the hill

“He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.”

– Muhammad Ali

Risk-taking – not for the wary. Putting yourself out there, doing something new, taking the road less taken – all signs of courage. All signs of a person starting their own new business.

There’s an audacity about doing things your way and making it work. Especially when you have others depending on you to make it work.

In a way, this quote is a little shallow because it comes from somebody for whom this advice worked well. There are millions of others who have taken this advice and for whom it did not go well. We don’t hear from them, though…

For months, we’ve been told to limit our contact with others. Some took it seriously. Others did not. Some chose to take risks with their own lives, but more importantly, with the lives of others. It comes back to which information sources we choose to trust, I suppose. Many people distrusted the advice of people they didn’t want to hear, or people they didn’t want to hear from. The result is, while things were under control for a bit, everything those people have been telling us is true. This isn’t political, we were in a tenuous state, and now things are substantially worse because of the risk takers.

So: take risks. But be prudent. And mind your information sources. Maybe the ones telling you what you want to hear aren’t the most trustworthy.

Courage: An Interfanatic Quality

We take risks every day. Design is risk. To tell the story in a new way, you have to be audacious – you have to find a way to make your customer stand out while not taking too much risk. Their reputation depends on it.

But we are prudent about the risks we take. We don’t take risks because we want to, or just for the sake of taking risks. We do it when it’s required and when the payoff is worth the effort.

Palos Verdes Peninsula Chamber of Commerce – Supporting the Courageous

Every small business who deals with the Palos Verdes Peninsula Chamber of Commerce understands risks and the rewards that may come. Some have reaped those rewards, but many are just making the attempt.

“The PVP Chamber works hard to be a resource and to help small businesses survive and thrive.”

Every small business I meet in or around Palos Verdes, I recommend they join the PVP Chamber. I know the work the PVP Chamber staff puts forth for its membership. When things are good or like now, when things are tough, they work hard to be a resource and to help those small businesses survive and thrive.

So they know risk – and they know courage. They encourage courage, and try to help their small businesses put their best foot forward.

It was great fun to work with the Chamber on their Social Media efforts. We helped them get the word out about the PV Street Fair using their social media accounts as a tool. We then strategized and implemented a successful ongoing social media campaign, celebrating their member businesses, until they had the resources to to take over the project themselves.

The Palos Verdes Peninsula Chamber of Commerce is great to work with. They’re fantastic to have on your side.

Interfanatic Service Focus: Interfanatic Power Social Media Advertising

Social Media can be brilliantly effective when the stars align, but getting that post to go viral, while the dream, is a bit like hitting the lottery. It can happen, but…

So if you need your posts in front of more eyes, the answer is Social Media Advertising. It doesn’t necessarily guarantee engagement, but it does guarantee reach. And when handled properly, that reach is effective, and it helps your engagement. When not handled properly, it’s a waste of money.

We really enjoy helping our customers dial in their social media. We can use our experience to help you!

Interfanatic: Encouraging Courage

We like to think we’re like the Palos Verdes Peninsula Chamber in that we help small businesses put their best foot forward. In that way, we’re really complimentary businesses. We’re trying to help the audacious make their mark while minimizing the big risks they have to take to make it happen.

This week’s image:
Interfanatic‘s founder, Ryan Delane, takes or creates every image you see in our social feed.

Courage is forged in the fire of risk. If a small business emerges, they may be burnt and hammered, but they are more likely to last the further tests that come at them.