Every time someone asks me what is “the recipe” to invest without losing, I know that we are getting off to a bad start. Not because the question is naive, but because it is symptomatic of a very widespread way of thinking: the permanent search for formulas, shortcuts and canned solutions for a game that, by definition, does not allow universal recipes.
To explain it I usually use a simple, but uncomfortable metaphor. The same one that makes you uncomfortable when it shows you where in the kitchen you are standing.
When you go to a restaurant, there are two types of people who cook. On the one hand, the chefs. Those who work with principles, not instructions. Those who understand the ingredients, their interactions, temperatures, times and invisible tensions that make something ordinary transform into a memorable experience. They are the ones who can create, destroy and recreate a dish from scratch because they master first principles.
On the other side are the cooks. Valuable, necessary people, trained to execute existing recipes. They follow proven instructions, replicate processes that work, and deliver consistent results. The world needs chefs. Without them there would be no scale.
The problem begins when we confuse one with the other. In the world of investing, insurance, personal finance, and selling complex services, this distinction is critical. Because many advisors, without malicious intent, are going through a “chef’s journey” while trying to attract clients who expect a chef.
The cook-advisor looks for recipes. Copied strategies, fashionable products, structures that “worked for someone else,” platforms that promise magical returns until they close. He lives jumping from trick to trick, from shiny object to shiny object, convinced that the secret is finding the right formula.
And it’s going well. Sometimes very good. It has manuals, scripts, funnels, neat presentations and a learned speech. The problem is not that. The problem is when that model tries to sell itself as haute cuisine.
Because the reality is simple and brutal: the brigade attracts brigade clients. The restaurant attracts restaurant customers. The Michelin restaurant attracts Michelin customers. There is no moral judgment in this. Just systemic coherence.
The chef-advisor, on the other hand, does not start with the recipe. Start with the principles. By understanding the client’s context, their objectives, their fears, their time horizon and, above all, their real risk tolerance (not the one they say they have). Understand that investing is not about maximizing returns on an Excel spreadsheet, but rather designing a system that the person can sustain emotionally over time.
Chefs are not looking to win a specific battle. They play infinite games. They do not compete against other advisors; They compete against their own version of yesterday. They adjust, they learn, they refine. They know that the long term is not recited, it is designed.
That’s why chefs don’t sell products. They design experiences. They do not promise certainties where there are none. They don’t make up risk. They do not oversimplify to close quickly. They would rather lose a customer than break the coherence of their system.
And here appears an uncomfortable truth for many businesses: the type of customer you attract is a direct reflection of how you think, how you communicate and how you sell. Not the logo. Not the price. From your worldview.
Every day I see companies, and advisors, striving to attract sophisticated clients with high-end pitches, while operating internally as volume kitchens. Then they get frustrated when those customers leave quickly, question everything, or become distrustful. It is not the client that is the problem. It is the incoherence.
Customers are not stupid. Sooner or later they detect if they are sitting at the wrong table. And when that happens, they get up and leave. No scandal. No long explanations. They just leave.
Investing without losing is not about finding the “best” advisor, but rather the right one for you. To the one who plays the same game that you want to play. To those who think in terms of processes, not promises. To those who understand that the real risk is not losing money, but rather losing confidence in the system and abandoning the game early.
Takeaway is simple, but not easy. It all starts with deciding who you want to serve and from what place. If you are an advisor, define if you want to be a cook or chef. I built that business from the ground up. There are no shortcuts. If you are an investor, ask yourself what experience you are really buying: a recipe or a criterion?
Because in finance, as in cooking, what seems the same on the surface is rarely the same deep down. And the difference between executing instructions and creating value is exactly the difference between surviving… or building something that lasts.
*The author is an engineer, strategist and business coach who is an expert in cultural transformation for business sales success.
by Fernando Colosimo
