One of the biggest mistakes people make in life which separates them from having extraordinary success is that they ‘take the wrong opportunities’. In other words, they go down the wrong routes and end up where Lao Tzu said they would…
~ If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading ~
This is the problem many, many people have, who actually do take action. And it is the primary reason for the majority of business failures.
The owners become disenchanted with the business they were in, because it wasn’t what they actually wanted to do, or if it didn’t deliver to them what they thought it would. A common expression for this is they went off half cocked.
So here are just 5 ways (tests) to help you to know for certain if a business opportunity is right for you.
A Simple Decision Making Process
Test 1 – Ask yourself would you work on this business for free?
Just imagine if you had all the money you dreamed of and you didn’t need to work for money again. You felt that you still wanted to contribute and not just live off of your money.
I know that may sound like something you would never want to do right now, but trust me, successful people want to carry on doing things. The money is their reward but their life is doing what they love to do. This is what really makes them wealthy, they expect to get paid but they do it because they enjoy it.
So imagine yourself in the position of not needing to work anymore and ask yourself, would you work on the business for free?
If the answer is no, then you should probably not do this business. Unless you are in tune fully with your success mindset, the chances of you getting a business you don’t love, to deliver the life of your dreams is unlikely at very best!
The fact that you are here reading this means you need to find something you love or it will not work. So pass this opportunity by. If it passes the test though, then move to the next test.
Test 2 – Ask yourself… When you die, would you be proud for people to talk about this business you created?
We all wish to live on past our years where we can, and one way to do that is to leave a legacy behind. A brilliant example of a business to be proud of producing is Virgin… This is a truly inspiring brand and an inspirational example.
Richard Branson wanted to build a business which he could be proud of and other people would like to use. He wanted to build a business which went against the way business had traditionally gone. He wanted to stand up to the establishment and show them an example of a better way. He has built a great legacy and one to be proud of.
I can hear people on the TV now following his death saying what an amazing business he had built and what an amazing legacy he’d left for us.
So go and experience what people will say about your particular business after you die. If you like what they say then this will probably work for you, so move to the next test… If you don’t like what they say then pass this opportunity by.
Test 3 – Imagine yourself working in this business, does it make you excited enough to jump out of bed and get on with it?
Can you see yourself being excited to go to work every day?
Go and experience what the business will feel like in 5 years time. Imagine it in 3 different ways.
1. Imagine what it will feel like if it is a great success.
2. Then imagine what it would feel like if it was failing, or a failure.
3. Then imagine what it would feel like if it was sort of working but hadn’t produced the results you dreamed of.
Number 3 is the most likely result. But go and experience them all for 10 to 15 minutes each and see how they make you feel.
When you have just finished imagining number 3, the ‘sort of working’ example, you need to ask yourself a few questions…
- Will I be happy with this if this happened?
- Will I be able to carry on like this until I succeeded at it?
- Will I be able to pick myself up and continue to learn new skills and adapt if I am not seeing the financial results I had originally dreamed of?
- Will I still feel excited enough to jump out of bed in the morning so I can get on with it?
If the answer is yes then you may have found the opportunity for you, so move to the next test. But if the answer is no, then you can pass this by, as your life is too short to risk on something which does not inspire you enough to persevere at this point.
Test 4 – Ask yourself, what’s your MAIN reason to get involved in this business?
If the main reason is money then that’s very weak on its own. Consider this… Richard Branson did it for the money but he also did it because he wanted to. He had something to prove and chose business to set about proving it.
You need to have a strong reason why to get involved and this must not just be money. If it’s money then you will end up dissatisfied even if you get the money. This is a really deep issue and needs to be covered in depth elsewhere. But for now know, you have to get involved with something you are passionate about.
Richard Branson was and is passionate about breaking the rules of convention and showing the established businesses in a chosen field that it can be done better. What are you going to get passionate about in this business opportunity?
You cannot manufacture passion, it has to be there… but you can discover it if you look for it. If though after all your looking you don’t find anything, then it is probably time to look for a new opportunity and find your passion elsewhere.
If you discover your passion, or if you knew what it was instantly, then move on to the final test.
Test 5 – Still your mind and think about yourself owning this business, does it feel right to you?
Go and find a comfortable inspirational spot to sit and think and then calm yourself down and silence your mind’s chatter – If you struggle with this then to learn how to do this, either download the first 5 chapters of Creating A Bug Free Mind if they are still available or buy the book. Just imagine yourself owning the business and observe your feelings.
You are looking for a particular feeling here, the same sort of feeling you get when you think about spending your life with someone. You are looking for a life partner, your business is your partner in life. You are not looking for this to sort of feel right, you are looking to have the feeling of you know it is right.
When you find the person to share your life with, you know they are the person, you just know it. What you are attempting to feel here is this same feeling except for a business instead. You mustn’t force it, you’ll know it if you do. You are looking for the ‘it feels right’ feeling.
If what comes up is ‘this feels wrong,’ then you have got the answer you were looking for. It may not be the answer you wanted but it is the right answer.
However, if you felt that you were choosing this answer so that you could continue to procrastinate, then you have missed the point and you should not even be considering a business until you have removed this bug from your mind.
There are good and bad types of procrastination; one helps you and one hurts you. You will know it if that comes up. Basically, if you get the ‘it feels right’ feeling and you passed all the other checks, then go for it… You are close enough to finding something great and this is better than nearly every other person, so you will succeed.
However, if it didn’t feel right then you should be grateful for not wasting your life with a bad choice of opportunity. You have just been saved years of your life, so you should be grateful!
Side note: – I cannot express how powerful this is, as it took me 11 years to discover this in one business!
You can now go back to looking for the right opportunity with a renewed sense of excitement as just going through this process will have honed your skills!
If you would like to cut through the honing process so that you can design your life to have the perfect opportunities come to you in the perfect way, then I cannot recommend enough the Bug Free Process which I designed to give people back access to their natural success mindset which they lost years ago.
I designed the Bug Free process to work for everyone, but the people who benefit the most will be the ones who have tried everything and found nothing to work. As they are ready for something truly different!
If you think that may be you then I suggest you go and read the first five chapters of my book “Creating A Bug Free Mind” – The World’s 1st Antivirus For The Human Mind…
As this will give you a fast but in-depth understanding of the new mind you will have after completing the process
(the new mind you’ll have by the way will be the mind you used to have when you succeeded and learnt to walk – I just clear the garbage out of the way – So rest assured it’s a lot easier to get something again which you already had, rather than learn something new).
So if you would like to taste some of the wondrous new mind tools you can have…
Go here for all of the details: A Bug Free Mind Trial Offer
“Successful people don’t really have an interest in retiring. Because they love what they do. When they stop loving it then they may stop doing it. Until then, why stop doing something you love?”
“Successful people know to trust their feelings more than anything else. If it feels good and right they instinctively know to do it.”
