I was recently reading about SpaceX’s most recent rocket launch where they were able to “catch” a large rocket booster, which had never been done before (and maybe only recently contemplated). Regardless of how one might feel about Elon Musk, we can probably most agree that he is, if anything, bold. Reading this news and thinking about Elon Musk’s boldness made me think about the act of demystification, an experience that literally 100 percent of all human beings have had.
As an entrepreneur, there have been many things that I was initially afraid of, but somehow found the gumption to push through which now, upon reflection, don’t seem all that intimidating. Such an attitude has informed how I think about trying to build our company. We very intentionally look for characteristics in our team members that are not always traditional for a finance company, and we almost always bring team members in at the ground level, making sure they learn the business foundationally before seeking a more defined growth trajectory for their careers.
We have 12 team members, each of which are reading this piece and knowing that I am speaking about them when I say this: we were all afraid to tackle the new areas of the business that we eventually pursued (often, with some loving but firm prodding from Jonathan and me). Most of them are feeling confident that they have begun to or are fully mastering that previously scary path they bravely chose to go down. Hopefully, they will bring these thoughts to the next intimidating opportunity they are faced with because once demystified, most everything seems less difficult than we first imagined.
