Targets of Opportunity

Through all of our planning and research, our nose firmly planted on the grindstone, and working with the best of intentions, there are occasionally targets of opportunity that would be foolish to miss.  They seldom knock on your door and rarely disturb you if you are busy watching TV or playing a video game. Yet, please make no mistake, they are there.

One of the tricks to finding a target of opportunity is that you have to be where they are found. Targets of opportunity are usually found around other people. Because we do not live and work in a vacuum, the opportunity will often help you and another person with whom you are discussing the ideas. In business, good targets of opportunity are rarely one-sided. For serendipity to take its course, you have to be out and active where people, and opportunities are found.

The next part is a little hard for introverts, but I promise you will get used to it and, some of you may enjoy it. The next thing you need to do is mingle. Talk to people. Get to know them. Let them talk first and ask questions. Maybe nothing comes of it, and maybe you find out that the two of you have things in common. Perhaps, you have shared ideas,  and you can help each other. And possibly, you have a moment of serendipity which I call a target of opportunity.

The trick is not to rush things. Be interested, ask questions, share a few ideas from around the edges of the project, and be polite. Do some research so that you can know who the person is and if they’re on the level or not. And the most important thing you need to do, and this is big, follow up.

It is incredible how many great opportunities elude us. We miss them because we met an opening to do great things in a casual setting. We had a momentary lapse where we did not think of the business. Maybe the two or three of us were talking the same thing from different viewpoints with different knowledge bases. We don’t always know why something good happens and why it does not.

Thank you for being with me today. I hope to be with you again soon.

Author: Mike Balof

A retired Air Force Master Sergeant, Mike used to lay in bed at night and worry about what would happen if his plant closed or found himself without a job. One day his plant closed. Rather than panic and hysteria (OK, maybe a little) Mike found himself carried away on the adventure of his life. Mike started with the best job he ever had working at Home Depot. He spent 8 years working with job seekers at a local workforce center, helping them to find employment. He then started his own company developing courses, writing books and urging others to follow their own paths into the future. Mike holds a Master of Arts in Adult Education and Training and a Bachelor of Business Management, earned through the University of Phoenix and an AAS degree in Electronics Systems Technology from the Community College of the Air Force. Mike is a member of the Delta Mu Delta Business Honor Society. View all posts by Mike Balof