A Lesson in Small Business Opportunity - Discover Your Calling Now!

How many times have you, or someone you know, said something like "I've always wanted to have a business of my own. Something I'd really enjoy doing. Be my own boss."

The farther down this page you read, you'll start to feel that there are many people in this world that are either bored or tired of being tied down in an office from morning to evening and doing a routine and cumbersome job. There are yet some more that are always on the look out for extra opportunities to make an additional income that will substantiate their regular incomes.

Due to the lack of awareness of opportunities or being tired of trying out many opportunities that promise to make a quick buck and ending up in not gaining anything has made these people continue their routine jobs without venturing any further. The dissatisfaction among people for not finding the right kind of opportunity has pushed them into further hating what they do and are always looking out for a change. They fear taking up anything new as they would be treading into unknown waters and may even lose out on their regular source of income.

Such people should become aware of the many opportunities that are available to them both in the form of work at home options as well as being out there and being able to make some income for themselves. The greatest advantages of venturing into a small business opportunity is that it can be done both part time or full time and can be done with very minimal or no investment risks from the convenience of their own homes.

There is countless number of small business opportunities for individuals to start off but, not all of them are worth pursuing. Many of them are ones that promise to make a person rich overnight and these are the ones that one should really be wary of. There are various categories of businesses that one can pursue depending on their interests and the time that they have to invest.

Some of the small business opportunities that are available online would include the following:

• Setting up auctions online

• Exporting and importing

• Multi-level marketing (MLM)

• Participating in surveys

• Becoming part of advertising programs

• Becoming an affiliate member in a program, etc

There are many ways to do work on the Internet and earn some money. Whatever the direction in which a person wants to venture, it is important that they do a lot of research before they start off with anything. It is important for them to find out if the money made from the business opportunity will be worth their time or effort. It is also good to get testimonials from others who are working the program.

This, though difficult, is one of the best ways of avoiding getting cheated. One of the best ways to reach out to such people is to enter forums and discussion boards that can get a person in touch with others with the same ideas. Once a person has a general idea about what kind of a small business opportunity they want to embark on, they should go right ahead and take action.

It should be remembered that many programs even though it may appear simple at the onset would require lot of perseverance and putting in the right kind of efforts to make it work for them in the long run. Therefore, remember that whatever the small business opportunity that you get into, nothing comes without putting in the necessary effort and working in the right direction will help bear the necessary fruits and bring success.

There is another option.

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Opportunity Knocks 1000 Times

You've heard people say that opportunity only knocks once. I say it knocks a thousand times, or at least it can. The problem is, we often don't listen, we don't see, or we don't want to work. The biggest problem, though, is that opportunity really isn't opportunity, if you're not ready for it.

A couple I know had a business handed to them for free. The owner didn't want to deal with it anymore, even though it made money. He had other things going on in his life. He couldn't just call it quits, however, because the lease on the building had nine months to go. This is where my friends enter the story. Why did they have a business given to them?

They listened, and let the man tell his story.

They looked at the business, and saw the opportunity.

They worked, doing what it took to benefit from their "good luck."

The owner agreed to give them the business if they would simply take over the lease on the building.

Get Ready For Opportunity

The biggest reason "opportunity knocked" however, includes the others, and goes beyond them: They were ready.

They had a little bit of money to handle the transition, they had previous experience with a small business, and they were willing to learn what they needed to learn.

A friend once said that our mutual acquaintance John was "so lucky" to get a $6,000 car for $2,000 at an auction. I mentioned that John went to the auction regularly, that he had made himself familiar with car values, and that he always kept some money available for such opportunities. It didn't seem to register with my friend.

He could have been "so lucky," too, but he had to be ready. He could have saved $2,000, or obtained a credit card with a high enough limit, or arranged with someone to borrow the money and split the profits when deals like this came up. Not having done any of these things, there was no opportunity here for him.

When you want opportunity to come knocking, aren't there always ways you can prepare? If you want to be lucky in love, you comb your hair, right? If you want opportunities in the stock market, start studying, setting aside money to invest, and exploring the possibilities. Get ready for opportunity, and it will come more often.

