Sometimes the business opportunity we have been provided is not an obvious one. As the examples below will prove, a problem can be as valuable an experiences as a dream, or a vision, or a goal when we want to start a business based on our knowledge. They might not look like immediate opportunities, but nevertheless they provide as much interesting information as more traditional and more conventional possibilities. Plus, you can position yourself as an expert because it is clear that you have in-depth knowledge in your field. Think of a setback as a comeback. To a lot of people, someone who dares to turn a personal setback into a business is the ultimate hero. Not only does the person have the know how to run a business, but also the courage to do something different and extraordinary based on a painful experience or perhaps an embarrassing self-discovery. I hope that the examples below give you an idea that we human beings can do anything if we put our mind into it. The only difference between someone who is successful and one who is less successful, is the thoughts the former person is thinking. Think about this way: you are only a thought away from your success.

Just like a success is not an end station, life reveals to us amazing gifts if we only allow them to come into our lives. After reading the four different stories below, no one should have any doubt that it is literally possible to start a business based on the experiences, challenges, setbacks, or defeats that life has decided to throw us. Not only can you turn your dreams into profits, but also many obstacles you have faced in your life. Opportunities do not always come in sweet, nicely wrapped packages. We must be resourceful and open to new ideas. Stepping out of our comfort zones is good advice to follow if we would like to find business opportunities in unconventional places.

Michael Fraser is a successful businessman and a host of the TV series “To Catch a Thief” on British Broadcasting Corporation. He also mentors ex-offenders in another TV program called “Going Straight”. Fraser was brought up in care homes. He turned to crime in his teens was threatened with prison. Fraser was given a chance to work on a milling machine. He described the work monotonous: clamp a piece of metal and cut out a lock. But while other labourers were doing 30 locks in a day, Fraser was doing 100. According to him, he started his day at 04.00am and worked till he dropped- sometimes 17 or 18 hours. But he was making 200 locks in a day. When a company approached him directly, he understood that he could cut out the middleman and saw his business opportunity coming. Fraser decided to buy his own milling machine and he rented a small space. Today he employs 70 people and his company’s turnover is about £7 million. He says: “If I can, I like to give people the chance to make a new start. Someone did it for me once.” Fraser clearly is an example of paying back to the community. And by doing so, he is not only a role-model to prisoners but also those who can identify themselves with his story. Tough upbringing does not mean that life is less generous when measured by business opportunities. It is up to us to keep our eyes open and recognize that business opportunities are not necessary handed over on a silver plate. But there are still important. Fraser clearly understands that his role is not to impress the audience, but to inspire them.

Barry Minkow says that he knows how fraudsters think because he used to be one. He founded a carpet cleaning company at the age of 16. He says that he started the business with the best of intentions, but in his first year he committed 10 felonies, from credit card fraud to stealing jewellery. From then on, the frauds multiplied even if at one point his company was worth $300 million. But in the end Minkow’s name became associated with one of the biggest Wall Street frauds of the 1980’s, and he was convicted of 57 felonies in 1988. When he got out of prison, he was approached by FBI and he decided to start teaching classes for US government agencies and private companies.  He founded the Fraud Discovery Institute to detect and prevent fraud. Minkow had to pay $26 million in restitution when he was released from prison. Today he has uncovered more than a billion dollars worth of fraud. He says: “After my first cases, the judge dismissed the restitution order, but I still voluntarily pay my biggest creditor every month and in 13 years, I have never missed a payment.” Minkow proves that every experience is valuable and precious and we cannot ignore or overlook our darkest moments. Life itself is a journey and all experiences can be utilized and monetized. From Minkow’s setback can be learnt the power of vision, the power of decision and the power of action. Minkow reminds us that our past does not equal our future and what other people’s definition or diagnosis of us is does not have to be our ours.

“I am ugly and proud of it”, says Gonzalo Otalora. He decided to write a book about his experiences of being visually unappealing in Argentina. He called the book “Ugly”. Otalora says that at school he was picked on all the time. He was a kid with the Coke-bottle glasses, the spots and the braces. According to him, he was not treated as ugly but as an idiot. He told that writing a book was great therapy. “There are not any other books about what it is like to be ugly and not turn into a swan.” Today teenagers confide personal matters to him that they cannot tell anyone else. Otalora says that he wants to help build ugly kid’s self-esteem. Otalora teaches us how valuable and necessary role models are. We all need them in order to grow as human beings. His story is also a classic example of niche marketing. He understood that he had to concentrate on the solution and not the problem. The solution is always waiting to be born, waiting to be discovered, waiting to be uncovered and Otalora brought it to life. In life, we all have challenges, problems and setbacks. Otalora teaches us that there is no use in crying when it is raining and there is no use in worrying about the problems. Otalora clearly demonstrates to us that failure and rejection are not bad. On the contrary they can be empowering.

Natasha Wood is a 37-year who lives in Nottingham in England. She has suffered from spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) since birth. Wood cannot lift a glass of milk. She cannot walk, either. SMA is a neuromuscular disorder. Wood says: “It is a cliché, but you just have to get on with it. I have never been what you would call depressed, just the odd off-day, that is all.” She has now her own auto-biographical one-woman show called “Rolling with Laughter”. It is a one woman play, with a mix of scenes and narration. Every character is real and every line is true. Natasha is currently writing a book and screenplay and will be touring the full version of her autobiographical play on a National Tour in spring 2010. Natasha Wood was nominated for Woman of the Year 2008. Natasha Wood’s life clearly indicates us how much we can learn from people who carry a powerful message. Without her, our lives would be poorer and we would lack a powerful reminder of how Wood clearly has not let anything to stop her. Natasha Wood is a living example that you might not be able to choose what happens to you, but you can control what happens in you. And you can control what you do about what happens to you.

All the above mentioned persons remind us that success is not a chance but a choice. It is up to us to choose to be successful. It is not the circumstances which are important, but how we respond to those circumstances. Our response is the ultimate determining factor between failure and success. It is important to choose to respond not to react. Winners tend to respond while losers choose to react. The difference between react and respond is that the former means that you see the situation from a negative perspective. Clearly the four persons understand that it is decision and belief which are keys to turn the setbacks into comebacks. They decided to do something and then believed in the decision.

Many of us have skills and talents that we never use. Incredible possibilities are within our reach. They are all around us. Look at every problem as an opportunity. Reinvent yourself, constantly stretch and grow and be willing to try anything new. I hope that you have leant new ways of starting a business.

When individuals rise above their circumstances and use problems to push them to become more, they grasp greatness. Nelson Mandela

©2009 Accidental Small Business Owner