Opportunity Knocks

Knock, Knock!

Who's there?

Opportunity!

Opportunity who?

Opportunity waiting for you!!!!

Can you hear it? The call of the wild? That restlessness in your bones as you put on your clothes for yet another day of working for the man? 

Don't you wish you could just wake and say "Yes!!Another day of working for....(drum roll please)... ME!!

Well why don't you? Close your eyes and imagine you are on a cliff...behind you, where you just came from, the safety of your 9-5 job working for Mr (or Mrs) X...before you...just the edge of a cliff with the clear sky before it.

Which direction are you going to go?

Those who play it safe look at the clear sky and balk..why take the risk? They probably say to themselves-" I have a job, steady income, benefits and time off-why would I ever take the RISK of starting my own business when I've got it going on?'

Those who aren't afraid of life or aren't satisfied with operating by other persons rules in life, look at the safety of their job, say to heck with it, turn their backs on it and jump.

Of course they aren't idiots...they have a parachute...it's called a PLAN.

These persons have the 'kahunas' to become an entrepreneur. They risk it all, taking a chance on their ideas and putting it all out there.

While writing this post, some friends and I were doing an assignment-watch an entrepreneurial movie and identify any material you feel is relevant to entrepreneurship principles- the movie we saw was Wall Street with Shia LaBeouf. 

Brilliant movie- acting, content and entertainment-wise. We had a blast watching and more importantly learning from it...then the movie ended and World War 3 began.

One member of our team thought the character Jacob (played by LaBeouf) was an "entrepreneur," however the argument came when the other two members, myself included, thought that Jacob was really an 'opportunistic investor.'

Without going into too much details our argument became centered around what really is an entrepreneur?

An entrepreneur sees a problem, creates a solution and takes a risk financially to see their solution to fruition...if they are lucky, a million times over.

While watching the movie I wondered (more often than not) why was this listed as an entrepreneurial movie, sure the guy has entrepreneurial qualities and money was involved but I just think he's an 'opportunist investor,' some one who saw opportunity with another's idea and invests money to see that person's product or service to fruition because they see profit for themselves.

Call me crazy, and I might be wrong but for me an entrepreneur is master of his own castle, he controls everything in his business- production of the product or service they created, the cost, the where and the how it will be sold etc.

An opportunistic investor would then for example, see someone produce a laptop, realize that laptops aren't sold in their area, buy or contract the laptop from the person who created it and sell that person's product to make a profit for themselves. He's not really an employee of the person who created the laptop but he's not really an entrepreneur either.

Sure they took a risk..but was it really a risk? Clearly there was a demand for the product..it's why someone thought it up in the first place.

To me the person who sat, thought of the product, its use and design, then created the prototype and took that idea to try and find money, not knowing how it would be received...that person is the real entrepreneur.

Both persons answered the called of opportunity...and I guess an opportunistic investor can be considered an entrepreneur, after all they are making their own money...one just took a bigger leap of faith.

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This may be a long post but its the introduction to my journey to being an entrepreneur and it's to be continued...cause when I jump, I jump big :-)

Sit back and enjoy and maybe you can find that faith to take a leap on the ideas you have.

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-"Stand in the face of danger, and as you did on that night, face your fears and shout 'DO YOUR WORST,"  you will find there is nothing you cannot do"- The Count of Monte Cristo