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Finding the Right Business to Start

Do you want to be a successful entrepreneur? You probably have an excellent idea and you're thinking over whether it is doable or not, whether it will bring in revenues, and whether it has the potential to expand into a more profitable business venture. Now that you find yourself with the desire to start your own business, there are still a lot of things you have to consider and think about. First you have to ask yourself if you have what it takes to own and maintain a business. You should know that the world of entrepreneurship is not for everyone. Yes, the opportunities for profit and self-fulfillment are great, but so are the risks involved.

Being an entrepreneur can be a life-changing endeavor, thus, you really have to be prepared for anything that may happen. There are some specific character traits that every entrepreneur must possess or develop. These include perseverance, hard work, independence, self confidence, commitment to quality and success, honesty and many more. If you think you really have what it takes to be an entrepreneur then you are ready to proceed to the next step, and that is to find the type of business you want to establish and own.

Finding the right Entrepreneur Opportunity

As you know by now, there are literally thousands of business opportunities available for the budding entrepreneur. With all these choices, what type of business are you going to pursue? There are actually two approaches to finding the right entrepreneur opportunity for you. There's the traditional approach and the "follow your passion" approach. The traditional approach to finding the right business opportunity involves a systematic and methodical process. It involves careful planning, thorough research of the market, recognizing a need and creating the product or service to fulfill that need.

First, you have to choose the field of business that you are most interested in. Then, you can now embark on researching the ins and outs of that industry and the different businesses that can be found within it. Afterwards, you can do market research to find out if there is an unmet need in the form of products, services, prices, etc. Then you can proceed to analyzing the competition and checking out how their business models work.

You can now start on making your preliminary business plan. Make sure to do market research to see the market potential for your chosen business. Re-evaluate and re-assess your business plan and determine how much capital you are going to need. Then, you can start seeking out investors and lenders who can help you finance your business. The traditional approach to entrepreneur opportunities is obviously labor-intensive and time-consuming, as well as potentially expensive, but careful planning before actually starting the business will also reduce the risk of failure as time goes by.

Another approach in finding the right entrepreneur opportunity is the "follow your passion" philosophy. This approach involves following and doing what you love and the money will start coming in. This can be an excellent way to start your own business but you should understand that many people have also followed and did what they love and still did not succeed well enough. This approach encourages you to find out what type of business you should pursue through self-discovery and observation. Reflect on what you are truly interested in and passionate about and look for ways to make a business out of it. Observe your surroundings to see If there is an unmet need. You can then create a product or service to fulfill that need.

Inspiration is also an important aspect of this approach to identifying an entrepreneur opportunity. Who knows that idea that simply popped into your mind while driving your kids to school may actually be an excellent business idea that can eventually lead to success? Another aspect of this approach is imitation. You can simply find a tried-and-tested business model and copy it in another market. You can also consider getting a franchise. Franchises are already proven business models, and you also get support from the company to help you start out your business.

These two approaches are both effective in helping you find out what entrepreneur opportunity you must pursue. Although these approaches are not failure-proof, they can really help you increase your chances of success in the highly-competitive world of business.

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How Entrepreneurs Optimize Business Opportunities

They say that opportunity only knocks twice. In the business world, however, opportunities do not get the chance to knock before they are shoved through the door.

You see, entrepreneurs take business opportunities very seriously. Serious entrepreneurs do not wait for opportunity to come to them. They study their environment and find the opportunity.

Opportunity counts for so much in the business world. Whenever you encounter an opportunity, you need to grasp it and submit it to your will. Entrepreneurs treat business opportunities differently. Here are some views of entrepreneurs on how to take advantage of business opportunities:

1) Seduction - some entrepreneurs find business opportunities to be like a woman. You need to properly seduce a business opportunity. You see, with one wrong move, a business opportunity can fly out of your grasp.

Thus, you need to study the opportunity. Is she mysterious? If so, what can she be hiding? What can help you pull that opportunity towards you?

Seduction of the business opportunity is a game of balance. You cannot be too eager or the opportunity will get suspicious and pull away. You cannot be too aloof, or the business opportunity will go to other entrepreneurs.

You have to show that you are the proper person to get that opportunity. You have to treat it with the proper respect. After all, you are the entrepreneur who needs that opportunity.

2) Prey - some entrepreneurs think business opportunities are like prey. They enjoy the thrill of hunting for a perfect business opportunity and take them down for the kill. For these entrepreneurs, business opportunities should be watched out for.

