Choosing The Right Industry

The world is full of money. Some of that money has your name on it. All you have to do is di it out of the mine - but which mine?

Certain industries are more glamorous than others. Some require huge investment, some can be conquered out of a garage. Some are growing, others are in decline. Should you choose only to operate in a glamorous, growing industry? Where is the most opportunity to be found? How do you choose the right mountain.

Forget glamour if the getting of money is your priority. Few of those who wish to start their own movie company own the coolest PR outfit in the world or steal Steve Jobs's gadget thunder will ever succees. The reason is obvious. The laws of supply and demand apply  not only to commodities but to the choices people make. Too many people wish to make blockbuster movies and live in Beverly Hills. Not enough people wish to start a landfill company and dig holes.

Gold rushes rarely happen in old mines. New or rapidly developing sectors often provide more opportunities to get succesfull. The reason for this include: (1) availability of risk capital; (2) investor ignorance  and greed; (3) the power of a rising tide.

Investors gravitate to emerging industries in the hope of making a killing. The power of a rising tide masks manu start-up diffuculties putting newer companis on a more even footing with larger, more established  operators, at least for a while. A rising tide floats al boats.

The Magic Of Boldness

The most succesful generals and admirals in history shared one characteristic: they were willing to disregard orders and risk disgrace in order to exploit  rapidly changing circumstances. When the chance came, they recognised an opportunity, weighed the odds swiftly and placed their lives and careers on the line to snacht a victory.

In short, they were bold, often turning a blind eye to previously agreed strategy while ignoring direct instructions from their superiors. As an entrepreneur you are unlikely to have to follow the orders of others, but the fetters of conventional wisdom can prove equally inhibiting.

Fortune favours not just the brave but the bold. Boldness has a kind of genius in it. It relies on the unexpected and can lead to catastrophic defeat because it ignores conventional wisdom, which often proves to be wisdom of a kind. But should boldness succeed, the resulting succes appears all the more devastating in the eyes of startled observers and rivals.

Opportunities to get succesful keep popping up. The more alert one is, the more chance one has of identifying an opportunity; the more preparation one has done, the more artillery one can bring to bear; the more self-belief one can muster, the more certain will be the aim; but the boulder the stroke , the better chance one has of confounding the odds.

All entrepreneurs have a short- or medium-term gameplan, it's the only sensible way to proceed in getting succesful. But should the chance offer itself, that game plan must be hurled aside and the watchword on the road to succes changed to: 'Carpe diem!'