Opportunity

There’s a growing momentum around opportunity

People are starting to think more about how they can improve the ways that they run their business or look for new business opportunities to grow their profits, to grow their income.

I’m currently receiving an increased number of enquiries from people wanting to start or buy new businesses. Or simply change the way they are operating to be more profitable.

And now is a good time to do that. There are plenty of opportunities available. Some are forced to consider these opportunities out of necessity. But a lot of activity we’re seeing is from people who are not out of work and not needing to replace income. Instead they’re looking at now being the opportune time to act on something they see as being available to enhance their position.

Are there more opportunities available now compared to last year? Not necessarily. We have become more aware of the opportunities that exist. We are now more prepared to act simply because we perceive we can obtain greater value by acting on opportunity.

We can define opportunity as “a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something.”

On that basis, there will always be opportunities available to us.

Right now, we are becoming more aware of the many opportunities available to us. How we respond depends on our mindset and how we’re going to approach them. If we’re going to capitalise on them, we need to have the right mindset and we need to equip ourselves with the right tools and resources to give ourselves the best chance of success when we do grab hold of these opportunities and run with them.

COVID has created demand for many new industries, and changes within existing industries. But this is a cycle that continually happens. Many of the products, services and professions which have emerged in the past 5 years didn’t exist 20 years ago. The availability of opportunities is not purely a result of COVID. However, COVID has made many people more aware that opportunities exist, and that the way we are doing things now may not be the best thing for us.

With the right mindset we can create opportunities in any environment. Eben Pagan author of the book “Opportunity” says that “Creating opportunity is about more than just thriving in an unstable, sometimes scary world. It’s about becoming the best version of yourself, and creating the life where you have all the opportunities you need to reach your full potential. To increase the quality and quantity of opportunity available, it’s important to take on a series of mindsets that will positively change how you see yourself, how others see you, and how you see opportunity.”

Why do some people see opportunity where other people do not? The reason is fear.

Opportunities and fear go hand in hand. When we discover and develop opportunities in our life, in our business, there’s going to be risks and sometimes danger’s involved. So, we need to understand fear better, and we need to be able to embrace fear and work with it rather than fighting it and letting fear restrict us.

When we are fearful, our viewpoint is different to somebody that doesn’t have that fear. Somebody without fear will dance, they’ll celebrate the opportunity, they’ll celebrate the change and they’ll accept it. They’ll grasp it and run with it. But when we’re afraid, when we’re fearful, the only opportunity we see is to keep things the way they are. To keep the status quo. To stay safe.

We try to avoid loss. And that mindset places limits upon us. We don’t act. Instead, we become envious of other people who have acted on opportunities watching them thrive while we falter.

A number of businesses rapidly changed their product and service offerings in response to the COVID situation. These businesses have thrived, because they’ve grasped opportunities, they’ve acted quickly. Hand sanitiser, masks, facilities, and services for working from home, IT solutions, etc. A lot of new businesses, and some industries have been created as a result.

Regardless of how you look at people who acted on the opportunities one thing is very clear. They have acted on and taken advantage of the opportunities that exist. They’ve been prepared to and willing to act. They’ve equipped themselves with the tools, the resources, the contacts, so that they can act quickly and take advantage of opportunities when they arise. And that’s a great thing.

Sadly, many business owners are so stuck in “the way that we have always done things”, they’re not open to seeing new ways of doing things. Not open to opportunities, new products or markets, because they are so comfortable doing things the way they have always done them.

So how should you respond?

There are opportunities available. Your choice is to be fearful and stick to what you’re doing at the moment hoping to ride out the wave? Or embrace the opportunities available to you.

As Stephen Covey says, “I am not a product of my circumstances. I am a product of my decisions.”

Be brave.

Equip yourself with the tools and resources you need to give yourself the best chance of success.
And try that new road.

If you’re ready to chase down some new opportunities, contact us to start the ball rolling.

Or access our Client Advisory Board Service and reap the benefits of having your very own advisory board. Whether it’s help with planning & goal setting, problem solving or some other task, having an independent board of advisers is an essential part of running a successful venture. To learn more about this exciting service, contact us.