Be READY For Opportunity
There’s plenty of opportunity out there, both to make money and to get ahead in life. (Or even just opportunity to do something fun on the spur of the moment.) But in order to take advantage of the many opportunities life offers, you have to be READY for opportunity.
After all, it does you very little good to have the chance at something fabulous if you aren’t ready to reach out and grab it.
Being “ready” could mean all sorts of things: having done your homework, having cash available, having practiced what you want to do even though no one’s paid you to do it yet, having your product or service prepared and looking great, being emotionally prepared, etc.
Once you are ready, opportunity is often easier to find if you actually go looking for it. Looking for it could entail everything from old-fashioned networking to signing up on a web site to be notified of deals on a particular product.
Then opportunity will appear, and you’ll be primed to act on it and succeed.
What are you doing to make sure that you’re ready for opportunity?
People miss a lot of opportunities because they aren’t financially prepared to take advantage of them. For instance, I am a couple of weeks away from closing a small investment deal that has a high likelihood of making a healthy return over the next six to ten months. If I didn’t have the cash on hand to pursue this opportunity, I would be poorer for it.
On the other hand, I have an artist friend who was debating whether he should go to a professional conference. He knew that it was important to his career to go out and press the flesh the old fashioned way. But he just didn’t have the money to pay for it.
While it’s not the only thing you can do to capture more opportunity, having enough financial resources helps. To paraphrase Milo Bloom, “Money can’t buy happiness, but it improves your bargaining position.”
Oh that’s a great quote :)
And absolutely, having money on hand allows you to take advantage of many opportunities. It also avoids the temptation to go into debt when that great deal comes along…
Recognizing opportunity is equally important!
Good point, and so is looking for the hidden opportunities in things that may just seem like extra work at first glance.
My mom always says, “When you wait until the last minute your opportunities are limited.” I always try to make sure I’m well rested, caught up on emails, have an organized space to do work and have a little extra travel money ready to go for such opportunities. And always carry your passport!
Planning ahead and keeping caught up on things sure does make it easier to juggle your schedule in case of unexpected travel opportunities :) (Which are my favorite kind!)
People who are prepared are also strangely, very luck people! ;)
Funny how that works, isn’t it?!
This happens to us quite often. It seems that opportunity seem to knock for us, and it is a jump on it or lose it kind of deal. Some examples are:
1. Finished our basement (a friend of ours who is a retired contractor was just looking to fill his time for a few months and wasn’t looking to “make” money, so got a great deal). This saved us thousands of dollars. Of course everything was a “cash” deal.
2. We bought our car at the end of September and although it was new, it ended up costing us less than a used model, because the salesman was trying to make his numbers and we had the cash for it. This was, there was no extra cost to the dealership for financing paperwork. that saving also got passed down to us.
Sounds like you are definitely reader for opportunity, and have been able to take advantage of some nice deals :)