Where the long-term security and future of your small business are concerned, it is usually the best option to play it safe and stick with stability. However, whilst taking your profits to a casino and putting them all on red or black may not exactly be viable - taking a calculated risk every now and again can only help drive success.
Research by insurance company The Hartford has found that - broadly speaking - most small businesses remain risk averse. However, the statistics do show that most of the sampled companies perceived themselves as successful, despite apparently playing it safe.
A huge 77 per cent of small-business owners believed their company was moderately, very or extremely successful. That figure has the potential to spiral even higher if those same companies decided to take the occasional gamble, but 55 per cent said they were actively more careful in their decision making due to the most recent recession.
So what can your small business do to become less risk averse, without leveraging long-term success?
Know your finances
Knowing your budgets and your exact amount of cashflow should be your first point to address. Using a product like CashManager from Accomplish can help you keep a handle on any spare capital your business holds, allowing you to highlight those areas in which you may be able to play it less safe.
Forget what's gone before
Any risk which your business can take - financial or otherwise - should be weighed up on its own merits. According to research by the Adam Smith Institute, we are predispositioned to relate any current opportunities which have an element of risk to losses that may have happened in the past.
Whilst you shouldn't leverage everything on one opportunity - particularly if you do have a chequered past when not playing it safe - balancing the positives and negatives of each individual situation and keeping in mind your company's available finances is the best way to assess whether that risk is indeed worth taking.