were to give a more specific example from my personal experience, I'd cite spending too much of my budget on in-person marketing materials. That money should've probably been spent on online campaigns instead.

[TheAnonymousMan]

Hi TheAnonymousMan,
But if I were to give a more specific example from my personal experience, I'd cite spending too much of my budget on in-person marketing materials. That money should've probably been spent on online campaigns instead.

Hi Kevin

What sort of materials did you purchase and give out? Obviously you found you were giving these out and not getting any contact from the prospective customer. Was this for your bookstore?

How long did you do this for before you calculated that it wasn't going to work?