Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 774 Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 11:16 am Post subject: Missed Opportunities, Fear or Failure to Recognize?
Kevin worked for a 2 man sign company in the 1940's. The owner would often speak to Kevin about becoming a much larger company. The owner had an idea about getting into outdoor [billboard] advertising. Though he worked out most of the details, he never took it further. This at a time when the concept was basically unthought of. Kevin would later take the idea and turn it into a National company worth several million dollars.
Opportunities and wonderful ideas come frequently to most people. I believe that many problems can be an invitation to a new and even more real way of looking at things. Yet the majority of these opportunities tend to simply pass by. Worse, they are often seen as an aggravation, rather than an opportunity.
Does being so involved with the familiar make it difficult to recognize possibility? Does fear of the unknown also play a role?
Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 146 Location: Garden City, KS
Posted: Fri Sep 14, 2007 1:42 pm Post subject:
Familiarity is supposed to breed contempt, but I agree with human's tendency to sticking with familiarity...even to undesireable ends. We, for whatever reason, cling to consistency and routines. I think it is directly related to, fear of change/unknown. I think many things relate directly to fear of the unknown. They can be applied to business, and personal issues/conditions.
I like the direction of this idea, Louis! Thanks, Matt.
Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 774 Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Posted: Sat Sep 15, 2007 3:56 pm Post subject:
MattFMN wrote:
Familiarity is supposed to breed contempt, but I agree with human's tendency to sticking with familiarity...even to undesireable ends. We, for whatever reason, cling to consistency and routines. I think it is directly related to, fear of change/unknown. I think many things relate directly to fear of the unknown. They can be applied to business, and personal issues/conditions.
I like the direction of this idea, Louis! Thanks, Matt.
Hi Matt,
I would like to get more discussion going on it. I too feel there is a great deal of potential in examining such topics. Thanks Matt, I appreciate the reply.
Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 7:52 pm Post subject: Re: Missed Opportunities, Fear or Failure to Recognize?
louis wrote:
Kevin worked for a 2 man sign company in the 1940's. The owner would often speak to Kevin about becoming a much larger company. The owner had an idea about getting into outdoor [billboard] advertising. Though he worked out most of the details, he never took it further. This at a time when the concept was basically unthought of. Kevin would later take the idea and turn it into a National company worth several million dollars.
Opportunities and wonderful ideas come frequently to most people. I believe that many problems can be an invitation to a new and even more real way of looking at things. Yet the majority of these opportunities tend to simply pass by. Worse, they are often seen as an aggravation, rather than an opportunity.
Does being so involved with the familiar make it difficult to recognize possibility? Does fear of the unknown also play a role?
Some people have a gift for seeing business opportunities where most others can't. Victor Kiam wrote about that in his book "Going for It."
Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 774 Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 8:09 pm Post subject: Re: Missed Opportunities, Fear or Failure to Recognize?
Bud wrote:
louis wrote:
Kevin worked for a 2 man sign company in the 1940's. The owner would often speak to Kevin about becoming a much larger company. The owner had an idea about getting into outdoor [billboard] advertising. Though he worked out most of the details, he never took it further. This at a time when the concept was basically unthought of. Kevin would later take the idea and turn it into a National company worth several million dollars.
Opportunities and wonderful ideas come frequently to most people. I believe that many problems can be an invitation to a new and even more real way of looking at things. Yet the majority of these opportunities tend to simply pass by. Worse, they are often seen as an aggravation, rather than an opportunity.
Does being so involved with the familiar make it difficult to recognize possibility? Does fear of the unknown also play a role?
Some people have a gift for seeing business opportunities where most others can't. Victor Kiam wrote about that in his book "Going for It."
Hi Bud,
That may be correct. But have you also noticed people that plan ahead, work hard and follow through always seem to have a lot more gifts than those that don't?
