Do You See Opportunities or Obstacles?

I get up with the radio every morning, as I’m sure most of you do. For years, my wife wanted to set the station to music, but I’ve always held out for talk radio. I don’t really expect you to care about my radio alarm habits. I bring this up more from the point of view of what you hear first thing in the morning can affect your thoughts all day.

Many people listen to the radio or watch television to find out traffic and weather for the day, and see what happened overnight they should be aware of. In between the traffic and weather, we’re treated to a litany of ills and woes; rising unemployment, rising foreclosures, raising taxes, falling home values. It’s easy to get depressed and want to stay in bed with the covers pulled over your head.

However, this kind of news separates the software and technology entrepreneurs from the rest of the world. Where the average person sees obstacles and problems, the entrepreneur sees opportunities and challenges. If everything stayed the same, there would be no room for growth. Without the problems, the challenges, the issues, everything would stay the same.

The average person listens to the news, current events and becomes afraid. They fear for their jobs, their homes, their way of life. Everything they do is based on that fear. They go to work and try to attract the least amount of attention. They don’t rock the boat. They don’t speak up. They believe the only way to succeed in this kind of economy is to lie low until it passes, hopefully with their jobs still intact.

What kind of thinking is that? These are the times to start getting out there and seeing what’s possible. This is the time for doing, not cringing in the shadows. Hewlett-Packard was formed in 1939 during the Great Depression. There are many that say today’s economic conditions make it impossible for you to start a business right now. “Everything is always impossible before it works. That is what entrepreneurs are all about—doing what people have told them is impossible (R. Hunt Greene).”

The best time to embrace opportunity is when you see it. True entrepreneurs know and understand that.