Are you a risk taker? Do you think you have a stronger appetite for risk relative to your friends and family? We asked some folks from the community about their approaches to risk and have shared their thoughts below.

Chris Nielsen | Co-Founder @ VYV & Event Photographer

Calculated risk taking has had a really big impact on my life. When it comes to VYV, the smelling salt company I cofounded, jumping in on a new venture was a huge risk. We’ve bootstrapped the company ourselves and taken no outside funding to reach the scale we’re at today. In order to take that risk, you have to be confident in the product, yourself, and the overall strategy. We knew that the smelling salt market was already pretty saturated, but we believed that we had a unique positioning and a unique product. By focusing on testing our value proposition before we ever started shipping, we all felt comfortable about the risks and challenges ahead of us. Read more>>

Louise McEvoy | VP of Cybersecurity & High-Altitude Mountaineer

Taking risks has changed my life and I wouldn’t have it any other way! When living in Canada, my life went through a big change, and I needed to be someplace different. I asked my boss if I could work out of our California office. He didn’t say yes right away, but with some persistence, he agreed. I landed in San Francisco and found my way to Sunnyvale (cell phones were just coming out) by using a paper map. At the time it was a big deal! But… moving countries and not knowing many people was a very lonely experience. A friend of mine suggested reading a book about Everest; I was hooked and made a promise to myself that I’d see the mountain one day. Read more>>

Tara McFarland | Intuitive Leadership Coach

In my civil engineering career, I didn’t consider myself a risk-taker. In fact, I categorized myself as risk-averse rather than risk-taker, always seeking security and stability in my jobs. However, after two decades of work, I took my first big risk by approaching my superiors and asking them to take me off the largest project I had ever managed. At that point, my mental and physical health was more important to me than being seen as a team player. I had never considered a move like this before, but I had become so burned out that I knew I had to take action. Since then, I’ve come to see risk-taking as an important part of life. Every time I’ve taken a leap into the unknown and it’s felt risky, I’ve experienced immense personal and spiritual growth. Read more>>