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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

The purpose of my reading is not so much to teach you or motivate you to start a business of your own, but to remind you that it is an option-which considering current economic circumstances, cannot be overlooked. If having a purpose in your life means running your own business rather than working for someone else, then my words are almost tailor-made for you. When you hear my voice, I would like you to understand that I am not trying to teach you tricks of the trade, but rather to point out of alternative avenues. If you, for instance, have been made redundant and you think that you are facing an extraordinarily tough time finding the work you used to do, understand this: I have been there too and I am with you now and I care.  

I also thought for many decades that being educated at the University level would be my safety net. I understood that gaining expertise and knowledge increased my chances to be at the top of my chosen profession. Today I know better. Whilst I cannot say that the employers are no longer interested in people who have decided to educate themselves to the degree level, I must confess that there are quite a lot of people who have finished their studies and are looking for jobs where they could perhaps use the knowledge they have gained. Have University degrees suffered from inflation and do only the degrees from the top Universities in the world count? These are not issues I would rather go any deeper into.  

But perhaps the greatest shock to me is that people who have gained substantial knowledge in their professional field are considered too expensive and younger and less experienced professionals are preferred. Call me naive, but I always thought that I would feel safer if for instance an airline pilot would be more experienced and evidently older than someone who is just about to start his/her pilot career. I would be more relaxed if a doctor, who supposed to operate me, could tell me that he/she has done the same operation many times before. I would think that a judge who has been in the same profession for many, many years would have gained so much knowledge about the society in general that the verdict based on the law of a particular country would also reflect that he/she understands how laymen comprehend the word justice. 

Now, dear listener or reader, you know my background and thought pattern when I have been contemplating the purpose of my life and particularly how to find something meaningful to do which would also pay the bills and allow me to enjoy the so-called “good life”. Little by little I started to understand how important it is to value the vast amount of knowledge and wisdom we all have, and seriously think about how we could do something concrete with our expertise. How to come up with a business idea is an e-book I have written to help those who would like to start a business but do not have a business idea of their own. It is a reminder of what we could do with our skills, talent, and knowledge we have gained; probably while working for someone else. The most asked question among human beings is: “What is the purpose of our working lives?” We would like to know what are we supposed to do here work wise and what are we good at? It is not an easy question, and there is no single answer which would satisfy everybody. For many years I thought the answer would be known to everyone else, and if I asked almost any professional person they would be able to help me. Today I believe the answer lies inside us.  We all know the work we were born to do; the irony is that we do not know that we know.  

Does the world owe us a living? Instead of blaming the economy or our bad luck, past or present employers, co-workers – and needless to say the list goes on – try another approach. Losing a job is demoralising and it is hard to stay positive every day knowing that time is not on your side. The longer you are unemployed, the harder it is to find a suitable job. In a recent article published in the Sunday Times newspaper in UK, I read that if someone who is unemployed and over 50 years old does not find another job within six months, there is a considerable risk that the person will never work again. This is important because in United Kingdom, for instance,  more over-fifties are being made redundant than younger workers. 

The world has moved on and you probably feel that you are the only one left behind. Know this: You are not the only one; there are plenty of people in a similar kind of a situation who can identify with your loneliness and desperation of finding a decent job and making a living. While you have been busy looking for another job, you perhaps have not had the time to focus on the fact that the thoughts you are having day in and day out really create your reality. Losing a job is a form of rejection. Being unemployed is probably one of the toughest experiences in your life and it easily eats your self-esteem. It carries a stigma that what you can offer is no longer needed.  

Keep in mind that unless you can let go of the victim mentality and asking the “why me” question, you are not really making any progress. Try to start seeing the world in a different light. I acknowledge that this is easily said than done. If you are feeling stuck all the time, the reason for this is that we make our own reality by thinking. If you are thinking the same thoughts over and over again, and you are not using your mind to visualize the end result of your dream or your goal; life becomes exceedingly pointless and mundane. Since thoughts become reality, very soon today is just like yesterday and tomorrow will be no different. We are creating our reality by the thoughts we are thinking. The correlation between our attitude and the thoughts we think, shapes our lives. If your thoughts are not aligned with your beliefs, no hoping, wishing, or even praying for a particular outcome is possible. 

