Some additional construction marketing risk-taking thoughts

Caroline Ouelette

In yesterday's posting, I described one of the key elements of risk-taking is to determine whether you are comfortable that your actions will pass the moral smell test.  However, obviously you need to consider other elements when stretching beyond your safety zone and reaching out to dare something new.

A clue to what you need to be ready to do is found in Canadian woman's ice hockey Olympian Caroline Ouellette, who said at one point she needed to make the decision to accept an athletic scholarship to a U.S. university with an exceptional woman's ice hockey program (which attracted Olympic-level candidates from several countries.)  The challenge:  Her friends, family and others close to her thought this would be a bad thing to do -- because she would need to learn and study in English (she is French-speaking) and she would need to be away from the people closest to her, who supported her through her growth.

She took the leap, and says it proved to be her wisest decision.  In the process, she surrounded herself wit others with the same passion, willing to work to the highest levels, and of course she gained confidence and skills in a different environment.

Reaching out and taking construction marketing risks, in my opinion, requires something of a similar attitude.  You need to put yourself in a place where the "norm" is exceptional, where you will be stretched to reach higher levels, and you will perhaps feel you are cast adrift from the secure, safe and comfortable place you call "home".

How can you find this level of risk-challenge especially when making a new (physical) home hundreds or thousands of miles away may simply not be possible?  The answer, I think, is to look within relevant associations and groups and capture and connect with the practitioners who are working at the level to which you aspire.  If you are "good enough" to be at their level, you will be able to share some valuable elements of your existing business or talents -- and of course you will be able to pick their brains and grow, as a result.