Fish or Cut bait? Is the glass half full or half empty?

How do you currently see things? Are you willing to sit on the dock and let good customers get away or are you going fishing?

How do you see the current financial situation out there?

Is the sky really falling or are we just listening to the wrong birds?

Opportunities in America abound and we just have to make sure that we take advantage of these when we see them. Before we are able to see opportunities we have to keep our eyes open. In my business, we see the deal of the century come along weekly or monthly. We just need to be ready when that deal shows up.

 A lot of people lately have been comparing our current economic situation to that of the Great Depression and in some ways that maybe true. There are a lot of people that have been hit by tuff times and are trying to rebound and get back on their feet. There are also people that see this as an opportunity as a few did during the Great Depression. I’ve been told more millionaires come out of the depression than almost anytime in our history.

Let me give you a more recent opportunity that most of us will be familiar with, Microsoft’s IPO in 1986. I myself wanted to invest $1,000 dollars as soon as I could but that seemed like just more than I felt comfortable with at 25 years old in 1986. The same thousand dollars even after the tech stock bubble burst at the beginning of this decade would still be worth well over $100,000. Feel free to correct me on the numbers but I think that you get the point.

I looked that opportunity in the eye and I blinked. Don’t let that happen to you!

There are tons of opportunities out there right now with: 1) new technologies, online and offline. 2) Inventing a product or service targeting the Echo Boomers, which are a bigger market share than my generation the Baby boomers. 3) Finding a way to buy some property when it is 40 to 60 cents on the dollar, HELLO! Opportunity knocking.

 Look what Dan and Lara did with something that was already out there. Le-tip, BNI, Toastmasters. They didn’t re-invent the wheel they just made it better and something that worked for them.

 If you look at how many new businesses a lot of these people have come out of Corporate America and some don’t understand that YOU make your success when you are a small business owner. Some people get it and excel but most businesses take a while to get up and going. Usually you are the CEO, A/P, A/R and HR and Sales departments. If you don’t make it happen no one else will.

What a lot of new business people don't understand is that generally the customers won't come to them. They have to go to the customer and let them know how they are different, and why they should give them their money.

Most of us when we first went out on our own passed out lots and lots of business cards and then waited by the phone. As you probably found out no one called. So you got out the door and business started rolling in. The more they saw you or heard from you the more business that you received.

Hopefully you found that when you built relationships and people trusted you they referred their friends and family to you. When you heard that someone needed your services you spoke up and got the business. So keep your eyes open for those opportunities coming across your path.