Opportunity In A Bad Economy

Most people view a catastrophe as the worst thing that can happen—PERIOD! Their thinking immediately becomes negative, and, if the event is serious enough, this negativity feeds on itself until nothing good will come from anything an individual does. It is almost impossible to change this way of thinking, but successful people try to overcome all this bad thinking. To progress from negative to positive requires staying entirely away from people who are negative and trying to find something positive out of every situation. We are in a period of severe economic problems–a true catastrophe of unknown depth at this time. Successful people tend to find opportunity around every catastrophe; this is my personal belief and that is what this article is about.

POSITIVE QUOTES ABOUT CATASTROPHIC EVENTS

“If you're going through hell, keep going.” - Winston Churchill

‘A bend in the road is not the end of the road... unless you fail to make the turn.” - Author Unknown

“You may not realize it when it happens, but a kick in the teeth may be the best thing in the world for you.” - Walt Disney

“When written in Chinese the word "crisis" is composed of two characters - one represents danger and the other represents opportunity.” - John F. Kennedy, address, 12 April 1959

“There is no security on this earth, there is only opportunity.” - General Douglas MacArthur

THE VALUE OF THINKING BIG

During these times of extreme economic stress, it is easy to lose sight of the larger world around us—a world full of opportunity often overlooked by most people. Why is it that some people do so much better than others, when it looks like those who succeed are not as intelligent as those who do not?

The answer is complicated, involving several intertwined issues that work together. The worldview of everyone is created at birth and embellished through the years by the thoughts and actions of those around us. Whoever created us gave us instincts to protect us from the many awful dangers that have confronted humans for millions of years; the result is extreme reluctance to embark into the strange waters surrounding anything new.

All of this leads to the main reason some very smart people fail while less intelligent individuals succeed beyond their wildest dreams. The successful ones are thinking many times larger ideas than all the others. What makes big thinking so necessary during the current depression is the times we are in force us to think about all the little disasters happening every day and we just don’t see the big picture surrounding us where the opportunities of the future are. Not thinking big ideas builds the platform for small results in the future.
Here are some thoughts on the importance of large ideas in times of trouble:

Niccolo Machiavelli, in the 16th Century, said, “Make no small plans for they have not the power to stir men’s blood.” Meaning a small thinker can never be a great leader.
Donald Trump says, “I like thinking big. If you're going to be thinking anything, you might as well think big.” This indicates he believes any thinking other than big thinking is a waste of time and energy.

Rhonda Byrne, author of The Secret, says, “To attract money, you must focus on wealth. It is impossible to bring more money into your life when you are noticing you do not have enough, because that means you are thinking thoughts that you do not have enough.” This is a discussion about all the little thoughts that clutter your mind constantly. Letting these issues get into your thinking will keep you from doing anything significant.

Everyone has great ideas, but few bring them into being. As our discussion proceeds we’ll see several ways to actually get going on the big thoughts.

Wolfgang von Goethe felt this was how to do it: “The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic to it.” In other words, take quick, big, decisive action on your great idea–maybe it will take off.

T. Harv Eker, in his book, Secrets of the Millionaire Mind™, says, “Small thinking and small actions lead to being both broke and unfulfilled. Big thinking and big actions lead to having both money and meaning. The choice is yours!"

Regina Barr, in a study of peoples’ inner fear, asked her subjects to share their opinions on the power of thinking big. The answers indicate thinking big can go a long way toward changing the fear of making a mistake, or of looking stupid, by focusing on making a huge contribution to the world.
She presents a plan to do this:

• List all your big ideas or dreams and share them with someone you trust.
• Imagine yourself being successful in bringing your big idea to life.
• Set goals for the way you will try to make your big thinking work.
• Establish what actions will move your idea forward.
• Pick one necessary action and do it right now.

One part of the plan involves the importance of imagination Albert
Einstein had this to say: “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

Einstein possessed the ability to think unconventionally and gave us scientific theories that changed the world and continue to affect us all. Another example of the work of imagination is Leonardo da Vinci who developed a flying machine that some say actually flew in the 15th Century. The idea was quashed by small thinking religious leaders who labeled it an instrument of evil. The creative aspects of imagination cause things to come into existence. Our individual thoughts draw us to what we think about passionately, much like magnets attract iron particles. What is required to create a live big idea is to allow your mind to go to its positive places. While there spend all your time thinking about those things you want to be present in your own reality. If you use enough feeling and you really believe in your feelings, then you will begin to manifest these feelings in your actual life.

Note the importance of believing.

THE BEST TIME FOR OPPORTUNITY

The worst economic times are exactly when you should start becoming a millionaire by building on your hobbies and passions. So says the author of “Really Bad Economic Times are Big Opportunities to Cash in on Your Passion.” In times like these most people sit around ringing their hands and worrying about where their required money will come from. This brings in absolutely nothing and causes physical and mental problems. The way out of the money pit is to discuss ideas with trusted advisors about making a profit from things you like to do. From these discussions some idea will emerge that has a chance to succeed. When this happens you need to grab the idea and begin making it happen.

One reason why bad times are great for a start up is that whatever you need to begin will be in plentiful supply and probably will not cost as much as it would if things were normal. If you need employees, you should be able to find many at reasonable rates because of unemployment. All this means you may be able to start a substantial business with little money. In bad times many businesses have already gone away. If you are able to fill one of these niches there will be less competition which could mean more money for you.
Two outstanding examples of those who build large businesses during hard times are:

John D. Rockefeller who founded Standard Oil in 1870 and thrived even through the Great Depression of the 1930s.
Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook. Facebook came online in 2003 and changed the face of online social networking. It exploded reaching the 500 million member mark during the worst recession in US history (2008-2010) since the Great Depression, making Zuckerberg a nearly overnight multi-billionaire.

More benefits of starting business during a bad economy are discussed in “The Benefits Of A Bad Economy.” The author says, by starting your own business while being motivated to find a job, you will already be motivated to succeed. While unemployed you also have the time needed to start up. You are already in a thrifty mode making thrift a strategy for your new business. By running a lean business through hard times, when the economy begins to rebound you can use this strategy to make a lot of money for future expansion, if that is what you want to do.

In this article, “How to get a good job in a bad economy: 7 recession strategies,” the author discusses a job-getting strategy that may be applied to a business start-up as well. The strategy is to freelance full time using skills you already have. You will probably have many different assignments, but, sooner or later, one of your freelance assignments may turn into a full time business for you.

For freelancing, or for any other start-up, you will do better in a business sector that isn’t in a serious decline. For a list of these healthy sectors check these sources:

BusinessWeek.com
HRWorld
Career Hub

If you already have your own business up and running, these sources provide possible new customers from market segments that aren’t suffering so much in the bad economy.

Another thing you can do to improve your openings is to help other people who are unemployed. Share leads and networking events, or invite them for coffee and use the contact to offer your services to others. Helping other people will eventually come back to you in the form of more opportunities.

CONCLUSION

Becoming unemployed is not the end of the world, although it may look that way when the initial shock hits. Do like we have discussed: remain positive at all times, no matter how bad things may seem. The deep economic depression we seem to be sinking into is not the end of the world, either. We have seen there are many opportunities that exist all around a great catastrophe like we are in right now. Unfortunately, the U.S. economy is unlikely to improve signficantly in the next 10 years, according to many economists are saying.
What to do? Exactly as this article discusses. Remain positive at all costs and take advantage of the many opportunities available if you look hard enough. Never look back, never go negative. You will come out much better than before.