Is "risk" a friend or foe especially in investment during bullish markets

As the saying goes, if you want to nurture great returns you have to take great risk. which is in the investing world is viewed as the higher the risks, then the assumption is on market volatility.

For me, risks is an uncertainty for the fear of loss but it is there if we presume it as a loss then risk does not or will not exist, It is just like in the process of retail and the business model we use at Affordable Books. When buyers and competitors leverage on lower pricing to kill the smaller guy like us, the giants have the thinking that they have prevailed and created a more bigger opportunity for them. So a lot of the small independent sellers like us suffer and sometimes sadly think that the opportunity was not worth the effort all along.

So the capitalistic behaviors is immediately "refocus and assess" the business risks and potentials towards viability. However, creatively speaking from an investment perspective point of view, we sometimes think that leveraging on lessening risks by just going towards big name brands might have good market returns after all. Unfortunately, the same capitalistic tendencies were the driving factors of the financial collapse of the system today. Instead of nurturing small and emerging small businesses who of course will not pose profit on the balance sheet, investors would rather niche on the brand giants who have the clout and backing of the system.

There are so many intellectual ways of measuring risks. Whether you are the traditional investor who measures on rates of return, gauging on how well a business is run either big or small can be a trend indicator towards profitability and viability. This is especially true when the service is personalized. The business ethics and consistency are always the same no matter what circumstance, thus the business is able to react to the different market prevailing conditions,

There are a lot of mega names in the business community today who are in trouble simply because of inflation, rising financial and debt obligations compensated with un-wise spending patterns, For some taking too slow might be an impediment but we would rather grow slowly with full control and a well run business model towards achieving solid returns.

After all, a founder is the epitome of the business as he/she had gone through so many variable cycles for the business. The one great rule over the years that I have personally learned is that sometimes we have to continue to focus and don't be misled especially as the other indicators show that there is absolute viability and profitability in the long term. Which investor are you? The emotional or the intelligent or both might help you make the decision to pursue or not.