As a franchise coach, I often speak with people about risk. Folks share the fact that they are interested in opening a business but they are not comfortable with the ‘risk’. I often ask them to describe the perceived risk. The answer always revolves around financial risk – ‘Money’.

There is some logic to this. If you know you want to own the business, then money will need to be invested. But the funny thing about money is it’s flexibility. You can make money, lose money, save money, borrow money or invest money. Money comes and money goes – it is fluid. There is there a risk you will lose money. At the same time, there is the potential to make money.

I would like to share with you a different way of thinking. Maybe money is not your biggest risk. Maybe there is something else that is more important than money.

So, what is more precious that Money? The answer is Time. Time only goes one direction. Some people say, he is ‘living on borrowed time’ but you cannot really borrow time. Jim Croce wanted to ‘save time in a bottle’, but you cannot really save time to use later. An associate may ask if you can ‘make time for them’; however, regardless of how hard you try, you cannot make time. We all have the same number of hours each day. We all have a limited number of days. How we spend that time matters.

Ask yourself, am I using my most limited resource to effect positive change?   Am I achieving the things I want to achieve? I am leaving a positive legacy? Will I look back at the end of my life and feel content with how I used your time?

So what is the biggest risk? It is the risk that we use up all our time doing the wrong thing. Figure out what you want to do with your time, and do it.