When opportunity knocks on your door, what do you do?
You do everything you can to grab it?
WRONG!
Why? Let me explain.
The opportunities I am referring to can be in the forms of real estate investment, stocks investment and options trading, starting your own business (both online and offline), network marketing, etc.
I used to do this.
I’d attend every seminar, workshop, meeting, discussion group or buy books that had got to do with all these areas – in the hope that I’d make lots of money.
You know what did I get at the end of the day?
I bet you wouldn’t believe me if I tell you that the answer is failure.
Okay, to be fair, I won’t call it failure. Let’s call it learning experiences. I end up where I began or worse…
I bet you’d have experienced the same situation. You chase after every opportunity. You work very hard. After a while, the results that these people promised seem to be nowhere near.
You feel very tired and you begin to doubt whether you are doing the right thing.
When there’s an opportunity for you to be rich, does it mean that you have to go after it?
No, you don’t need to and you must not. You have to decide whether it’s suitable for you.
I don’t call it “learning experiences” for no reason.
After blindly chasing every opportunity that crossed my path, I have set some guidelines to determine if I should go after a certain opportunity.
Here they are:
1) You must have your own product. Having your own product gives you a lot of flexibility and control over quality, price, marketing, and it’s an asset that carries value.
2) You must have control over the company. You can partner with someone provided you still hold the power to make decisions.
3) If you choose to, the business that you’re in can be sold for cash or go public. Why? So that you can have enough money to retire and do what you love to do!
I am speaking from my experience. I came up with the checklist after I went through a series of “learning experiences”.
Warning: Don’t be deceived by its simplicity. The checklist is so powerful that many opportunities fail the test.
Here’s how it works: Opportunities that do not fulfill the simple 3 criteria will not be considered by me at all.
Not a chance.
For example, insurance, unit trust, franchise, Adsense, etc. will fail the test. (Sorry, if you’re in this business. I used to be in some too.)
The list helps me gain clarity. It cuts through a lot of “noise” so that I can focus only on important opportunities. Because you don’t want to waste your time and effort to build something that you don’t have control over.
Try it yourself, you’ll be amazed that the list empowers you and reduce the “I want to chase after every opportunity” syndrome.
One caveat: Having said this, I don’t mean that you can’t make money if the opportunity doesn’t fulfill the criteria. It’s just that it’s not the type of business that I want to build – the type that won’t last and I don’t have control.
Have fun,
Abel Cheng
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