These people watch their environment, hoping for any sign of business opportunities. Constant vigilance is their creed, and nothing can stand in the way of their success. By taking this mindset, you gain the instinct of the hunter. You become very competitive in terms of taking business opportunities. Sometimes, this is a good thing, leading you to your success.

There are times, however, when this mindset can lead to your downfall. Hunters often love the thrill of the hunt, but neglect to take care of the opportunity once they have them in their hands. You know that you need to take care of every opportunity in order for it to be of any use to you.

3) A plant - smart entrepreneurs view business opportunities as plants. They plant the seeds of opportunity and nourish it to make it grow into a successful business venture.

This view of business opportunities is probably the best considering the fact that opportunities really do need to be taken care of in order for an entrepreneur to achieve success. Getting the opportunity is just the start of being an entrepreneur. In order to gather the fruits of success, an entrepreneur should be able to not only get the opportunity, but expand it.

4) Luck -Some entrepreneurs see business opportunities as lucky coincidences or even a work of fate. They, of course, keep a lookout for business opportunities. However, they do not actively work to find some.

This Entrepreneur's view of business opportunity is probably the most naïve in today's world of business. As was mentioned earlier, opportunities nowadays have very little chance of falling into someone's lap. By waiting for the business opportunity to come to you, you are probably wasting your time.

What you need to do is get up off that chair and start looking at your environment and make the opportunity for yourself. What are the advantages to this? Well, if you create your own opportunity, then you'll have direct access to it and have intimate knowledge of how to shape it into a great business venture.

Another plus to creating your own business opportunity is that you will be getting a head start. This means that you can forget about the competition taking your opportunity and beating you to the success that you so anticipated.

So how should entrepreneurs view business opportunities? Well, the best thing you can do is take all of the different views and try to balance them into your own view. Remember that different things work for different people. Try not to conform yourself to other entrepreneurs' views of business opportunities. This way, you can be at your most effective.

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Are You Ready For Opportunities?

Were you able to identify some hidden assets in your environment? I am confident that if you spent some time observing and going through the action items from the last article you definitely made some progress and potentially uncovered some "gem" opportunities.

Before we go too much further into understanding and experiencing the world of entrepreneurialism let's make sure we get our arms around one of our favorite words, opportunity?

People have a very hard time understanding the complexities of Love. I would like to conjecture that understanding Opportunity can be equally confusing.

This can be illustrated by trying to answer the following questions:
1. What is Opportunity?
2. How do you know when it is real and genuine?
3. How do you know when and how to take action?
4. What will be the potential outcomes/results of your action or non-action?
5. Where do you seek advice and opinions?
6. Should you let the advice and opinions of others affect your decision?

1. What is opportunity? Opportunity is defined as a good chance for advancement or progress. That's a start, but the next questions should be advancement or progress towards what objective and is their other, better alternative opportunities available?

Knowing what you want and constructing a life plan is the backbone for opportunity. Developing your plan combined with our Balance Matrix (introduction coming soon) will dictate what type of opportunities you will consider to act on, how to decide if the opportunity can take you closer to your goals or further away and to create "buy in" from your family members.

Identifying alternative Options - this is paramount! Once you know what you want and your plan has been created you need to know what all the applicable opportunity options are that can bring you closer to your goals and objectives and ultimately your definition of success. The simplest example I can give you is the following:

1. Your goal is to watch an hour of television and you want to watch something inspiring.
2. Your strategy is to find the TV program by looking at your TV guide.
3. Your Opportunity Options are every channel in your subscription.
4. Your Decision - you have 2 further options

a. Stop and watch the first TV show you come across that fits your criteria.

b. Consider every TV show and its programming content before you decide.

Which option A or B will give you a higher probability of getting what you want?

2. How do you know when it is real and genuine? This question stops most people from acting on an opportunity. Unfortunately, the "crooks", "scammers" and little value offers are everywhere and running "wild and free" in the information age. This has made this question even more relevant and more difficult to answer. Let's touch on a few key points that will surely help you identify the real from the "red flag" opportunities.

