Opportunity Knocks

Why is it that no matter how much you do for some people they can never do anything for themselves? I’m not talking about people with disabilities although in some ways they disable themselves, I’m thinking about those who can’t see when an opportunity is right under their nose. We must all fall foul to this to some degree, it happened to me last week when the trivia of getting a lift I had arranged after a meeting, meant that I couldn’t connect with the speaker after the event. It wasn’t even until later the same day that I realised what a golden opportunity had gone by. You can offer some people an opportunity and explain it and help them with it but unless they see it for themselves they won’t make anything of it. Like school kids they can’t be taught anything unless they want to learn. People have to be susceptible to ideas to make progress. The coming years are likely to offer some of the best opportunities for a century and also the chance to get stung big style as the leaches that suck your blood and drain your bank account will increase everywhere. How can we tell the genuine from the snake oil salesmen? Well accessibility and contact ability are the first priorities, history is important – how long have they been in the business and who else do you know that has dealt with them? What are they offering? When it sounds too good to be true it generally is. We can all get suckered in and I know what it’s like to be on the receiving end particularly in property. Anyone aspiring to be a residential property landlord would do well to read my new book ‘How NOT to be a Property Landlord’ to get an idea of just some of the problems that can befall you and how to avoid them. The name of my book changed during development and it is now called ‘How NOT to be a Property Investor’.

I suppose fear holds us back to a large degree, especially as we mature, we don’t want to lose everything we have worked for but at the same time we need some excitement, something to get the adrenalin going. Don’t think that owning a fast car as an old man gives you a great rush, because even though you are able to appreciate it more, so you are less likely to use its potential. Much the same for a great many things once you start to grow older, the thrill of the chase changes for the contentment of complacency but when there are still those unachieved goals won’t you always wonder why? I’ve chased so many opportunities over the years and whilst its created sound learning on lots of issues, only now am I able to niche things right down to see what I personally will enjoy doing for the remaining years that I am capable. Knowing how to be happy and actually achieving it are possibly worlds apart, but having the direction and constantly moving toward your desires are sufficient to keep dreams alive. Some people are simply dreamers and never have any hope of success in anything they do. Others never have any vision and appear content to be a number or a small cog in a giant machine. Why then do a group of individuals put themselves through the highs and lows of entrepreneurship to acquire more and more that they could never use or enjoy and why are so many envious of the freedom which these opportunity seekers have created for themselves. It’s a shame we can’t all achieve the same degree of satisfaction from our lives that creates wellbeing from within. Endeavour to grasp the opportunities…….always happy to help