When Opportunity Knocks
My good friend “Will” speaks fluent Japanese. He lived in Japan for more than 10 years and knows the culture inside out. When he visits, he supplements his income by giving English lessons to the local people.
I mentioned to him that I know someone who makes a lot of money with instructional videos that teach Brazilians how to speak English. In fact, I’ve been thinking about creating a similar product for Latin Americans. And I pointed out that, with his knowledge of Japanese, he could easily create and market an instructional video for Japanese who want to learn English.
He was interested, so I explained the basics of how to get started. Will is currently loaded with debt (all the more reason to get a side business going). And because he has no money at all to fund this little venture, I offered to be his partner.
I agreed to produce the video at my expense and market it on my website. All Will had to do was appear in the video doing something he knows how to do very well. He wouldn’t have to put up a dime – and within a week’s time, he’d own half of a potentially very profitable business.
Well, it’s been a month since we had that conversation, and nothing has happened. Will has called a few times to ask a few questions… but there always seems to be something preventing him from taking the next step and coming up with an outline for the script.
Listen – you can always find some reason not to push yourself to move forward with a project. Maybe you’re not 100 percent sure it’s going to work… or you have never done anything like it before… or you have other things going on in your life. But if you let those things stand in your way, the opportunity will slip away and be gone for good.
As Michael Masterson says, “Ready, FIRE, Aim.” As soon as you know you’ve got a decent chance to succeed, jump in with both feet. If you wait for the “perfect” time, it will never happen – and you’ll spend the rest of your life wondering “what could have been.”
[Ed. Note: Paul Lawrence is a successful entrepreneur and business author who has started over a dozen profitable enterprises. For more information on his "Dare to Live Your Dreams" program, click right here.
Need an extra dose of motivation? Proven tools for getting a new venture off the ground? Help moving forward with your goals? Success mentor Bob Cox can give you all this and more. Simply sign up for ETR's Total Success Achievement Program, and let Bob help you turn yourself into the person you've always wanted to be. ]
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