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Idiom: Get in on the ground floor
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
When entering a building, it may make sense to get in on the ground floor, but this phrase is also an idiom that means to become involved with an enterprise or project in the early stages.
That does not always make sense at first.
The reason is involvement with a business when it is in its nascent stages is risky.
If you invest in a new, unproven business idea, you may lose your investment or make a killing.
From an employee’s perspective, getting in on the ground floor of an exciting new business may mean years of uncertainty and long hours.
On the other hand, getting in on the ground floor could present an employee with the learning opportunity of a lifetime.
Imagine the value of not only watching a business grow from zero to a listing on the stock exchange but actually participating in it.
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There’s a lot to be said for getting in on the ground floor.
Then again, involvement with a new company from the very beginning is very similar to gambling.
You may look at the odds of success and determine that you’ve picked a winner, only to end up with nothing but a weenie.
As they say in French, c’est la vie!
However, as we say in English, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
If you want to make a killing, it’s too late to purchase stock in a company once it has skyrocketed.
The best way to make the most of your investment is to do your homework, take a chance and get in on the ground floor.
Flesch-Kincaid Readability Test
This post is understandable by someone with at least an 8th-grade education (age 13 – 14).
On the Flesch-Kincaid reading-ease test, this post scores 70.
The easier a passage is to read, the higher the score on a scale of 0 – 100.