Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage.
-Niccolo Machiavelli
There is a 100% guarantee that you will face obstacles in your life. They will come in many different shapes and sizes — It is inevitable. The question is, how will you react once you are face to face with one?
The way I see it is you have 2 choices. One, you can succumb to the obstacle and just give up trying to go that direction. Your great idea might just be one step away from fruition and all of a sudden, a major roadblock pops up that could kill your startup. It might be that an investor backed out at the last minute or your cofounder decided to take a 9-5 job somewhere. Whatever the obstacle is, it presents itself as a fork in the road. What do you do? If you have a dream and you have dedicated your life to making it happen, you will not simply give up. This is why 90% of all startup companies fail. Don’t give up!
You should pick choice #2, which is turn that obstacle into an opportunity. The first time I ever set foot in the Trent Lott National Center at USM, I came face to face with a wall of quotes from various entrepreneurs. The one that hit me the hardest was the quote from Machiavelli up above. At the time, I had a major obstacle impeding my path to progress. Once I read that quote, I realized that the obstacle I was facing was simply something that I had to turn into an opportunity.
I’m not going to get into detail about what that obstacle was because it is irrelevant. I’m just trying to say that when you are presented with an obstacle, you must step back for a moment and see it from a different perspective, then look for a solution that will transform the obstacle into a great opportunity. Apply that solution and stay focused until you achieve the desired outcome.
Bottom line is that how you handle obstacles is a choice, and it’s no one else’s choice but yours. Make a choice to master your life and turn your obstacles into opportunities today.