The BIGG Successs Show
How Opportunity Often Presents Itself
Tips for spotting your bigg opportunity. Read our show summary at biggsuccess.com.
Welcome to The Big Success Show! Today, we'll discuss how opportunity often presents itself. The Big Success Show with George and Mary Lynn. On a recent Sunday, we attended a college graduation with thousands of other people. Now at one point, we wanted a cup of coffee and we noticed this food court earlier in the day. So we walked that way only to see the lights off and no staff, right? And it was a long walk to get there. That's for sure. Big place. Big. Big with two G's. We were disappointed that we couldn't get our coffee, but we were also really puzzled as to why they wouldn't be open on a day with so many potential customers. I actually got kind of cranky about it. I'll say. But they could have raked in a lot of money. Had they just been open for business. Sure could have. So it got us thinking about missed opportunities and more importantly, our own missed opportunities. Now the thing is, you can't avoid missing opportunities, right? Because opportunities all around. It happens. But here's the thing. What you really want to do is spot the opportunities that will make a material difference in your life. Now over the course of our life, we probably have less than five of these. Those are the opportunities that make the difference between success and big success. Yeah, and it's often easier to spot the other person's missed opportunity than it is our own. Yes, isn't that funny? Yes, if only everyone else could be as perfect as us, right? But the reason is, is because we experience the result of the other person's missed opportunity. Yeah, we don't experience our own, so we don't know about it, right? Right, and we may never find out, which means we're bound to miss it again. Oh, that vicious circle. Yes. So the thing is, most customers won't tell you when you miss an opportunity. At best, they keep it to themselves. At worst, they tell others. Yeah, like what we're doing. Exactly. So how do you get them to tell you about your missed opportunities? One word, ask. Ah, and you shall receive. Exactly. If you want to find your missed opportunities, develop a way to get customer feedback. You know, in the heat of the moment, people are more than willing to let you know what you missed out on. Sometimes not too nicely. Well, but at least you know. That's right, it's better than not knowing at all. And it's not good enough to just ask. One of the things I learned from being in business is that you need a system to track those comments, so that you can respond to them. And most importantly, work them into your system. That's how you continue to serve your customers better and better. And this just doesn't apply to people in business for themselves. I mean, this is for brand U as well. Ask your boss, ask your co-workers who you pass your work on to. Because they're your customers. Exactly. How can you do your job better so they can do their job better? And the second way to find out about your missed opportunities is observe. One of the things I've noticed, Mary Lynn, is our big opportunities usually don't come stamped with opportunity all over them. You know, they're often presented to us. I sounded like Jimmy Stewart there, didn't I? Spin it out and you've come over and hit you. They're often presented to us as a problem. A problem that no one else wants to tackle. And big success often comes to those who see these problems as their big opportunity. And coming up, the story of a man who went from employee to partner by spotting his big opportunity. Today, we're talking about missed opportunities. And we've discussed two ways to find your missed opportunities. They often present themselves as a problem. And Napoleon Hill and his great book, "Think and Grow Rich," told a story that perfectly illustrates this. Edwin C. Barnes had one goal. To become Thomas Edison's partner in business. He got a job for Edison working as a salesperson. One day, Barnes learned that Edison had just invented the dictating machine. Edison was excited about this new device, but he had a problem. His salespeople didn't think it would sell. They didn't think it was worth the effort. Barnes recognized this as his big opportunity. He took on the task of selling Edison's newest invention. He did sell it so successfully, in fact, that Edison made him his partner. So Edwin Barnes spotted his big opportunity to everyone else. It was a huge problem, right? But Barnes turned it into big success. We have a link to the book, "Think and Grow Rich," on our blog today at bigsuccess.com. It's also where we have a written summary of today's show. And hey, while you're there, tell us about the opportunities we're missing. We're asking, so tell us. We're begging. We'd love to know how we can serve you better. And let's get our big quote for the day. Our big quote comes from Thomas Edison, who said, "I love this quote, Marilyn, "opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." So find your a-ha in everyone else's, oh, that was a good one, Marilyn. Next time, we'll talk about how to find your passion. Until then, here's to your big success. The Big Success Show at B-I-G-G Success.com (music) [BLANK_AUDIO]