Not everyone who tries succeeds every time and you hit the nail on the head about playing for sake of the game. Even when you lose you have the experience of the comradery, the experience of plays that came together as well as those that did not. You have the honest sweat of a player and in my opinion that is a notch up on mere bystander.

As long as you keep trying the game isn't over and the journey itself can be a pretty satisfying reward.

Keep slugging.

are you poor or are you BROKE? a true optimist knows the difference. Edison failed 5000 times before getting it right. Keep it up and the FIL will soon see the JG in you.

Trying again after failure is the key to eventual success. Learn from your mistakes and refuse to repeat the mistakes of the past.

After my greatest business failure and having to move back in with my parents at 37 years old, I worked hard, founded another business, and have been more successful at this one than all of my other attempts combined.

Keep at it.

I recommend that you get a mentor. Find a successful businessman who can coach you through the planning and the process of getting set up. If you failed twice, a mentor is probably necessary. But whatever you do, GO FOR IT!

Grant - I applaud you. Conviction. Perseverance. Integrity. You have in spades. You are not poor, you are rich. More so than most.

"Never put all your eggs in one basket"

-old maxim.

maybe you should start smaller...like a shoestring.

Grant good job! Really, the only difference between a successful business person and an unsuccessful one is the successful one kept trying and never gave up. May your motto always be "Never give up, never surrender"

the only way to truly fail, is to quit.

This fellow:

http://prodos.thinkertothinker.com

Used to promote Objectivist ideas in Melbourne, Australia a few years back. He's gone a bit quiet as he's got older.

I spoke to him on Skype a few times and he said something to me that really stuck in my mind. Despite being an avid defender of capitalism I was surprised to learn that he only worked part time. A lot of the times he worked for himself if he could, and he worked on things that generally took his creative interest. When he was short of cash he made some money to cover his basic needs through busking. I replied that this was interesting, it's not how people normally see an ardent capitalist.

He replied that he didn't see it that way. For him capitalism wasn't necessarily just about making money (although it was about producing value, of course). It was about freedom and creativity, and living every hour to the fullest.

When he put it like that it made perfect sense to me, and it's stuck with me ever since.