Taking Advantage of a Business Opportunity
By Corey Graham 2.0
I believe in order to take advantage of a business opportunity you will need to figure out exactly what is a business opportunity.
A business opportunity consists of four integrated elements all of which are to be present within the same timeframe (window of opportunity) and most often within the same domain or geographical location, before it can be claimed as a business opportunity. These four elements are:
1. A need
2. The means to fulfil the need
3. A method to apply the means to fulfil the need and;
4. A method to benefit
With anyone of the elements missing, a business opportunity may be developed, by finding the missing element. More unique combinations of elements will lead to more distinctive business opportunities. The more control an institution (or individual) has over the elements, the better they are positioned to exploit the opportunity and become a niche market leader.
Now that we have a better picture of what a great business opportunity looks like, we can start to take advantage of it. One key thing to recognise is that timing is important to any great business opportunity. You have to be on time to make the most of the business opportunity. The reality is that you will have to take a leap of faith in preparing for the kinds of business opportunities you want. Preparation is a massive part of taking advantage of a business opportunity. Ideally, you would want to be in a position that when a great business opportunity comes your way, you can effortlessly step up to the plate and accept it and do all that is necessary to make it a reality. You don't have to do a lot of thinking or research on the opportunity because you have already done all the leg work in assessing and preparing opportunity. Being prepared allows you to also identify the opportunity because many times, opportunities don't knock on your door, they wait for you see them and to come and get them.
A key part of taking advantage of a business opportunity is in creating strategic plans which will help you to move yourself to take care of the some of the opportunities that will be created as your business, market or industry evolves.
Realistically though you will not be always ready or prepared for every great business opportunity, so what do you do when you are not quite prepared and you might really need to take advantage of them.
To keep this post applicable to the range of business opportunities out there I would break down taking advantage of a Business Opportunity into 2 broad steps:
- Clearly Identifying The Opportunity
- Seizing The Opportunity
Identifying the Opportunity
It’s important to be able to identify business opportunities clearly. You will have to check that you have the four elements present for the opportunity to be viable. Just because you can see how it will be a great fit for the organization doesn't mean it’s a great opportunity. If you are not able to access the funding for the initial investment to make the opportunity a successful one, then it’s not a great business opportunity. You don't have the four elements present in that "opportunity". In identifying a great business opportunity you have also got to go beyond the surface to clearly identify it. I was listening to Jack Welch's presentation at the UWI School of Business, where he was making the point that he has seen several seemingly "natural" corporate mergers around the world, often fail because the culture of the two organizations were not compatible. It might sound obvious right? It is important to get a clear picture of the impact of this new opportunity on your resources and also to understand those factors that it are not dependant on you.
Here are a few questions to ask when sizing up a deal
- Is it a "win-win" deal?
- Are all the critical persons involved benefiting from it?
- Is there anyone losing from the deal? Who are they are why?
- How long will this opportunity last?
- Is it in an emerging market ?
- When must you decide on it?
- Does this opportunity align to philosophy?
- Is this something that you can commit to and do the extra homework needed to make it successful?
- How does it impact the people around you?
- What happens if it falls through?
Seizing the opportunity
Once you have decided on the opportunity, you will now have to actually seize the opportunity and here is where your salesman and negotiating skills come into play. I included this section to remind you that after you might have seen an opportunity. It is still important to convey these ideas to the others who will have to be involved. It might take the form of a meeting, or a proposal or a business plan. It’s important that you take time to communicate with the different players to be involved in the opportunity. You will have to cast vision and get persons to buy into your vision. In this process it’s also important to listen as the persons involved share new perspectives on how to maximize the opportunity even further.
I just read through some of the great post that you and your partners have made and its really exciting to see this information being made available to the public. for free.
That's the beauty of the Internet, we can offer and find information on any subject more easily and quicker than ever before.
One comment I would like to add on the subject of Business Opportunities is that opportunities are always available but we need to prepare ourselves to take advantage of the opportunity that we make our own. Also the Internet makes this easier than ever before as we can create an online business and sell to the world even when we live on a smalll island like Barbados. We have to learn how to think about business opportunities without limitations that have hindered us in the pass.
Keep up the good work
We will be launchig our new Internet Business Solutions website next week so check it out.
Kathy-ann Fletcher and Marita Greenidge have been the ones working behind the scenes also to pull this together. I am glad to be able to share in the experience.
You point is a valid point and we really need to focus more on integrating the internet into our businesses and industries to better prepare us to do business all over the globe. Its going to have to start with us.
We need to working. I am looking forward to seeing the new website. I have been immersed doing my bit to put the Crop Over festival online. I will be more available in the coming weeks.