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Keep Your Eyes Opened For Golden Opportunities

The people who do fulfill their dreams!

Hermann Bock

June 29, 2006

There are several reasons why people succeed in the world. Some people work really hard, others have had luck. However, there is a group of people who have succeeded beyond their wildest dreams because they saw an opportunity and positioned themselves to take advantage of it.

The big question is: What important and practical lessons can we learn from this type of people?

Let's examine just two very well known examples of this kind of people, namely, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon.com and Bill Gates the architect of Microsoft.

Even though both were in a very good position to start with, the fact that they HAD A VISION of what they wanted allowed them to identify very important opportunities that launched their careers beyond their wildest dreams, when that happened, the financial part just followed. I'm pretty sure when I assert that none of them had a clue of where they would end. They just followed their vision.

Let's look closer at Bill Gates. His belief, right from the beginning, was that the computer would be a valuable tool on every office desktop and in every home at some point in the future. This prompted him to start developing software for those computers. He founded a company and after some years the big opportunity showed itself.

IBM wanted to develop the PC and they needed an operating system for it. Bill Gates was given the opportunity to sign a contract with IBM to provide this operating system, the interesting point is that his company did not have an operating system at the time and yet, he signed the contract. He did not have an operating system, but he had a vision. He went ahead and bought an operating systems for $50,000 from another company and used it on the PC. The rest is history.

What about Jeff Bezos? Well, in 1994 when the commercial Internet was in diapers and no actual e-commerce to speak of existed, it came to his attention that the Internet was growing at a incredible 2300 percent a year. He saw an opportunity for a new sphere of commerce, and immediately began considering the possibilities.

What did he do? Methodically, he took a look at the top 20 direct marketing businesses, and asked himself a proactive question: What type of business would work better over the Internet than by traditional means? Of course, after asking the right question, he discovered the right answer: “Books”. 

They were a commodity for which no comprehensive mail order catalogue existed, and if you have ever been to the book fair in Frankfurt, Germany it would be clear that any such catalogue would be way too big to mail; and therefore it was perfect for the Internet, no need to mail anything and no space limits.

The very next day he took a plane to LA to attend the American Booksellers' Convention. Where he discovered that the major book wholesalers had already electronic databases of their book inventory. All that was needed was a single location on the Internet, where the book-buying public could search the available stock and place orders directly.

Another very interesting point is that to start this business, it would mean sacrificing a, so called, secure position in New York. He and his wife, Mackenzie, decided to follow his vision, he could see the money. Amazon.com was born and, like they say, the rest is history.

What do we learn from this? In order to succeed, one of the best ways is to first DEVELOP A VISION of what you want. This has to be a very clear vision in your head. One that will help you identify the right opportunity. Once the opportunity shows itself, TAKE ACTION. Don't just sit there and think about how it could or would've been. DO SOMETHING! That is exactly what these two guys did and look at where they are now.

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