Opportunity seeking; keep your eyes open for new business opportunities
Western society is obsessed with problemsolving. We love troubleshooting. It makes us feel productive and it’s a relatively simple thing to do because of the pre-set objective. Problemsolving however, is not the best way to lead your organisation to success. In the end, you don’t want to run continuous laps to extinguish fires.
As mentioned earlier sometimes we tend to forget the obvious. We are so focused on our daily worries that we miss out on all the lovely opportunities that are everywhere around us. We spend way too little time opportunity seeking.
Creative people are always on the quest for inspiration and new starting points. They know that opportunities can be found everywhere. They can appear in a surprising fact, or they can be hidden in something that you experience. You can find opportunities in every possible field. Take a simple product like a suitcase for example:
Suitcase innovations
Until a few decades ago, everyone was carrying their suitcases at the airport. It was Bernard D. Sadow who saw a trolley stacked with suitcases driving by when he got the idea of putting the wheels on the suitcase. The result is known. There are barely any suitcases left without wheels.
Rob Law saw an opportunity observing travelling children and suitcases. He combined the two and created Trunki, a ride-on hand luggage suitcase for kids. This fresh new approach became a huge success. It sold over 1,3 million suitcases in 62 countries.
The latest invention in the field of suitcases is even more logical retrospectively. A suitcase with a built-in scale. This way you’ll never be faced with an unpleasant surprise when your suitcase is being weighed at the airport.
The world is filled with surprising opportunities. It can be something small that catches your attention; a conversation you have with your grandma, seeing a young child play under a table or losing your keys at the beach. Absolutely anything can kick-start a great idea.
Once you develop the habit of opportunity seeking, keeping your eyes and ears open, you will find that there are clues everywhere that can lead you to an innovative idea. Sometimes it’s best to just go for a walk and force yourself to look for opportunities. You might find yourself a breakthrough innovation.
Do you at all times keep an eye out for business opportunities? Did you ever come up with something outstanding because of something that caught your attention? Let me know in the comment box below.
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Why is it important for any business to continually seek new business opportunities?
Hi Pardeep, thank you for your comment. Great question. Most organisations are mainly focused on the daily business, and neglect (uncertain) opportunities. And they are absolutely right to do so. In the end, it’s often the ‘traditional’ everyday activities that bring in the money. However, being good at what you do is not enough. We live in a time where disruption can hit every business. Even yours. That’s why you need to keep an eye out for new business opportunities and why you need to develop innovations yourself. It’s necessary to stay ahead and prevent the disruption of your company. Still sceptical? Here you can find 6 reasons why innovation is important for your business: https://hatrabbits.com/en/6-reasons-why-innovation-is-vital-for-your-business/