I’ve been thinking about risk lately and what it means.
I think it’s different for everyone and rightly so. I for one take risks that some people don’t just because of my exposure to it. Take flying for example. I’d have no problem hopping in a small Cessna and taking off into the sky. For others who haven’t had the flight experience they wouldn’t do it, it would be too risky.
Then there is financial risk. Some people have way more experience than I do in the stock market and don’t even flinch when they move a large amount of cash around. Or gambling, I haven’t ever won anything at a casino so when I see people betting $10 a hand at blackjack I just don’t understand it. I can’t do that.
We have been thinking about another property in PR. It’s a bit riskier than what we are used to due to price and the fact that we want to use it to start our own business. We do have some experience with running our own small businesses and can see possibilities and want to give it a try. Here is the catch though; give up our comfortable life to do it? What if everything goes bad? OMG OMG OMG. We both have good jobs and the living is fairly easy except for what challenges we hold ourselves to.
I haven’t really ever failed at anything I’ve tried to do in life (except putting down linoleum in the basement which turned out better because we went with tile instead). So even the things that I have failed at turned out…better. Isn’t that odd? I used to think landing at a strange airport with no plans in mind was ‘risky’ but now that I’ve done that (a few times) its no big deal. Experience helps us feel more comfortable about taking risks.
I want to make a trip out to PR again here in a month or two to look around. I think that I am ready to expand my experience in life again and become more comfortable with being an entrepreneur. Besides IF we were to fail just think of how much more experience we would have when we try again! I am already very comfortable with Puerto Rico due to the fact I’ve been there a few times. I know what to expect.
I encourage others to comment about any risks you’ve taken and how it turned out in the end.
I am glad that you guys will try again. You are young and like adventure, so you will do good. My husband and I took a chance on buying land in Rincon, not knowing what to do with it, Frank only knew that he wanted to retire there some day, so we did. We bought just about an acre, hillside, took the chance on getting another mortgage, and we have never been happier. We are not financially wealthy, so to us it was a big decision. So we just closed our eyes and did it, we did not “over think” this decision. We wish we could get there more often, but it is a blessing that we have a great house, great new friends in Rincon and our friends in NJ now want to vacation with us more often…we have never regretted buying and building our piece of heaven.
Hi Britton!
Thanks for adding a link to our blog! We took a leap of faith and moved to PR last winter (from Colorado too!) and we couldn’t be happier! It’s not without it’s challenges, but the reward is great. Best of luck!
Rosa and Annie,
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment.
Rosa,
It sounds like you have it made in Rincon! Do you plan on living there full-time in the future? I love your story. It takes so much courage to live the dream, but I think it’s worth it.
Annie,
(I have an aunt named Annie too, so I had to double check that you weren’t her! 🙂
Where at in Colorado did you live before? It’s amazing to compare the differences between Colorado and Puerto Rico, especially in the winter and fall here. Do you work there in PR or are you retired?
I am so happy to hear the success stories. It makes the decision a little easier anyway, but it’s still hard. Thanks guys!
Hi Cassie,
I like taking moderate risks. It’s funny how Ill take more physical risks than monetary risks. Although I do have limits on the physical risks I take. When scuba diving I don’t like be too far from shore, I don’t like diving alone, I don’t like heights above 100 feet and don’t like bothering sharks bigger than 8 feet.
Moving to PR wasn’t really a risk for us. Sure, I left a good job at a great company but we sold our house at the right time so we had some savings to last a few years if need be. Had we stayed in Seattle for 5 or more years we would have been a lot better off as long as I didnt get laid off. I got lucky getting a job in PR without speaking Spanish.
I don’t think getting a job here or starting a business here will be easy. I think it will be very very risky unless you have some great idea. I have seen people take all there savings (and then some) to start a business. They work really hard for years and just cant make it work. Its sad really but the idea they had just wasn’t practical
If you don’t have much to loose then I would go for it but you could find yourself in a lot of debt. Getting a job here could be real tough. The economy has been rough.
Good luck and let me know if I can help in any way.
Dear B and C,
This topic is right up my alley! Life is dull and boring without taking a flying leap into the unknown once in a while. I think you can see from the responses you have received so far that changing your life can be rewarding (“building our piece of heaven”) or a scary (“they work really hard for years and cant (sic) make it work.” ) But taking a risk, making a change is a way to learn and grow, and overall, it helps us to toughen up and find out how the world works, which is really hard to do sitting on our rocker on the front porch!
Okay, Britton asked about our risks we took and how they turned out.
My first risk after finishing college was to moved to Santa Barbara. I didn’t know anyone there except a boyfriend I’d broken up with, but it was beautiful and different than my hometown of Lompoc or college town of San Luis Obispo. It took 3 months to find a decent job, but for the next 3 years it was a fantastic experience, including finding a spouse and new career.
