Only the Rich get Opportunities

Whenever I talk to people on the street, in conference rooms, on the phone and in many other situations one of the major themes I hear from them is the belief they have which says that only the rich get the opportunities out there. Most of them who hold this belief find all the reasons why they believe what they believe, they come up with things like family contacts, being smarter, being born into the right community, and even the rich’s ability to use the opportunities that come their way because they have the financial backing.

I sometimes engage these folk in a discussion about their belief and I always begin by stating that great majorities of rich people were not rich at some point in their lives. Most were not born into riches, many were dirt poor or started out with very little but they all used the opportunities that came their way to benefit them. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs and Oprah Winfrey were not always a billionaires they came from modest and dirt poor backgrounds. Mr. Sangsters (of the Sangsters Book Store fame) started out poor he used to sell magazine from his bicycle back then. Billy Joel used to sleep in Laundromats at one point early in his career, in fact he even had suicidal thoughts early on when thing weren’t going well for him in those days.

You may not be able to get involved in certain businesses at certain times in a certain way but there are always other avenues open and available to you. So you may not be able to gain control of a major cellular phone company, as that field is very saturated. You however, could instead get in on the cellular accessories market or the phone card market. If you work in a sugar factory as a workman it is unlikely (although possible) that you’ll be able to become the owner of the factory any time soon. But what if you begin to think and act in a certain way that says opportunities abound, you can soon leave the factory and start a fish farm and become a producer of fresh water fish and sell to shops and supermarkets. This is an opportunity that is begging for investment as more and more people move away from eating meat. It’s not impossible.

You are poor not because there are no opportunities available to you. No one group of people has any monopoly on opportunities. You are poor because you failed to see and make use of the opportunities that come your way. You are poor because when no opportunity comes you do nothing to create your own opportunity.

People who have opportunities generally go out and seek it and if they can’t find it they create it. These people act and think differently from those who see no opportunity or believe that only the rich have the opportunities.

One of my favourite programs on television is called ‘The Big Idea’ on CNBC and hosted by Donny Deutsch. Every episode this program features people who are making millions of dollars with their business ideas and these people come up with some needed and in some cases very unusual products. What’s most fascinating about the people who appear on the program is that they are all ordinary people like you and me, from stay at home moms to garbage collectors to secretaries, to bus drivers, they all came up with product ideas, saw an opportunity and worked their buts off to make them reality. You all will do well to watch this program a couple of times, it’s a great motivator to get you look for opportunities out there and there are many.

You will remain where you are in life as long as you continue to think and do things the way you have always done them. You are not poor because money is in short supply, or because there is not enough wealth to go around, or because you are not smart or not smart enough. You are poor because you not do the things that will make you see and use your opportunities and become rich.