If your thoughts are something like: “No one really appreciates me and understands what I am capable of providing,” or “If I only could get a chance to show how much I could deliver,” you are not doing yourself a favour. On the contrary, you are digging your own grave. If you feel underappreciated and you think that you are underappreciated, without a shadow of a doubt, that is then your reality whether you like it or not. You cannot climb the corporate ladder or find a job where you would feel appreciated if you do not change your thoughts. You perhaps have not realised earlier on that thoughts always become your reality. Not only the positive ones but also the negative ones. There are no coincidences or accidents in this world because we make our own reality by the thoughts we think. Working with your thoughts is now your objective. First, become aware and know what kind of thoughts you are thinking, and then learn to turn around the thoughts which do not serve you or your purpose.  

A lot of us think that the idea of running a business is like jumping out of a perfectly good aeroplane without a parachute. It is a jump into the unknown, uncertainty and unpredictable. And all these are scary. But think about this way: If we always knew what the future would hold for us, there would be no surprises and we would probably become bored. If you believe like I do, that we write the script of our lives, then perhaps you would understand why I say that it is time to name us as a hero in our manuscript and have a happy ending. By doing so, the unknown future becomes less of an issue. It is like the darkness of the night which we have grown to accept, knowing that after every night there is a new day with new opportunities and possibilities. In the unknown world, we have a chance to set up goals which will guide us to achieve something in the world of work. Goals, no matter how small, are landmarks which keep us on the right track and help us to feel good when we know we have gained something meaningful. Getting away completely from the unexpected is not possible. Learn to visualize the end result what you want. Concentrate on what you want and not what you do not want.  

Your work is to discover your world and then with all your heart give yourself to it.  ~Buddha 
 

©2009 Accidental Small Business Owner

The Bishop of London, Rt. Rev. Richard Chartres said those who are made redundant may welcome the release from a working life that left them responding to emails and phone calls at all hours over their Blackberry devices. He said the financial crisis would help people work out what is truly valuable in life. “Sometimes indeed people seem to be relieved to get off the treadmill and to be given an opportunity to reconsider what they really want out of life,” he stated. However, he faces accusations of insensitivity at a time when unemployment is at a 12-year high, close to 2 million in Britain, causing thousands of redundant workers to see their houses repossessed as they fall behind with mortgage payments.

Losing your job is never easy because it is not only your way of making a living you have lost, but also your colleagues and your lifestyle. The current economic climate makes it even harder. Britain is at “serious risk” of entering a decade-long recession similar to that experienced by Japan in the 1990s, the outgoing deputy governor of the Bank of England, Sir John Gieve, has warned the nation recently.

According to the International Monetary Fund, Britain is to suffer worst recession of any advanced nation. The economy will shrink by 2.8 per cent this year, with Britain faring significantly worse than the United States, Western Europe or Japan due to its reliance on the financial sector.

Not much of a comfort now, but the recession will pass and the economic situation worldwide will get better. But the real issue is: your job might not be there any more. The whole sector of an industry may be gone. The consumer behaviour may have changed beyond recognition. The products and services are constantly changing to provide better value to consumers. When the recession is finally over, you might not even have the necessary skills to serve clients the best possible way.

In life everything happens for a reason and each step back ends up being two steps forward. There is, no matter how gloomy the recession and its consequences, a silver lining. The hardest way to learn is by experience, but experience is also the best teacher. Use this time to be inspired. You could do worse than thinking about how you could come up with a business idea of your own.

©2009 Accidental Small Business Owner

In Britain the government ministers fear that the economic downturn will be felt differently by men and women. The reason is that the rising jobless rate is often harder on women because their tendency to earn less and work part-time so they can care for family members. As women tend to work in smaller workplaces, redundancies go unnoticed by the media. Those women who are still employed may have to take on more work-an extra job or longer hours-to make up for a male breadwinner who has lost his job.

British ministers fear employers will cut female personnel much more readily than male workers as the downturn accelerates. Ministers have expressed concern that women will be targeted by employers seeking to avoid the costs of new policies, such as flexible working rights and longer maternity leave. Ministers also fear some of those being laid off are victims of discrimination and could be out of the workforce for a generation.

There is something you could at least consider while waiting the economy to turn around and finding your dream job again.

