To become truly great in business, you have to take risks. Risk is also something most people are afraid of and as a result, they shy away from building a successful business in order to avoid it. However, risk taking is also the reason most billionaires came to become some of the richest people on the planet.
Do you consider yourself to be a risk taker? Do you evade or embrace risk as a part of your life?
Well this article will take a look at 10 of the biggest risk takers in business.
Perhaps one day you can borrow a leaf from these dare-devil entrepreneurs and become a major success.
10 Highly Successful Risk Takers In Business
1. Donald Trump
With his monster TV show The Apprentice, a sprawling business empire and a billion dollar fortune, Donald Trump appears to be on top of the world. What you may not know is that it was not always this way. As a matter of fact, there used to be a time when he was facing personal bankruptcy with personal debts of $900 million. Donald Trump’s business also declared bankruptcy with debts of about $3.5 billion. However, he had cleared his personal debt within a period of 4 years, greatly reduced his business debt and even merged some of his business interests into a publicly held company, all in a short period of time.
Trump is living proof that risk takers can win big in business and lose big as well. As a matter of fact, Trumps success was due to his willingness to take huge risks.
2. Bill Gates
The billionaire Bill Gates took a great amount of risks while founding Microsoft. He had to drop out of college in order to help create Microsoft. He took a huge risk, starting his business based on his vision that the personal computer would be a useful tool in every office and home.
Bill Gates was prepared to travel in the wilderness of the unknown and would do anything to win. He even went up against Steve Jobs and was not threatened to copy or borrow ideas from other great innovators and tech companies.
This paid off in the end when his company became a tech giant worth billions of dollars.
3. Henry Ford
The world famous inventor of the automobile was very imaginative and willing to take risks. He slashed prices so steeply that he risked taking losses yet he managed to meet the crushing demand for Model T’s.
In order to satisfy consumer wants, Ford had to take it to the next level with a do or die attitude. Henry Ford even cut down the working hours and increased minimum wages for his workers so that they could work for a longer period of time before quitting. A very risky move that could be considered a mistake to most but was a strong reason why Henry Ford was able to conquer the automobile world.
4. J. Paul Getty
Known for his many failed marriages and his capacity for bearing risk, this billionaire oil baron is one of the most successful business people in our history.
J. Paul Getty founded and controlled Getty Oil Company in addition to 200 other companies. He left some of his wealth to the Getty Foundation which he created while still alive.
5. Larry Ellison
The founder of Oracle and one of the richest people in the world, Larry Ellison’s net worth is somewhere around $50 billion.
Much of his success has been attributed to taking huge risks. Larry Ellison would promise people non-existent features, only to go back to his developers and demand them to build the products. He would also hire staff unqualified for their position only to train them later with manuals and books.
6. Richard Branson
The founder of Virgin airways and the 4th richest man in the United Kingdom, Richard Branson’s success has been attributed to taking huge risks in business. With Virgin Records, Branson grew his label by signing controversial acts of the time. He took this risk in order to raise some eyebrows and establish his label in a crowded industry.
At one point, Richard Branson had 125 law suits against his empire, for weird and oddly pathetic reasons. He knows that there are going to be haters out there when you are doing big things, but that doesn’t stop him, he loves the thrill of a risk.
7. Warren Buffett
As an investor, Warren Buffett has never been afraid of taking risks and making mistakes along the way. It is his readiness to take huge risks that have contributed to his astounding success.
Warren Buffett understands that stocks and shares are a huge game of risks, but he knows the investment of risk taking experience over time minimises his investment risks for the future, and so nowadays he tries his luck investing in various different industries with a huge measure of success.
Right now Warren Buffett is extending out side of investments and branding companies with his Berkshire Hathaway name. Something he has never really done before.
8. Jeff Bezos
Founder and CEO of Amazon.com, Jeff Bezos’ success has been hugely due to the risks he has been taking all throughout his career. Recently, he bought The Washington Post, a struggling new operation and looks to turn it around into a revenue generating business.
Jeff Bezos started his first company from a garage in 1995 and by 1998 he was in charge of a $22.1 Billion market presence.
9. Elon Musk
Elon Musk, co-founded PayPal, he created America’s first viable fully electric car company Tesla Motors, started the nation’s biggest solar energy supplier, and rolled the dice with NASA to launch his space exploration company SpaceX all in the space of 15 short years.
Elon has managed to solidify Tesla Motors in a high risk, high cost industry. He faced the critics and haters when he funded his own SpaceX mission to Mars and was on the verge of company collapse when he played Russian Roulette between funding both failing companies Tesla & SpaceX, not knowing if both companies will fall apart or not. Elon Musk is known as this generations well known biggest risk taker.
Elon Musk’s Networth is estimated to be $6.4 Billion and growing.
10. John D. Rockefeller
Owning the world’s largest oil supply known as Standard Oil, John D is the wealthiest person that ever lived. A strategic risk taker, John never settled and was always looking for greater things. He would give up good for great and this lead to his huge success. He knew that with the right intentions, anything could be achieved. He was a humble person who left behind a great legacy.
John D. Rockefeller is well known for taking positive calculated risks in every business venture that he got into.
So as you can see, taking risks comes with huge success.
The very things that we stand to lose when we take risks are the very same ones that we stand to gain. The dare devil entrepreneurs that are listed above were able to become successful billionaires because they were ready and willing to take risks. If they had stayed in their comfort zones, they probably wouldn’t have made it to the financial heights that they accomplished. In business, great success comes with taking great risks and trusting your instincts that everything will turn out quite right.
You never know what you can accomplish until you do something that you have never attempted.
I think Elon Musk takes some of the craziest risks out of the people mentioned. That’s why he changing our cars and the way we travel to space. If we don’t take risk then we can’t expect to push the boundaries of humanity.
Great list. Love that you included Rockefeller with modern successes. And there’s so many more: Jobs, Hseih, Oprah, Singer (Medical Manager)
Steve Jobs???
So, who is your favorite of these guys? Now mine is Jeff Bezos. I am absolutely obsessed with Amazon. I love how it is always getting better and better .
I have to say , though I can relate to Larry ellison’s style. I do that in sales a lot. Sell first, educate later!
Having your success is great. However, if success isn’t built on the cornerstone of the following behavioral principles outlined below, you can bet your bottom success dollar/feeling that kind of success will leave you feelong empty and meaningless, craving for a thirst you cannot satisfy:
Mark 8:36
For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
Luke 12:15
And He said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.”
Luke 12:33-34
Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Luke 16:13
“No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot se mammon.”
Luke 18:18-25
Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery,’ ‘Do not murder,’ ‘Do not steal,’ ‘Do not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother.’ ” And he said, “All these things I have kept from my youth.” So when Jesus heard these things, He said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, “How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
Build your success while honoring these principles, then you may call yourself successful.
What about Pablo Escabor, he took a huge risk by becoming the biggest drug lord in the world and made a fortune worth over 100 billion lol.
Top class banter here I like your style 🙂
Hi Joel,
I can’t remember who said it but I read a useful quote stating “do something everyday outside of your comfort zone”.
Since birth we are programmed to stay safe and not put ourselves at risk. I think this attitude is why most people lead such mediocre boring lives (they secretly hate).
Thanks for reminding me why it’s important to not always play safe.
naomi
Great point Naomi! It all starts with stepping outside of your comfort zone and trying to accomplish something that was initially intimidating or scary for you or maybe even seemed impossible at one point in time. By testing those limits you are able to push yourself to a new level and often times discover new talents and abilities in the process.
Risk is first step of success. Always you risk something to get money. Either its love, happiness, wining and lot more …