Uncovering new business opportunities by being in the right place at the right time

New business opportunities usually occur around big changes…changes in technology, the economy, the environment, in legislation, regulations, and also in changes in consumer needs, wants, and values.

These changes always create a gap between what is available right now and what is ultimately desired! Herein lies the opportunity that some businesses identify early and take advantage of, which gives them the appearance of being in the right place at just the right time.

So how do you develop the capability of being in the right place at the right time in your business? Is it only for the big players in your industry or can anyone develop the skill? I would suggest that you absolutely can do things for your business to give you the opportunity to be in the right place at the right time to massively grow your business. But beware! This is not a once off exercise. You need to make it a way of life.

When it comes to being in the right place at the right time, what do you think is the critical factor? Is it luck? Is it preparation, discipline, or a 6th sense? Or, is it about waking up to a different way of looking at things, a different way of thinking, of being. A different mindset? An active imagination? A healthy curiosity?

Albert Einstein said, “I have no special talents I am only passionately curious” and I agree with him. Curiosity will lead you down so many paths in business and in life and you need to have it in order to uncover new connections and new opportunities in your marketplace. Simply asking a question like “What’s interesting about this?” will yield some answers that might just uncover something new that you can work on to put you in the right place at the right time!

Let’s look at how you can create your own opportunities for being in the right place at the right time…

Do you look at the current way things are done in your industry and look for alternatives? Well it’s time you did! You need to start looking at frustrations and sources of dissatisfaction as opportunities to create something new! The easiest and best place to start is with your customers!

Don’t waste time trying to predict the future, create it instead on the back of feedback you get from your customers! Look at what they like, what they don’t like, what’s changing in their world, how they use your current products, and what they would like to see in the future. Look at what is highly likely to happen anyway, use it, and forget the rest. What you need to do is concentrate on developing a new way of seeing things and a new way of being. Your customers will let you in to their world if you ask them and that is a great place to start!

Someone that I respect very much is Professor Gary Hamel, the author of a book that really woke me up to what’s possible some years ago called “Leading the Revolution”. If you haven’t read it you owe it to yourself to do so. In fact there is a chapter in his book called “Be Your Own Seer” which covers some of the things I’m referring to.

One of those things is a concept that includes the following key steps:

See/Observe – look around, put your different glasses on and see things through different filters.
Be/think – act differently, challenge your thinking, be different (not necessarily totally out there but different).
Discover/Connect – to new things, ask questions, challenge your existing beliefs and assumptions. Join new dots together.
Believe/Trust – in yourself, those around you (your team), your gut, and your mind to kick in when you need it most. Know that you have everything you need right now to create the solution you’re looking for. You just need to believe that it’s possible and that you can do it with everything that you have at your disposal right now.
Create/Implement – make something happen! Bring something to life! Focus on the outcome that you want to achieve and then start aligning all the things you need and start joining them together to create what it is that you’ve imagined. Remember that new things come from challenging the here and now, but using what we have in the here and now to come up with something new!

If you are accepting things as just the way they are, you are putting your future in major jeopardy! Based on what you see changing, you need to imagine what the future could look like, then use what you have today to create it! Look in these places: