Julia Beverly talks about taking risks to get to the top
Boy, February was a doozy. There was so much fear all around. Fear that your bank was going to be shut down and the stock market was going to zero. February actually had a Friday the 13th, and Hollywood conveniently released a new Jason Movie. I even watched the last Saw movie on the way back to Pittsburgh from a business meeting (did you know the Escalade is like a house on wheels?). All of that got me to thinking about how afraid people are to take risks in life. I don’t mean taking a risk like buying a house with an adjustable rate mortgage and praying that you’ll be able the make the payment when the rate adjusts higher. No, that’s just, well…stupid. I mean taking the type of calculated risks that can get you closer to living the type of life that you want to live.
A lot of us get paralyzed by what we don’t know. I remember not wanting to play paintball for the first time the day before my friend’s wedding because I wasn’t sure how it was going to feel taking one of those pellets to my shoulder blade. But once I took the first hit and got through it, suddenly I turned into Dick Cheney and I had a helluva time. No, the point is not that it’s fun to shoot your friends (although it is, especially if they owe you money). The point is that by not taking risks, you are actually taking a risk…that you might miss out on something big.
Picture this; you are a young white woman primarily skilled as a photographer. You have no experience in publishing. You wouldn’t describe yourself as a natural salesperson. You don’t live in New York. Does that sound like a resume built for starting a Hip Hop Magazine? Nope. But that didn’t stop Julia Beverly from starting Ozone Magazine. I caught up with Julia in Hotlanta and I gathered a few nuggets that you could use to help you take that risk on your next (or first) venture.