1. Is their web-site professional looking? This certainly is based on opinion and even though it may be professional does not guarantee anything. However, a site that is professional with a lot of content, extra features like video, sound, polls, forums, etc. at least demonstrates the web-site should remain on-line for some period of time.
2. Is there information about the company with contact information? If there is no contact information or phone number it could represent a "red flag". Try contacting them with a question and see if they respond, how long it takes to respond and the quality of their response.
3. Are there testimonials? If so, can you contact the testimonials? If not, ask the company if you can contact some of their testimonials.
4. Do a company search on-line to see if you can find additional information about the company. Just beware of the source of information. In some cases you will have to determine if the source is real and genuine before you consider their opinion or facts.

3. How do you know when and how to take action? Let's assume the opportunity is real and genuine and you have looked at several different options so far. If you have constructed a well thought out plan using the Balance Matrix this decision becomes relatively easy. Don't believe how easy it can become, keep reading. If you act on this opportunity will it get you closer to your ultimate goals? Will you have to sacrifice any other important elements in your life? If so, how many elements and for how long? Are there any key people in your life your decision will affect? If so, how do they feel about it and have they bought into your plan? If the answers to these questions are favorable your decision becomes much easier.

4. What will be the potential outcomes/results of your action or non-action? This is where any mindset, awareness and abstract thinking training become very important. Try to project into the future your decisions and actions. How do you see people responding, behaving and interacting with you? If you do not act on this opportunity will you ever have another chance to get involved again?

5. Where do you seek advice and opinions? I highly recommend getting second opinions about large decisions in your life. It costs you nothing, but some time to seek this advice. However, this can potentially lead to poor decision making if you are putting all of your faith into this advice. Why? No one knows what is best for you and your situation more than you do. Do the people you are seeking advice from truly have your best interest in mind? If you ask a non-risk taker about an opportunity with an element of risk, what do you suppose their answer will be? The best answer to this question is to have a circle or group of people you trust, have integrity, are like-minded, have previous experience or knowledge in the realm of the question you are asking.

6. Should you let the advice and opinions of others affect your decision? Depends. If you have a reliable, knowledgeable and trustworthy source I would suggest you take their advice into consideration. If you are in 100% agreement with what more than one reliable source has told you, you should feel good about moving forward in that direction. If you or any reliable source is less than 100% confident about the decision and you have more time to prepare your due diligence and weigh out your options and potential consequences take the time to do so.

The bottom line is to prepare yourself for decision making by creating a plan, setting goals, looking at all the options and opportunities, finding reliable sources, training your mind for decision making and practicing the process on smaller more insignificant decisions. Once you create confidence in yourself, your sources and your ability to make decisions you have increased your chances of success and capitalizing on opportunities immensely. Remember, there is no such thing as an opportunity unless you are prepared to take action.

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Am I Ready To Be An Entrepreneur?

No, we won't begin with "Do you have a master's degree?" Although education does matter, higher education is not a requirement for starting or succeeding in a new entrepreneurship. In fact, according to a 1992 United States Census Bureau report, only 5.3 percent of entrepreneurs have a Master's degree or higher education. 9.4 percent had less than a high school education; some only up to the eighth grade. Oddly enough, only 17 percent had any business education. The founder of Dell Computers was a college dropout. Starting out of his garage, he managed to excel above all of the world's top computer manufacturers. One in three computers sold today is a Dell.

What you will need, is more commonly known as "street smarts" and common sense. In addition, you will need to have certain individual qualities, or personality traits. Most individuals who are successful in entrepreneurship and in "life" possess these traits. Take the quiz and see how many of the following questions you can answer with a confident "yes."


1. Do I have energy, and am I in good health?

2. Am I a self-starter?

3. Do I have a willingness to work hard?

4. Am I a good organizer?

5. Am I able to make decisions?

6. Am I able to make plans and follow through?

7. Am I able to inspire and direct others?

8. Am I honest (and be honest!)?

9. Do I regularly balance my checkbook and avoid debt?

10. Am I a jack of all trades and a master at one???

If you can honestly answer all the above questions with a "yes," you may be the type of individual who is well qualified to operate a successful business. But before you close the deal, be sure you have educated yourself in the field you've chosen. Research and learn the process necessary to start and operate your own entrepreneurship . Read good books relating to your type of business and get the education you need to be successful.

If you're unsure of your response to any of the ten questions listed above, it's possible that if you attempt starting a business, you may fall into the ninety percent of new businesses which fail in their first year. The statistics can be startling, but they are a reality. You may want to re-consider your entrepreneurship idea.

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