Work to Create Your Own Opportunity - the Path to Being an Entrepreneur

                                                                                                                           Picture by Flckr JAM343

To be a successful entrepreneur may require you to put forth extra effort.  Opportunities for change and success do not come by chance.  To gain them requires constant, persistent effort.   It has been said that “luck” occurs when preparation meets opportunity.  If this is true, then there is no such thing as luck.  Opportunities come as a result of preparation.

While Washington, D.C.-based real estate developer, Adrian Washington, didn't start his career with a well-defined plan (he let his interest lead him), success came to him through opportunities he worked to create.  Mr. Washington did his homework.  He worked diligently to build his knowledge base and learn his trade.  He worked to develop his network, with the understanding that business opportunities are really about connecting with people.  He also built his reputation by completing a series of successful projects that spoke to his capabilities and increased his presence in his profession.  With these accomplishments, opportunities came.

Having done his homework and put in the time, Mr. Washington was prepared.  As a result, he was able to take advantage of the opportunities that came his way.  According to Mr. Washington, preparation is key.  It requires investing time and effort, while constantly seeking ways to increase your knowledge and understanding of your chosen field.  To achieve success as an entrepreneur requires that you focus not solely on immediate gains, but also on future success.  A successful entrepreneur understands the benefits of delayed gratification.   As a developer, Mr. Washington enjoys a unique and gratifying position.  He has built a company that yields monetary gains for its employees and shareholders.  At the same time, however, he does not do it by tearing down communities or displacing its residents.  Rather, he builds communities and in many ways re-vitalizes them by hiring people in the neighborhoods he seeks to build.  By doing so, Mr. Washington helps to fundamentally improve the communities around him.  He has enjoyed this rewarding challenge and is excited that he has been presented with such an extraordinary opportunity.  However, it wasn’t chance or luck that brought this opportunity to him, it was his preparation that enabled him to capitalize on the opportunity and make it a reality.

What do you first do when you learn to swim? You make mistakes, do you not? And what happens? You make other mistakes, and when you have made all the mistakes you possibly can without drowning - and some of them many times over - what do you find? That you can swim? Well - life is just the same as learning to swim! Do not be afraid of making mistakes, for there is no other way of learning how to live! –Alfred Adler