Creating Opportunities

The media keeps telling us that we are in a historic time right now. There is a great deal of uncertainty with the global economy. Many are worried about how bad things will really get. Today, the latest unemployment numbers for the week came out and they were up substantially. This is after the Senate approved a landmark "bailout" package last evening. Obviously, this creates an tremendous amount of pessimism.

I read an article earlier which mentioned that we are heading into a recession. It seems the official barometer of two consecutive quarters of negative growth will be reached. I am so glad the government finally caught up with what most already knew. My travels enables me to talk with many small business owners. These people were experiencing the effects of the economic downturn for the last 12-15 months. If you want to find out the facts, go to those who are on the front lines of the action.

How bad will this get? There is no way for anyone to determine that. However, with every downturn comes opportunities. People who are willing to look at the situation as "half full" will fare much better than those who take the "half empty" approach. This I can guarantee. My presumption is that most people will throw a "pity party" as opposed of plunging forward with something that could make a difference in their lives.

Let us use the stock market as an example. The last few months have seen it hammered. This is the worst stretch that I can remember in terms of sustained volatility. In particular, the industrial stocks were devastated. Many of these lost 50%-60% in the last 12 months. However, there will be a lot of wonderful opportunities in this sector in the next few months. If the bottom was not reached, it cannot be far. Most of these companies are now on sale. That means it is a good time to pick them up.

One of the shrewdest investors is Warren Buffet. The last two weeks saw him go on a huge buying spree. If memory serves me correctly, he dropped about $15 billion in that time. Why would the richest man in the world do this? The reason is because he is trained to see an opportunity when it is presented. While many others were worrying about the market crashing, he was analyzing the underlying value of the companies. This is how he could see what others missed.

There is a saying about "keeping your head while everyone else loses theirs". This is how we create opportunities when others see chaos. What can you do that will change your situation? Losing a job is a terrible thing for people to go through. However, it also opens up so many possibilities; starting a business, going back to school, or making a career change. The point is that we need to have the proper mindset to create the opportunities that lead to success. Instead of dwelling on all that is wrong, begin to look for all the possibilities you are faced with. With each downturn, there are tremendous opportunities.
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