What Now? How to Find the Golden Opportunities Right Beneath Your Feet
October 7, 2008 – 4:27 pmYes, the economy is in the toilet. Yes, it’s a scary time. And, yes there are loads of opportunities.
It’s true. If you stop watching the nightly news and start listening to the right people – people like Suze Orman, Ramit Sethi, Dave Ramsey, Bill Bartmann and JD Roth – what you’ll hear is that there are opportunities to be had during these times of turmoil. Great opportunities.
Bill Bartmann made a BILLION dollars during our last economic crisis.
Even where it appears that there is pain happening all around you – people losing their jobs, stock market losses, and retirement plans being devastated – if you can see through that outward appearance to another layer of depth you will prosper during this time.
So, what are the opportunities?And, how do you find them?
That depends on your current situation.
Here’s the first opportunity:
Honestly assess the reality of where you are right now. There’s no more hiding. It’s time to come out of the darkness and shine a light on where you really are. What a beautiful opportunity!
Today, in this moment, you get to start over from a place of new awareness. You get the opportunity to learn from your mistakes. You get to move out of shame, guilt and fear into the light of truth, beauty and honesty.
It starts with getting honest about the reality of your situation.
Over the past few years, most Americans saw their wealth increase more than they could ever imagine. The equity in our homes exploded. We had more access to credit than ever before. Jobs were plentiful. And salaries were steadily increasing.
Good times.
How did you respond during these good times?
Did you get caught up in the buying frenzy, increase your debt load and use this new found money to buy (or lease) new cars, big screen TVs, toys for your kids, and clothes for yourself?
Or, did you use your access to capital to start a new business or expand an existing business?
Perhaps you kept your eye on your future and put money away in 529 plans and retirement accounts.
Maybe you invested in real estate either in your own backyard or across the country where home prices have dropped precipitously.
Whatever you did, my bet is that you are freaking out a little bit now. Wondering if you made good choices. And what the results of those choices will be. Fretting over what to do next.
Good. Either way, you are thinking. You are becoming aware. You are discovering that what you do and how you think has ramifications down the line. It’s time to wake up.
So, what should you do now?
That’s opportunity number two.
You get to decide from this day forward how you want to show up in the world. Five to ten years from now, everything will be different. Housing prices will be going back up. The stock market will be out of the toilet. Jobs will be plentiful. Where will you be?
More importantly, who will you be?
Will you have the cash in 2010 when some people think our real estate market will bottom out to buy or will you be sitting around in 2020 when prices are through the roof again wishing you hadn’t missed the boat, again!
How you respond NOW will determine the answers to these questions. Note my use of the word respond. You can choose to RESPOND to what’s happening right now or you can choose to REACT.
You don’t have control over the stock market or the effects of the bailout plan. You do have total control over you. That’s an opportunity.
If you react, chances are you will over-react. You will move into fear, guilt, shame and anger. You will try to blame other people for your situation. You will fail to take responsibility for your own circumstances and see yourself as a victim. You will miss the opportunity that is right here in front of you.
Or you can respond. If you choose to respond instead of react, you will be empowered to make smart decisions. You will take responsibility for your current situation and see it for the learning experience it is and make the decision to get informed and educated. You will recognize that you are not a victim and there is no one to blame. You will forgive yourself for the poor choices you made or congratulate yourself for making smart choices.
If you made poor choices over the past few years and you are in debt up to your eyeballs, trying to hold onto your house or have perhaps lost your house already, and you don’t have a job or a business that is supporting you, it’s time to get serious.
Here’s the opportunity!
Take a good hard look at the income you need each month to clear up your debt and start investing in yourself, look around the house and see how you can simplify, what you can eliminate from your life, to see what you can sell, and either get a job or buckle down in your business and focus on your income producing opportunities.
Start taking the small actions you need that will allow you to feel good about yourself again.
Either way, I recommend you use this as a time to get informed. Not from the nightly news. Not from your friends. Not from Twitter or Facebook. Get informed by doing your own research, your own investigation. Meet with your own trusted advisors. If you don’t have any, get some.
And keep (or start) taking care of yourself. Go to the dentist. Exercise. Eat right.
The more you take care of you, the more you’ll start to realize you deserve it. The more you begin to realize you deserve it, the more you’ll start asking for what you want and the more you’ll start getting it. The more you get what you ask for, the more you’ll be grateful and take care of yourself. It’s a perfectly beautiful feedback loop. Get it going.
In a couple of days, I’ll give you 6 concrete steps you can take right away to start prospering now.