In my opinion familiar is more of a fallback or excuse not to take a chance.Like a store owner refering to his business "if its not broken dont fix it" or "dont mess with a good thing".He sees it as a good thing but wont take a chance on making it better.
Fear of the unknown is a major part .A wealthy profitable business may fear hurting what they already have.A struggling company may fear bankruptcy.However I would put aggrivation at the top of the list and then cost. Since I started visiting this site I find myself criticing every business Im in and I notice many low cost ,low risk improvements that get ignored due to the presumed level of aggrivation involved.
One other thing I have noticed recently is the number people who become shop owners by situations like a family business passed on or have an employer that closes up and they feel no other choice but to start up their own.Many seem content to work to earn a weekly paycheque size income and never even try to improve the business.Some have no intentions of recognizing possibilities and seal their fate before they flip the open sign.
Joined: 19 May 2007 Posts: 206 Location: Camp Verde, AZ
Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 1:25 pm Post subject:
Jason wrote:
In my opinion familiar is more of a fallback or excuse not to take a chance.Like a store owner refering to his business "if its not broken dont fix it" or "dont mess with a good thing".He sees it as a good thing but wont take a chance on making it better.
Fear of the unknown is a major part .A wealthy profitable business may fear hurting what they already have.A struggling company may fear bankruptcy.However I would put aggrivation at the top of the list and then cost. Since I started visiting this site I find myself criticing every business Im in and I notice many low cost ,low risk improvements that get ignored due to the presumed level of aggrivation involved.
I'm not sure what you mean by aggravation. Are you talking about the aggravation involved to implement the improvement? Or are you saying that because there is nothing aggravating the situation, there is no reason to make a change?
I think that what we Familiar with we no longer see. We may look at it but not see it. Most of us no longer notice the condition of the our shop. Is it dirty, is it in need of being painted, is the lighting poor. The customer will notice these things quickly and make decisions based on them.
Jason wrote:
One other thing I have noticed recently is the number people who become shop owners by situations like a family business passed on or have an employer that closes up and they feel no other choice but to start up their own.Many seem content to work to earn a weekly paycheque size income and never even try to improve the business.Some have no intentions of recognizing possibilities and seal their fate before they flip the open sign.
I went from being a tech to a shop owner. To start with I was content to make a pay check size income. Now that I am making the transition to being a business owner I am finding that not only should I get a bigger pay check but the business should make money too. This should be a natural progression for techs turned shop owner. It is sad to see shop owners that still stuck and not making the transition.
Joined: 15 May 2007 Posts: 774 Location: Baton Rouge, LA
Posted: Tue Sep 18, 2007 6:45 pm Post subject:
Hi Jason,
Jason wrote:
In my opinion familiar is more of a fallback or excuse not to take a chance.Like a store owner refering to his business "if its not broken dont fix it" or "dont mess with a good thing".He sees it as a good thing but wont take a chance on making it better.
Fear of the unknown is a major part .A wealthy profitable business may fear hurting what they already have.A struggling company may fear bankruptcy.However I would put aggrivation at the top of the list and then cost. Since I started visiting this site I find myself criticing every business Im in and I notice many low cost ,low risk improvements that get ignored due to the presumed level of aggrivation involved.
I have noticed people seem to put up with a huge amount of aggravation over time to avoid a much smaller amount right now. Sort of like the guy that walks around all day long with a rock in his shoe, because it's too aggravating to take the shoe off.
Have you ever seen a tech work twice as hard, because they didn't wish to remove something that was in the way?
Jason wrote:
One other thing I have noticed recently is the number people who become shop owners by situations like a family business passed on or have an employer that closes up and they feel no other choice but to start up their own.Many seem content to work to earn a weekly paycheque size income and never even try to improve the business.Some have no intentions of recognizing possibilities and seal their fate before they flip the open sign.
Perhaps they get so caught up in the day to day, they never give much thought to the future, or what could be? Sort of like the forest for the trees . . .
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