A friend of mine recently brought up the issue of starting one’s own business and the risks involved in it. He pointed out very bluntly that how most people are so focused on the risky side of losing their capital when starting a new business that they forgot that there’s actually an upside to it. Yes, indeed, you can and should be making profit as long as you learn the ropes and do not repeat the same mistakes over and over again.

Okie, I am not going to oversimplify the struggle of starting businesses lest I get dozens of hate mails flying my way from entrepreneurs.

His next point was even more interesting, that we are more willing to go into the bank and put a down-payment of RM25,000 on an automobile and take up a loan that last for 7 years or more. And the best part is, we know very well that the automobile is only going to go down in value the moment you step on the gas pedal. And yet, of all the wisdom that we’ve learn about money and investment, we simply gave up our opportunity cost and went ahead and ‘procure’ these depreciating assets anyway.

And that RM25,000, if it was used to fund a simple business idea, might potentially show some results 2-3 years later. And even if you are going to lose it, you would definitely learn something worth that amount, if not more. Unless of course, you are into get-rich-quick schemes.

But for the most part, a down-payment for a car would often be enough to start a little start side venture, don’t you think?