In life there are many gambles. Anyone in business has to assume some risk and take some gambles. Even hanging out your shingle, doing whatever it is you plan to do, involves risk. I am not one who is afraid of some risk. One of the best business decisions I ever made, which I can now look back on, was a risk. That was buying a radio station on a shoestring in the mid-1980's. Worked out great more than a decade later but it was not without lots of worry in the middle. So, as far as business and getting ahead, some risk and gambling is to be expected and, in fact, often the element of risk is essential if you are going to do anything innovative that has a strong chance of returning a profit. If it was simple, and without stress, everyone would do it.
Now let's talk about real gambling. The most famous term that comes to mind when I think of gambling is Aces and eights. Aces and eights are the deadman's hand.
The deadman's hand, if you do not know, is the hand that Wild Bill Hickok was holding when he was shot in the back of the head. He normally sat with a wall behind him so he could see all around the room and nobody could get behind him. His changing chairs that night was a gamble that did not pay off.
Now that we are talking about taking big gambles, that can lead to a loss, I will tell you one gamble that people should not be taking -- buying houses on their own, with no professional guidance, when they know nothing about houses. Houses are a huge investment and a bad one can break the homeowner's bank. When people purchase a home without a professional home inspection, or substitute uncle Harry who used to build chicken coops from the ground up as the inspector, it is a bad choice and a silly gamble. As a home inspector who has seen the fallout from such errors in judgement, I urge real estate professionals to have their clients seek out a professional home inspection when their clients are buying. Lord forbid, you do not want to end up with clients who are holding aces and eights and sitting on the wrong side of the table.
Steven L. Smith
Bellingham WA Home Inspections
Check out "This Day In History" -- music and vintage television from the 1950's through the 1980's. I enjoy writing these articles because they take me back to my days in radio broadcasting. Click on Elvis' gold record, below, to revisit those golden hits of yesteryear.
Great post and very true. It use to amaze me when I would be prequalifying someone for financing a home and they did not want to use a realtor....Not very bright.
Sean Allen