Gambling and entrepreneurship are games that both involve taking big risks. The players are out to win and as with any game, there must be winners and losers. What useful skills can an entrepreneur learn from gambling that will make them more successful in the boardroom? Let’s find out.
Table of Contents
Optimism
A gambler has to stay optimistic, otherwise there is no point in playing the game. They have to believe that they can beat the house and carry on doing so. The same can be said for being an entrepreneur. 50% of businesses are said to fail within the first five years of trading and the entrepreneur needs to believe that they are not going to fall into this category, otherwise there would be no point in them setting up a business.
Risk
A gambler needs to take risks and make big decisions about how to play the game quickly and accurately. This is an important skill for an entrepreneur to learn. Neither gambling nor entrepreneurship are for risk averse and cautious people. These people are better suited to the 9-5 and a game of ludo. High risks and big rewards are at stake in gambling and running a business, and entrepreneurs have to be comfortable knowing that the higher the risk they take, the bigger the potential reward could be.
Research
Winning isn’t all about blind optimism and taking big risks though. The gambler has to know that the odds are stacked in their favour. They know how good their hand is and they have seen what cards have already been played. They are taking calculated risks when they bet big and they have done their research on sites such as Online Casinos. This range of gambling sites tells you at a glance which sites are the best for bonuses and pay outs. The entrepreneur also needs to do their research and be aware of the level of risk they are getting into, otherwise they risk losing everything.
Keeping Calm
A gambler needs to keep a cool head on their shoulders to avoid making mistakes and giving too much away to the opposition. An entrepreneur can learn a lot from watching a professional gambler at work as they know how to keep calm in a crisis.
Dealing with Pressure
There is a lot of pressure involved in being a professional gambler. They are playing for big stakes and do not want to lose their money or lose ground on the gains they have already made. They are expected to be able to make split second decisions that are absolutely right. An entrepreneur must also learn to deal with the pressure in a similar way. Business life will throw curve balls that the entrepreneur must be able to deal with quickly and efficiently if they want to stay in business and increase their revenues. There is also pressure in the day-to-day world of running a business and the entrepreneur needs to be able to deal with these too.
Body Language
Gamblers have to be able to play their cards close to their chest and not show visible reactions. Signs are often made through non-verbal communication, and a gambler needs to know how to mask these. This is so that they do not give too much away to the opposition who can immediately pick up on this and use it to their advantage. At the same time, they need to be able to read the body language of their opponents so that they can take advantage of it. The same game is often played in the board room when a deal is being made between two companies. Both sides have to play their cards close to their chest, metaphorically speaking, to make sure that they walk away with the best deal for their company.
Patterns and Predictions
Gambling is a game of patterns and predictions. A gambler needs to be able to notice if a pattern is emerging in a card game or online and they need to quickly predict where this pattern is going and how to use it to their advantage. This is a very important skill for the entrepreneur to learn as they need to be able to spot trends and figure out how their business or businesses can be positioned to take advantage of this. Patterns and predictions are especially useful to the entrepreneur who wants to know where to invest the money they have made and give it the best chance of growth, as this game is often played in the stock market. The entrepreneur who can learn how to successfully predict what is happening in business will be very successful.
Learning to Fail
Failure can be a difficult lesson to learn for anyone, but it is often necessary to fail with good grace and to pick yourself back up following a failure. Gamblers know that they can’t win all the time and have to learn to take their losses with their wins. Entrepreneurs need to learn from this as their business ideas won’t always make them rich. Some of their ideas will do quite the opposite and some will never even leave the boardroom. Learning to fail is an important lesson to learn in order to stay optimistic about the future in either gambling or business.
Knowing When to Walk Away
There is never any point in throwing good money after bad. The gambler who is on a losing streak needs to have the self-discipline to walk away while they can still cover their losses. The entrepreneur needs to know when a deal is just not going to work out and avoid losing too much money on what they thought was the next big thing. This takes a lot of hard work and discipline and an entrepreneur will do well to learn this lesson from gambling.
There are many areas of business an entrepreneur can learn from gambling. It can be well worth their while to learn these lessons through gambling before they take the plunge into the world of big business.
