Why Didn’t You Take That Opportunity?
How You Can Easily Identify an Opportunity
You probably have passed an opportunity by, stepped over it, or even revealed to somebody else details of what later turned out to be a great opportunity, unknowingly! That is a very common experience especially when you didn’t know how to identify an opportunity, but that will be a thing of the past after this piece, I can assure you. An opportunity has never looked like it, otherwise, it wouldn’t be an opportunity anymore; it always disguises itself.
You Will Continue to Make This Mistake!
Because those who do not understand the nature of opportunity always pass it by, thinking it was something else with no value, you will continuously inadvertently pass over great opportunities except you know these truths about opportunities! This article is intended to give you that necessary edge you need to understand the nature of an opportunity so that you can perceive, anticipate, and exploit it wherever it may be found, irrespective of how it looked. Now, be more attentive.
The Journey Begins Here
To lay a solid foundation for our journey in search of an opportunity, we will begin with an informal definition of opportunity, and it reads: “The chance or likelihood of achieving something desirable.” That’s it in a nutshell.
Its Nature
You would probably pass an opportunity by or dash it if you don’t know how it looks. That’s why it’s critical you understand it in order to recognize it. You can’t recognize your cousin or even your sibling if you haven’t seen her or known him. The same thing goes for an opportunity; moreover, only after recognizing an opportunity is it possible to exploit it; therefore, to recognize it, you must know how an opportunity looks.
Appearance
If you knew the appearance of an opportunity, it would be easy for you to recognize it, but unfortunately, you don’t. An opportunity has no structure or shape, just like an amoeba!
But it Has Clues, look For Them
The easiest way to perceive an opportunity is to look for clues. And you are reading the clues right now! Just pay attention closely for them: for some people, it was in their work (what they do). Edison found that opportunities are sometimes hidden in work, and said, “Opportunities are missed because they look like work and dressed in coveralls.”; to some others, they found an opportunity in the message or help they rendered to others; to Jeff Bezos of Amazon, it was in the report he read about the future growth potential of the Internet that was projected at 2,300% per annum;
In Frustration
An opportunity could as well be wrapped in frustration, and knowing this in time, coupled with the determination to remove the frustration might be just what you need to locate your opportunity as was the case with Frederick W. Smith. He found the opportunity to start Federal Express, from the frustration he experienced with late delivery of parts he ordered when running a family-owned aviation maintenance company in Little Rock, Arkansas. Smith would eagerly wait for his parts after the shipper had told him that he had shipped his consignments, but Fred wouldn’t receive them until four or five days later! When Fred discovered that it was a result of the unreliability and inefficiency of the commercial airline operators, and other customers were as much dissatisfied, he reasoned that fixing the frustration was an opportunity.
Examining The Opportunity
To confirm his belief, Fred examined the veracity of the opportunity and crystallized it in a term paper he wrote on the topic, “Overnight Delivery in an Internet Age”, while an undergraduate of economics at Yale University. The topic became the basis for his business model and slogan: “Absolutely, positively had to be there overnight.” Frustration also presented the opportunity Richard Branson seized and founded Virgin Airways when he was among the stranded passengers at the Puerto Rican Airport, occasioned by flight cancellation, according to Branson in his Losing my Virginity. That was how Fred and Branson perceived their opportunities; however, yours might be different, so you have to figure that out by yourself because predicting for you will limit your search and possibilities, and I wouldn’t want to be blamed for this; thank God you would be able to find but if only you persist or look hard.
From Knowledge, Insights, and Ideas
Oftentimes, opportunity equally comes from deep knowledge or insights. Reading, or rather studying, always presents people with that knowledge or insight that serendipitously creates opportunity. Such insights and knowledge, of course, would be missed without studying. It’s the ‘Ahah moment that readers look for. This is one of the reasons those who are serious about their achievement would always research.
Changes
Basic change or discontinuity, whether of demography, value, culture, or polity, foreshadows opportunities. Each time demography changes, we should expect also changes in our lifestyles, spending patterns, standard of living, etc. Such shift foretells the direction opportunities would be headed and where to catch them. However, it doesn’t tell when but at least points to the possibility, which is all we need to figure out an opportunity.
Demographic Changes
Drucker shed even more light on opportunities arising from demographic changes in his book, Managing for Results. Some demographic changes, like the increase in birth rate, take more time before their impact can influence the labor force or exact pressure on infrastructure or social amenities. Because of the time lag between birth and impact, people have more time to better study and to get more reliable information about the opportunity that unfolds. Drucker called this the future that has already happened because once the birth rate has risen or fallen, its impact on life is fairly straightforward and predictable; only a major catastrophe can reverse or tamper its impact in the future.
New Social Order
A new social order brings new opportunities. Some of the products or services embraced previously are questioned and sometimes outlawed, protested against, or banned. Some of us have seen consumerism put an end to an opportunity but kick-starts a new one.
Post War Time
Most of us detest war, but if war has inevitably happened, then rebuilding and starting all over again, would uncontrollably follow. Remember that major government facilities are always the target of bomb attacks. Rebuilding these facilities after war creates post-war-time opportunities for contracts and jobs in the affected areas.
Exploiting Opportunity
Another reality of an opportunity is that nearly all opportunities need to be harnessed or exploited. Exploiting opportunity means acting on it to bring the potential to reality. This always requires faith in yourself and in the opportunity before you can take action to transmute your idea. Before you jump in at every opportunity, understand that opportunities are either the ‘ones you can’t afford to take’ (need more resources than you can afford) or the ‘opportunity you can afford to take, which you have all needed to exploit.
Sometimes You Will Relocate
Exploiting an opportunity in some cases requires relocation. In the Book of Genesis, God commanded Abram to relocate to a specific place: “… get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, and unto a land that I will show thee.”: Gen. 12:1: God probably have reasoned that for Abram to get his opportunity, he must relocate to a new place where he leaves behind some things so that he would get a new perspective; for Joseph to be divinely relocated, his brothers had to inadvertently sell him to slavery in Egypt to became prime minister and actualize his dream (opportunity). Jeff Bezos relocated to New Seattle before he could establish Amazon.com. Relocating in order to exploit opportunity in some cases would imply resigning your former job as Rose Perot of EDS also did. This enables them to devote well enough time to work on the realization of their dream.
Some opportunities die at the conceptual stage because of the lack of resources needed to exploit them: the person who had the idea doesn’t know how to push it through this phase, so it dies here! Other opportunities could die at this nascent stage due to a lack of finance! The wise thing to do at this point is to find a financier (also called an angel investor) or sell it to the person who has the needed fund. Obviously, this is an opportunity the original person can’t afford but would wisely let the prepared person take while he receives a cheque for the idea. Don’t let greed talk you out of this wise option; a half loaf, they say is better than none.
In business, an opportunity can soon become a problem all by itself if the business grows too rapidly than the ability and resources to cope with it. This was an instance cited of a cornish pasty business by two brothers, Gavin and Arron in Branson’s book, Screw Business As Usual. The duo had grown a cornish pasty company too rapidly; from one to five shops within a short period of time to the point where cash flow problem resulted because there was no external funding; they had to sell off the prosperous business. It grew into an opportunity they can’t afford. This is what forces some mergers on some companies!
Take These to Heart as You round Up: opportunities are not always easy to recognize let alone find or exploit, therefore, you should look for the following clues: frustration, knowledge, insights, ideas, changes, new social order, and even in a post-war time as you live, and above all, don’t let an opportunity pass you by because it was dressed in coverall!
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