Are you Dangerous?
Isaiah O’Connor

“ “Perhaps he also thought that you were Saruman," said Gimli. "But you speak of him as if he was a friend. I thought Fangorn was dangerous."

"Dangerous!" cried Gandalf. "And so am I, very dangerous: more dangerous than anything you will ever meet unless you are brought alive before the seat of the Dark Lord. And Aragorn is dangerous, and Legolas is dangerous. You are beset with dangers, Gimli son of Glóin; for you are dangerous yourself, in your own fashion. Certainly, the forest of Fangorn is perilous—not least to those who are too ready with their axes; and Fangorn himself, he is perilous too; yet he is wise and kindly nonetheless." “J.R.R. Tolkien The Two Towers

This is one of my favorite quotes, as it reminds me that being dangerous is not a bad thing in and of itself. It is how you are dangerous. This is somewhat of a follow up to my last post. You need to be dangerous to get anything done. Like a good kitchen knife, if it is dull it is useless. It needs to be razor sharp to be used effectively and this is very dangerous.  Used well it can feed a family, used wrongly it can destroy one.

Being an entrepreneur in and of itself is dangerous. We risk much for a great reward and freedom.  We need to be a danger to obstacles in our path, our competition and to whatever problem we are solving with our business.  We also need to be able to protect our business against threats.

For example, in my business of balloons, there is a very real threat to my industry coming from environmental concerns. There are a group of people who have made it their mission to completely ban all balloons off the face of the planet.  They believe that balloons are the biggest danger to the environment we face today. While their position is understandable, it is not based on facts. I have done extensive research into this and have found there claims to be unfounded and exaggerated. So in order for my business to survive, I need to be dangerous to these false claims, and I fight back with facts.  I have seen others give up because of this pressure.

So being dangerous is a tool that can be used for good or for bad, but it is a tool we all need. I leave you here with a quote from C.S. Lewis

Your Friendly Neighborhood Entrepreneur
Isaiah O’Connor.
To get a free half-hour consolation please reach out to me on our contact page.
If you like my content, please consider supporting me on Patreon