Did you know that your tolerance for risk affects the way you do business?

Meet Andy Prayed and Bunsen Berner:

Everyone knows a guy like Andy. We could say he has an optimism bias. He was always the guy in school that would try things that no other kid would try, which were usually accompanied by an abnormally high dose of optimism that things would turn out better than they actually did. He always leaped before he looked. He runs his business the same way. For marketing, he is fond of the spray and pray method. Oh we are not discouraging prayer. Praying about your business is good. Our theology is not very deep here, but it is our guess is that God would prefer not to be used as a last resort. Andy gets distracted by every shiny new marketing gimmick–each one extracting a chunk of his cash and time. Take Social Media, for example. Andy likes the free advertising, so he tries to be on as many platforms as he can. While social media is a powerful tool, he does not know why he is there. All that power at his fingertips that never shifts into gear. His advertising is costing him big time as it fails to engage.

Bunsen Berner is on the complete opposite of the spectrum. Bunsen does not do risk. Prior to any effort, especially one involving cash, he goes into his laboratory and seeks to determine the outcome with scientific accuracy. With white papers and spreadsheets, he researches all possible outcomes and scenarios. His research takes so long, that the window of opportunity often closes before Bunsen has made a move. Because the possibility exists that he could lose money with any advertising effort, Bunsen rarely tries anything. As a result, customers rarely know his name.

If I were to err on either side, I would be in Andy’s corner. At least he knows he needs to advertize and is willing to take a risk. But the best avenue, of course, is a balance of both. If you are averse to risk taking, practice taking little risks on little things. Get use to it, and then branch into bigger things. And if you are an Andy, make sure all your tactics are working towards a consistent overarching strategy.

Transform your Ready-Shoot-Aim efforts, into Ready-Aim-Shoot efforts, with strategy. It makes all the difference.

In the 26 years that we have been helping small companies with their marketing and advertising, we have seen almost every kind of difficulty one can imagine. Throughout this month, we are sharing some of the most common problems using fictitious characters in a humorous way. While all of the details in these stories are true, the names have been changed, to protect the guilty. Should any of the stories sound familiar, it is our desire that they would help steer you around some pitfalls. Stay tuned for more Complex Characters of Capitalism.