Opportunities of a Lifetime

 

Get rich quick, anyone?  Sitting in Reading, Pennsylvania this weekend, I had a shocking revelation.  I went to Pennsylvania for a mutual evaluation with Resource Associates Corporation, a consulting network that specializes in strategic planning, people development and process improvement.  Listening to a host of presenters, I had flashbacks to so many presentations that I attended in the past.  You know the free seminars where they rush you to the back of the room to buy their products or enroll in a coaching program.  Well, RAC was a lot different and quite refreshing.  In fact, they would not let us make an investment before figuring out if we were a good fit for each other, requiring us to come up with a detailed plan to get a return on investment and going home to talk it over with our families.  As our presenters talked, I realized something was different – I had changed.  Previously, I wanted to be an “overnight success”, which caused me to have a ‘get rich quick’ mentality. 

 

Many free seminars are marketing tactics, designed to capitalize on a customer’s internal desire to “get rich quick.”  The funny thing is that a lot of these programs are not considered ‘get rich quick schemes’ (GRQs).  In a nation with a GRQ mentality, there is no need to create pyramid schemes or GRQs.  A lot of companies just make money off of the consumers’ warped reality.  It was my GRQ mentality that caused me to align with the GRQ marketing program (marketing is all about what the customer wants).  That’s why I have about 5 “opportunities of a lifetime” sitting in my office collecting dust.  Granted, the education and experience was well worth it (although at this stage of the game, I would think twice, thrice and four times before making a purchase).  Because of the desire to become instantly rich and a lack of understanding between ‘rich’ and ‘wealthy’, I thought that every ‘opportunity of a lifetime’ was my opportunity.  And I would rush to the back of the room to claim my ‘deal of the decade.’ 

 

Reality check.  Three years and several thousand dollars later, I have realized two things:

1. Had I gotten rich quick, I would have gotten poor even quicker.
2. There is only one true opportunity of a lifetime. 

 

This opportunity does not have an expiration date. Unlike one-time deals, it lasts a lifetime as well.  Your true opportunities of a lifetime are your ability to think, to imagine, to hope, to believe.  And most importantly, they are free.  I agree with India Arie on one thing – “there’s hope.  It doesn’t cost a thing to smile, you don’t have to pay to laugh, you better thank God for that.”  With entrepreneurial vision and proper planning, almost any deal can work as long as it fits within your reality.  Your reality is created by such things as your thoughts, values and beliefs.  The more open minded you are, the bigger your reality can become – allowing you to spot more opportunities.  But as you close your mind, you limit your opportunities by limiting the scope of your reality. 

 

Skepticism and Cynicism.  Unfortunately, GRQs and slick salespeople have caused many people to become skeptical and even cynical about entrepreneurship.  Both skepticism and cynicism can limit your reality.  Think about it.  If your child lies to you once or twice, you may become skeptical about their integrity.  But if they continue to lie, you would allow their lies to confirm your skepticism about their lack of honesty, making it very easy for you to become cynical.  Cynics limit their reality by building a small iron box around their mind.  The same way that you can build this box, you can also break it and begin to expand your reality.

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