Opportunity is knocking

Opportunity is a very interesting thing. I’ve heard many people say that “you need to be prepared for when opportunity comes a knockin’ on your door”, as if there’s no telling when it’ll meander your way. It seems to me, however, now that I’ve answered that proverbial door several times to find opportunity smiling broadly at me from my front porch, that it has been there all along. It has actually been knocking all along too, but my ignorance has kept me from knowing what to listen for. Though many would probably disagree with me, I would contend that it is also completely an unbiased and non-discriminating visitor that knocks on almost everyone’s door on a regular basis. If this were not so, what other explanation could we give for the fact that multi-millionaire business owners, popular celebrities, famous authors, influential inventors, successful entrepreneurs, recognized athletes, and powerful world leaders have come from both affluent and poverty-stricken backgrounds alike? Yes, a good deal of their success CAN be attributed to talent, but as Robert Kiyosaki said in his book Rich Dad, Poor Dad, “the world is full of talented poor people.”

Timing also plays a significant part in the achievement of those afore mentioned, but even timing is just a companion to opportunity. In fact, one might even say that opportunity is always punctual for its appointments. Opportunity has many such companions. Ambition, patience, humility, tenacity, ingenuity, faith, imagination, hope, diligence, wisdom, curiosity, and experience are just a few of opportunity’s many friends. Opportunity, itself, is a perspective…a method of observation. It is said that once you learn HOW to recognize opportunities, you’ll never STOP recognizing them. It’s like putting on a pair of night vision goggles after stumbling around in a pitch black room, and suddenly seeing EVERYTHING you’ve been bumping into for years. Finally, you can not only see what you’ve missed out on, but also what lies ahead of you. It’s a paradigm shift from ignorance to enlightenment. You’re able to see what others miss. You can see others stumbling around in the dark, feeling blindly and aimlessly on a path that might or might not lead them to a safe and profitable place.

It’s important to note that not all opportunities are equal either. Some are very small and have as little an impact on our lives as what we wear to work from day to day. Others are can be utterly life-altering in potential. Regardless of their magnitude, though, all opportunities are good things. That’s why they’re called “opportunities”….they’re opportune, fortuitous, timely and favorable in nature. Ever heard of a bad opportunity? No, those would be accidents, mishaps, mistakes and misfortunes.

The other day opportunity knocked again on my door. This time it happened with some new friends who were invited over for dinner. While eating dinner and getting to know this couple better, we discussed some of our similar interests. One of these interests was art. Michelle, it turns out, is a very talented photographer. She’s in the beginning stages of her new business and, like me, is always looking for great new ideas. While asking her about her photo shoot process, she said some things that struck a cord and caused me to recognize the knock of an old friend. Yes, opportunity had just made a surprise visit. Over the next few minutes, I proceeded to present my new idea to her as it unfolded in my mind. I felt more like a conduit for the arrival of this new immerging idea than a recipient of it.

This blog entry is supposed to be about the nature of opportunity, itself, and not the idea that it handed to me on this occasion. However, if I were you, the reader, I’d probably be irritated at read about an alluded idea, and not the idea itself. So, to appease your curiosity, here’s the idea in a nutshell.

Michelle’s photography is, in her own words, “images created [to] truly give a depiction of your relationship with each other and the love you share.” I’ve often referred to my own Tyed Art Name Designs as artistic reflections of the family’s love for each other and their sense of togetherness. These two ideas seem to really compliment each other well. The two talents that we have, photography and artistic design, collaborated in my mind in the form of a piece of combined artwork. My Tyed Art Name Design surrounded by the photographic images of family members and then framed within custom matting and framework. I created a virtual prototype of the product to show her and she seemed to like it. I took one of the Name Designs that I had already done (didn’t want to crate a new one JUST to get my point across), and combined it with a bunch of pictures I had on file.

I’m excited about the idea, and hope that it doesn’t become a mere member of the “lost-in-the-sea-of-ideas” club that resides in my brain vomit book. I don’t know the magnitude of its potential opportunity yet, but I suppose hindsight alone will afford me that perspective. For now, I’ll have to depend on opportunity’s friends, motivation, imagination, and curiosity.