Entrepreneurship Is Like Poker?

For those who are poker players and entrepreneurs, you may get a feeling in your gut that this headline is accurate; if you don’t let’s see if I can convince you otherwise. For those of you who are not poker players, in particular tournament poker players, I will try to lay out the analogy in very clear terms and define any special poker words or phrases, to see if I can convince you as well.

I thought it would be fun and instructive to develop this analogy, as after my family and friends, poker and entrepreneurship are two of the things I love most in life, and I’ve been doing both since well before my 10th birthday. My story with poker started sitting on my Dad’s knee as a kid, watching him play and more often than not, win, at various types and levels of poker games in our dining room. It was there that I learned so much about human behavior, and specifically about how logic, emotion and luck all play very important roles in the success of all poker players … and entrepreneurs.

The same can be said for many aspects of entrepreneurship. You must be willing to get “outside the box” you’ve created for yourself and do so without fear. Finally, and perhaps most importantly, realize that you are being “blinded off” in entrepreneurship as in tournament poker. You constantly have to make blind bets and you cannot sit there and do nothing. In entrepreneurship, these “blind bets” come in the form of all those little and not-so-little recurring and non-recurring expenses you’re paying to “be in business”, non of which benefit you unless you’re willing to make your move and take a chance at “winning the tournament”. I’m not advocating that you go all in right away, in fact I think it’s a good idea to get as much other useful information as you can before making your “all-in move”, but I implore you to not just sit there and watch everyone else play the game. If you do, you will have wasted your time and “entry fee” unnecessarily. If you had the motivation to get started in your business, then you have what it takes to succeed, but you must have confidence in yourself, be an active player and not wait for success to come to you.

Guest authored.