Business is sometimes scary. People want to make millions overnight and sometimes ignore the fact that they have no idea what they are doing and have no experience. On the other hand, conservative types want to avoid doing the unknown at all costs. In business, a certain amount of risk taking and doing the unknown is necessary. Large companies often buy 100 smaller companies per year, not knowing which one will do well. Often it is only one or two that become stars, but the revenue from those is fantastic. I am not an investor, except for very stable stock. However, I realize that there are many new types of things you have to do in business. There are new people you have to hire, new tasks you have to undertake, and new things that you have to do where the outcome is unpredictable.
My suggestion is not to avoid the unknown. It is to try the unknown in small doses in a way where a bad outcome won’t ruin you. You can do test experiments on dummy assignments (which are not real, or that don’t matter much) and see how you do with a new employee or new way of doing the task. Try the unknown — just try it in a safe way. Once you get to know what you are doing, and have refined your methodology, then you have a new way to make money or save money, and it could be huge!
I play with the unknown in social media. I try new types of blog entries. I have no idea how they will do. I try new social media platforms. Right now I am doing a lot with Google+. I have no idea what the long term of this will be. I can only guess. It will be fun to find out, and in a year, I might be one of the really big players on Google+. It’s all a big experiment to me. But, if I win, I will learn something. I just go about my business growing my mediums. I try to measure my success at different stages along the road. To know what will happen if I invest a lot of time in social media, I need to invest a little time and see if anything happens.
Have fun experimenting, and realize that success in the outsourcing business requires being good at experimenting. So master this art!