Opportunity Doesn't Always Knock

There is a proverb that states "opportunity only knocks once". A lot of the time, that may be true, but I believe that even more often, it doesn't even knock at all. It just comes to the door, stands there, and waits for a few minutes to see if we'll come out to greet it. If we do, great, if not, it moves on the house down the street. Sometimes, you even have to go to the side of the road and flag it down as it flies by.

Okay, so maybe I've stretched the metaphor a little, but you get the point. If you spend your lives waiting around for life to come to you, you may just miss out. Success comes to those who go out and make things happen.

This past week I was able to land a major speaking opportunity, but the opportunity didn't come knocking. In fact, I had to go out and find it and then work really, really hard to seal the deal.

The event is the Atlantic Dream Festival (contact me at: Mark@MarkBlackSpeaks.com for tickets) and features many big name speakers. I saw the event advertised for weeks. Each time I drove by one of the big billboards in town, I thought to myself how great it would be to be a part of the event.

For many, myself included a lot of the time, it would have ended there. I would have thought, "oh that would be nice" but I wouldn't have done anything about it. But this time, for whatever reason, was different. I wanted to be a part of the event, so I decided to take action. I contacted the organizers, offered my services and made my best pitch to get myself in.

It took several tries. After generating considerable positive interest, I though I had the deal done, only to have it disintegrate. Not willing to give up, I made one more last-ditch effort. I took a considerable risk, offering something I had never done before, in order to entice the organizers to find room for me...and they did.

Only time will tell if my risk pays off, but the lessons learned in getting the gig, will stay with me and serve me well the rest of my career. A lesson about persistence, motivation and making your dreams come true. A lesson I hope you'll learn as well.

This week I challenge you to go out and make things happen for yourself! Opportunities will most certainly come in the course of your life, but if you sit around waiting for them to come, you'll find there are less of them and they'll come less often. Opportunity begets opportunity. So go out there and make your dreams come true!

______________________________________________________________________________________

If you want an added boost to help you on that road, check out the Atlantic Dream Festival. Listen to speaker from Sir Richard Branson (Virgin companies) to Steve Murphy (Live at 5) over the course of 3 days. You're bound to take something home that is worth multiples of the price of a ticket. To get more info or a ticket, contact me at: Mark@MarkBlackSpeaks.com or Call me: 506-878-0492.