“ “Perhaps he also thought that you were Saruman," said Gimli. "But you speak of him as if he was a friend. I thought Fangorn was dangerous.

"Dangerous!" cried Gandalf. "And so am I, very dangerous: more dangerous than anything you will ever meet unless you are brought alive before the seat of the Dark Lord. And Aragorn is dangerous, and Legolas is dangerous. You are beset with dangers, Gimli son of Glóin; for you are dangerous yourself, in your own fashion. Certainly, the forest of Fangorn is perilous—not least to those who are too ready with their axes; and Fangorn himself, he is perilous too; yet he is wise and kindly nonetheless." “-J.R.R. Tolkien The Two Towers

This is one of my favorite quotes, as it reminds me that being dangerous is not a bad thing in and of itself. It is how you are dangerous. This is somewhat of a follow up to my last post. You need to be dangerous to get anything done. Like a good kitchen knife, if it is dull it is useless. It needs to be razor-sharp to be used effectively and this is very dangerous. Used well it can feed a family, used wrongly it can destroy one.

Being an entrepreneur in and of itself is dangerous. We risk much for a great reward and freedom. We need to be a danger to obstacles in our path, our competition and to whatever problem we are solving with our business. We also need to be able to protect our business against threats.