With Adversity Comes Opportunity
It's 5:00 PM and I'm waiting for the traffic to die down before I head home so I decide to write an entry. I have two quotes that have had strong influences in my life as an entrepreneur. One is by the Roman philosopher, Seneca who said "Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity". I have this quote on the door of my office so that everyone can read it as they come in. The second was told to me by the president of the last company that I worked for (I don't know who originally said it). He said a lot of stupid things, but this one I actually liked. He said, "With adversity comes opportunity". Ironically, it was his company that laid me off. They herded 60 people into the conference room on a Tuesday. They had the big wigs from corporate come in to give this PowerPoint presentation to us to tell us that we were laid off. In the PowerPoint was a revised org chart...why would ANYONE care what the org chart looked like at the company that just laid them off???????? Seriously, that one still bothers me 4+ years later 
. Anyway, they told us that everyone's last day would be that Friday. However, since they didn't have a complete transition plan in place, they also told us that we could not tell our clients about the layoffs. I was like?????? - I'm sorry, I don't work for you any more.
"With adversity comes opportunity..." - I heard those words in my head during the meeting. Well, for those of you who saw the movie, I pulled a Jerry McGuire ("Show me the money!!!!") RIGHT after the meeting. I had started a marketing consulting business a few months before to do some small projects to develop and implement strategic marketing plans for small businesses. Well, I called my client up and told them the news...my client said, well, we want to do business with you - BAM! Six figure contract right off the bat with a major pharmaceutical company. "With adversity comes opportunity..."
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity..." My family always says I'm lucky and I'm always in the right place at the right time. What they don't see is two things - 1) my behind is always out there meeting new people and developing relationships and 2) I'm constantly researching and learning new things. The more people you meet and the more things you do, the more opportunities that you will make available to yourself. In other words, you CREATE your own luck. At the same time, you need to set yourself up correctly so that you can TAKE ADVANTAGE of those opportunities. I meet so many aspiring entrepreneurs that tell me that they don't want to create their entities until "they are ready" to do business. NO - create it NOW. If you need to create another one later because the first one isn't quite right, create another one later. I've created two companies in ONE NIGHT before to handle a real estate transaction, and it cost me all of $250. If I hadn't created my entity, set up my accounting system, opened my bank accounts, registered my domain name, etc....would have I been in position to take on $150,000 project within a couple of weeks? Probably not, and then I would have lost out on a tremendous opportunity because I wasn't PREPARED.
Creating opportunities - I've been getting more and more involved in real estate lately. I like it because I've always had a fascination with building things. That is why I like the development side. I ALWAYS go to open houses...it's like an illness I have. I see an open house sign and I HAVE to walk into the house. It does two things - 1) I see lots of product and what people are asking for it and 2) I talk to A LOT of real estate agents. These agents start sending me different deals. I don't take all of them, but I'm creating opportunities for myself.
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." "With adversity comes opportunity". It's easy to say, "I'm so unlucky." But that mindset closes one off from "seeing" an opportunity. Prepare yourself for your next opportunity through knowledge and action (not by "waiting 'til your ready"), and look for opportunities where no one else is looking or while everyone else is sitting on the couch watching TV.
. Anyway, they told us that everyone's last day would be that Friday. However, since they didn't have a complete transition plan in place, they also told us that we could not tell our clients about the layoffs. I was like?????? - I'm sorry, I don't work for you any more. "With adversity comes opportunity..." - I heard those words in my head during the meeting. Well, for those of you who saw the movie, I pulled a Jerry McGuire ("Show me the money!!!!") RIGHT after the meeting. I had started a marketing consulting business a few months before to do some small projects to develop and implement strategic marketing plans for small businesses. Well, I called my client up and told them the news...my client said, well, we want to do business with you - BAM! Six figure contract right off the bat with a major pharmaceutical company. "With adversity comes opportunity..."
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity..." My family always says I'm lucky and I'm always in the right place at the right time. What they don't see is two things - 1) my behind is always out there meeting new people and developing relationships and 2) I'm constantly researching and learning new things. The more people you meet and the more things you do, the more opportunities that you will make available to yourself. In other words, you CREATE your own luck. At the same time, you need to set yourself up correctly so that you can TAKE ADVANTAGE of those opportunities. I meet so many aspiring entrepreneurs that tell me that they don't want to create their entities until "they are ready" to do business. NO - create it NOW. If you need to create another one later because the first one isn't quite right, create another one later. I've created two companies in ONE NIGHT before to handle a real estate transaction, and it cost me all of $250. If I hadn't created my entity, set up my accounting system, opened my bank accounts, registered my domain name, etc....would have I been in position to take on $150,000 project within a couple of weeks? Probably not, and then I would have lost out on a tremendous opportunity because I wasn't PREPARED.
Creating opportunities - I've been getting more and more involved in real estate lately. I like it because I've always had a fascination with building things. That is why I like the development side. I ALWAYS go to open houses...it's like an illness I have. I see an open house sign and I HAVE to walk into the house. It does two things - 1) I see lots of product and what people are asking for it and 2) I talk to A LOT of real estate agents. These agents start sending me different deals. I don't take all of them, but I'm creating opportunities for myself.
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." "With adversity comes opportunity". It's easy to say, "I'm so unlucky." But that mindset closes one off from "seeing" an opportunity. Prepare yourself for your next opportunity through knowledge and action (not by "waiting 'til your ready"), and look for opportunities where no one else is looking or while everyone else is sitting on the couch watching TV.
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