After that, moving to Colorado was also an amazing experience, getting a grad degree, learning to ski, hiking in the beautiful mountains and riding a bike on the high plains, eating rocky mountain oysters (ugh!)in cowboy bars, riding around with Jack in his truck delivering appliances to the most out of the way places imaginable, mowing and power raking lawns, delivering watermelons and cantaloupes in a big truck, living on a feedlot in Aurora, pulling water tubes for the corn and sugar beets with the farmer, dealing with the freezing cold in the winter. I could continue, but you get the drift — it was a life changing two years and it enriched my life immeasurably.
After returning to SB my life changed and it was fun, too, but the Colorado years were special. I had two great careers, working in the first one 15 years, where I met my beloved Larry and our family began. Changing mid life for the second career, it led me to living in Mexico and Guatemala and learning Spanish.
Now in Utah, we have also gained so much, from exploring the red rock, meeting people from all over the world drawn to our mountain town for the skiing, hiking, and hunting, teaching in a University, working with a symphony orchestra at the administrative and production level and just hanging out on the golf course. We’ve had an opportunity to build a home, start a good business and learn so much that we couldn’t have done “back home” in SB.
We will move back home in a few years to our beloved family, warm weather, beaches, “liberal” thinking and freedom of thought, organic farmer’s markets etc., but what we have gained here in experience and friendship could never have been duplicated.
So take the leap. Do the unexpected. Learn, grown, get disappointed, get educated, have fun, work hard, be surprised. Live. Take Risks. Don’t be safe, bored and dull. And be sure to have a LOT OF FUN!!!
Love, Tia Anita
I think we want to keep two lives going for a while. The life we have here is rewarding and fun. Work is basically paying me to constantly learn. I have acquired so much knowledge about computers and networking all on their dime. It has been exactly the type of environment that I can thrive in.
At the same time I am kind of sick of getting out of bed at the same time everyday, taking care of the animals every morning, driving to work the same way, working and then coming home. Its been like that for the last 10 years. Its like groundhog day (the movie). I can predict what is going to happen an hour before it happens just because of the loop that I live in. I think Cassie feels the same way. Its not so bad when the weather is nice like now, but when winter comes we get stuck inside and that compounds the feelings of monotony.
We just aren’t quite sure when to take the risk. If we stay in this loop for another year we are better prepared. If we stay in for two more years we are even safer! The problem is that the longer we stay in the loop the closer we are to going crazy. I recently saw the Pixar movie “Up”. It addresses this exact issue. While we are living our lives and enjoying it; we also have dreams we want to pursue. Life moves pretty quickly and we don’t want to miss it.
Cassie and I have a plan that meets 1/2 way between risk and security. I think in the next 15 months we should have some things taken care of that will provide us with some passive income. With a “paycheck” it will take the edge off of starting our own business and we won’t have to rely so much on the risky business side of things. I applied at Honeywell (PR) for a support job listed on their site (English speaking was a requirement) but never heard back. If I can either work remote for my current company (a possibility) or secure a job there, it would make it even easier and maybe even quicker to get down there.
Nice name change Tia Anita, I like it! 🙂 Thanks for sharing a bit of your story. I can see you hanging out with Jack driving around the countryside, he is always up to something. The other week he was helping me with a sprinkler install. It was a lot of fun. I talked to him about the Rocky Ford trips and the Christmas tree business. He is a ‘jack of all trades’ for sure.
Risk, Failure and Sucess. All highly subjective terms depending on ones perception of what each is, as you have pointed out. Only YOU can determine what your own risk is, and likewise what in your life is a sucess or failure.
It seems in todays world, everyone is looking for the big experience, or the neverending exciting experiences. Even when you obtain that next want, the feeling of meeting that goal will subside and go away. You will be on to the next “need”, to fulfill that need for excitement. Don’t focus so much on the end result, the “what if’s” could eat a man alive. Instead enjoy the journey, wherever that may take you.
As for the monotonous life….. When the kids say, “MOM, I’m BORED.” My reply is, “You are boring.” Hmmm……
TNK, I am picking up what you’re putting down. But I didn’t say I was bored. Very contrary, I am hardly ever bored. Its just that life here has become tediously uniform and unvarying. So I am ready for a change.
No.. I was using “Im bored” as an example.
If you think life is monotonous, then perhaps you are monotonous. We all get into “comfort zones” and “patterns”. Perhaps you have fallen into a pattern/comfort zone.
Life is not monotonous, people are. If you are ready for a change, then do it. Change your routine (drive a different route, get an automatic feeder for the dog, stop playing video games, watch a different show on Tv, eat disgusting food items, change your attitude, etc.).
Moving to Puerto Rico is not going to make life “un-monotonous”. You will find yourself in a pattern again. The difference may be only be your mind set.