Lately I have taken to doing much reading (more so than usual). I have noted that I sometimes get inspiration for my business in the most unlikely places. Over the last few weeks I have been having a few challenges at the shop because customers are just not coming in and I am failing to break even. I tried my best to boost my marketing efforts but it didn’t work much because of the current economic conditions in my country. Our bad economy is a factor I can’t do much about, except wait out the dry season (which I can’t afford) and so I was about to pack my bags and call it quits when I read this little story…
Albert Einstein said, ‘In the middle of every difficulty lies opportunity.’ Once discovered, such
opportunities are like valuable diamonds hidden in the sand.
Several years ago I spoke at church about how we are surrounded by ‘diamonds,’ if we could only
recognize them. A man stopped by to see me. I remembered him as somebody who had suffered
through a painful divorce and was examining his life’s priorities. His outstretched hand contained a small, plastic gem stone.
‘I stepped on this gem stone when I was leaving church last Sunday,’ he explained.
‘It became lodged in the sole of my shoe. You had spoken about recognizing opportunities – diamonds. I put the plastic stone in my pocket to remind me to look for those diamonds that I need’
‘I have been trying to sell my business,’ he continued. ‘On Monday morning, a man stopped by who seemed interested in purchasing some of my stock. I thought, here’s my diamond – don’t let it get away! I sold the entire stock to him by noon.’
‘Now,’ he said through a broad smile, ‘my next diamond is to find a new job!’
Not long afterward, he did find a new – and better – job. He resolved to keep his gem stone with him from then on as a reminder to look for diamonds as he digs through the difficulties of life.
Richard DeVos is accurate when he points out, ‘This is an exciting world. It is cram-packed with opportunity. Great moments wait around every corner.’
Those moments are diamonds that, if left unrecognized, will be forever lost.
Are you looking for diamonds every day? If not, you may easily pass them by! Perhaps there is a diamond of opportunity hidden in that difficulty you’re experiencing now.
(Written by Steve Goodier)
These are hard times guaranteed, its hard being in business and worst of all starting out in business, but I will not give up and I will not fail. I will discover my diamonds in this recession and I will get back in the game…after all,success is not measured by what a person accomplishes, but by the opposition they have encountered, and by the courage with which they have maintained the struggle against overwhelming odds
Till next time…Express Yourself!