It might seem counterintuitive to start a new business when the economy is in downturn. But a recession can actually be the ideal time for launching a company. In fact, many well-known and successful organizations were born during an economic slump. Launching a start up in a recession will teach you how to be shrewd and prudent with your time, money, resources, and investment. Another positive effect of a bearish economy is cheap resources.

The following major corporations made it big during recessions.

In 1975, when Microsoft was created by Harvard University dropout Bill Gates, it was just a little company in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It dealt in rudimentary computing languages and began its climb to business stardom with the success of MS-DOS, which was sold and marketed to IBM Corp. and then IBM clones.

Burger King Corp., with its flame-broiled burgers, is another recession startup. The company began in 1954 when James McLamore and David Edgerton opened a Burger King restaurant in Miami, Florida. During another recession in 1957, the company introduced its successful signature burger — the Whopper.

Why did these companies succeed? Usually it is because the founders recognized a market need and filled it. Identifying that need is the key to any thriving business, regardless of the economic climate in which it begins.

©2009 Accidental Small Business Owner

In the past 20 or 30 years, western companies have benefited from the two big labour market trends: globalization, which has allowed them to take advantage of cheaper labour costs in other countries, and rapid technological progress, which has allowed them to replace humans with machines. Corporate profits have soared but human casualties have been heavy. Millions of people have lost their jobs and, lacking the skills that employers are ready to pay for, have unwillingly joined the hidden army of unemployed – living more or less permanently on benefits, giving rise to the ugly new term: “the underclass,” which describes those for whom society no longer has an obvious role.

How does feel to be a person who has “passed his/her sell-by-date”? We all age and grow old but somehow elderly people have a stigma: very few employers openly welcome them. It is a paradox of the modern society: it is as if the more you know the less likely it is that you will find an employer who is willing to pay for your skills and expertise. Recruitment agencies more or less openly admit that they do not put the cvs of elderly people in front of their clients.

Countless amounts of scientific data have proved that elderly people are as virile and dynamic as the younger generation. And they are more loyal than Y-generation. Why is it that being old is considered like modern day leprosy? Show grey hair and wrinkles on your face and you have become a pariah.

So, while companies talk the talk about corporate social responsibility, and publish reports advertising their sustainable business models and ethical trading practices, should companies be less tightfisted when they are getting rid of older employees? Should they be contributing more? Should they help people who struggle to find work due to their age to at least provide a helping hand so that older workers could start a business of their own?  I think so.

©2009 Accidental Small Business Owner

Do your rumpled clothes and lank hair point to a life that has failed to live up to your high expectations? Do you think that the compromises you have made in your career have filled your life soullessness, and hopeless emptiness? Do you feel that whatever dreams you had in your life are now only self-destructive delusions which are choking on you? Would you say that you are on the brink of suffocating your unfulfilled hopes of early retirement and easy life?

When asked: “Where is your compassion?” do you find yourself admitting that it is “nowhere?” You cannot even reach it yourself. Do you feel that you have become old and every look you made and every phrase you pronounce has so many different ingredients – mainly ironies? Do you feel that you have extraordinary talent which you are sacrificing in a mundane world?

Are you a might-have-been? Whoever said that you were meant to be a big deal? Were you destined to be with the great and good? You might be asked to work for reduced hours or even worse you lose your job because the company wants to reduce its costs, but one thing you never have to face is reduced dignity.

If life seems to have no heart and leaves you with a sense of sadness and cold, it is time for a reality check. You are the writer of your own saga, and you decide if it is a tragic or an uplifting one. If you feel that you have no role to play in your own play, small wonder then, that others only call you a nuisance. If you are a rebel without a cause or not bohemian enough, find the values you believe in so that what used to be empty is full and what tasted sour tastes at least bittersweet.

You have to let go of an idea that you are too old. You have to recycle all the clichés and stereotypes about middle-aged life. Instead of trying to fit into the rut with quiet desperation, try to aim for the Zeitgeist and don’t let anyone to steal the magic of everyday creativity. Refuse to be let down by those who categorise you by your age, social status, or wealth (the list goes on).

Do something different! Ride a skateboard; get a massive adrenaline buzz from riding bowls and ramps. Enjoy perfecting street tricks or use skateboards as an eco-friendly means of transport. Have fun and get fit in the process.

Hopefully it might strike you that fun might be contagious.

©2009 Accidental Small Business Owner