What to do when opportunity knocks

Creating opportunityA lot of people think that people are born successful.  For most people, that isn’t true. Most people are not born successful.

Sure, some people are born into a situation; for example, a family business.  Others happen to be in the right place at the right time – often when a business is failing and the owners are ready to throw in the towel.

For the most part though, people are successful for one main reason – they see opportunity where others do not.

Here are a few examples to consider.

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Bigger business isn’t necessarily better business

For one reason or another, we’re pre-programmed to fear big businesses. As a result, we don’t try, we don’t compete, and we simply just give up. Why is that?

Years ago, being a big business was absolutely required if you wanted to be successful. That’s not the case though anymore. In fact, you don’t need to be Walmart, Google or even Amazon.com to be successful.  Instead, you can be (more) successful as a small business – just look at Instagram.

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If you’re not first, you’re last

If you're not first, you're last | Ricky Bobby, Talladega Nights

How many people remember who came in second, third, fourth or fifth place? Not many. In fact, if you’re not first, you’re last if you ask me.

What does it mean to be number one?

Being number one in any area – whether it’s the Valedictorian of your graduating class, or the head honcho at your job, means you are the man (or woman).  With it, also comes added scrutiny.

So why would you want to be first and not second, third, fourth or fifth and have less pressure?  Because no one cares who came in second, they only care about who’s in first.

In fact, that’s how you should treat anything that you do. You WANT to be first. You WANT to be on-top. You WANT to be scrutinized because the more pressure that is put on you, the more you’ll rise to the occasion and elevate your game.

Additionally, being first affords you the opportunity to lead the pack – just look at Apple and Facebook, they’re leaders in their industry. Anytime they make a move, the rest of the industry tries to keep up. Look at what you do now in your field. Are you a follower or a leader? Most likely, you’re a follower, but you can change that.

Now I know what you’re thinking – someone is already first in my field, I can’t change that – yes you can! It just means you’re going to have to work harder, build more relationships, and do things better than the competition, that is unless you’re ok with not being the leader, the one out front driving others.

Take some time to think about it, do you want to be first or last? I know which one I would choose. How about you?

Turning I Can’t Into I Can

The glass is half full, the glass is half emptyHow many times have you told yourself, I’ll get to it tomorrow? Tomorrow comes and what happens, nothing. As the days go on, the same thing continues to happen. You keep telling yourself you’ll get it done (whatever the project is), and you continue to procrastinate. Pretty soon, one, two, three months go by and you still haven’t moved forward on anything.

When we stop to think about it (which we have lots of time to do anyways because we aren’t doing anything to begin with), the reason why you are not getting things done is because you’re putting roadblocks in front of you by telling yourself, I can’t.

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15 GREAT social media quotes

Left quotation markAs many of you know, I’m extremely passionate about social media and helping show others how powerful a tool that it can be to build and help grow any project. One key thing to remember is that just because someone else is already wildly successful in your field, you shouldn’t let it stop you. Instead, you should use it to motivate you, not to be good, but to be GREAT at what you do.

Below is a list of my 15 favorite quotes about social media. Remember, quotes can educate, provoke thought, and inspire others to do GREAT things. Feel free to share them, quote them, or add your own (in the comments section below). Enjoy!

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