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Billionaires are CEOs of opportunities

“Designing luck is designing life. So when you are waiting for luck Sometimes, you have to know how to plan your luck. This is me, I don’t live by luck, but I thrive by planning luck.” This is a saying of the American oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller.

In 1861, the American Civil War broke out. As the war situation developed rapidly, in order to ensure the supply of military supplies, the federal government in Washington focused on the construction of a large number of east-west railways. Soon, the large railway network was completed and put into use. It connected the northeastern cities on the Atlantic coast with the Mississippi Valley in the middle of the continent, making the emerging city of Cleveland even more prominent as a transportation hub.

Rockefeller would never let go of such a good opportunity at the right time and place.

"War, war." Rockefeller paced back and forth in the office excitedly, completely different from his usual calm appearance.

"How about war? Do you want to go to war?" Clark asked puzzledly.

"War? Unless I'm crazy." Rockefeller paused, then said, "We have to seize the opportunity."

"Yes, seize the opportunity to fight. Two consecutive Frost damage in 2016 caused catastrophic damage to crops in many states. Now that the war has started again, do you know what this will mean? It will mean a massive shortage of food and daily necessities, and a large-scale famine." /p>

Rockefeller kept talking, and for the first time he looked like a speaker. Money is a super stimulant at any time, but even more so right now.

But all the savings of their company were not enough to buy as much goods as Rockefeller wanted to buy. However, time is money, the war has spread, and material shortages have occurred. Now, getting a loan from the bank is no longer a problem for Rockefeller. This time he borrowed not 2,000 yuan but 20,000 yuan. However, the bank saw through Rockefeller's idea of ????making money from the war at a glance. Although Rockefeller had enough credibility, he still only gave him 2,000 yuan.

Rockefeller wanted to say something else, but Mr. Handy from the bank waved him out.

Just 2,000 yuan, Rockefeller bowed to Mr. Handy.

His mind has been completely focused on whether this gambling-like business can make money and whether the bank loan can be repaid.

Through constant analysis of the war situation, Rockefeller made the speculation business more and more prosperous, and the profits earned from it increased exponentially. The food purchased from the Midwest and distant California even came to the federal government in Washington. The government's demand cannot be met. In addition, the salt purchased from Michigan also makes a lot of money due to the disparity between supply and demand.

It is not the God of fate who seizes opportunities, but ourselves. As Epicurus said: "We have the main power to determine events. Therefore, it is possible to control our own destiny. May each of you be the architect of your own luck. ”

Some people, because they have not developed the spirit to take advantage of opportunities and challenge them, when opportunities suddenly come, they hesitate and don’t know whether to take advantage of them or not. It's time to accept. Therefore, when worrying about gains and losses, opportunities passed by and it was too late to regret. Therefore, we should develop the spirit of taking advantage of opportunities and challenging them in normal times. For example, if there is an opportunity to express or express opinions in front of others, you should take advantage of it as much as possible to overcome psychological barriers and train your courage.

A person who does not make good use of opportunities is like a drifting boat in the vast sea. Once there is no tailwind, it will always blindly walk alone on the sea. If it encounters a reef, It will be smashed to pieces immediately.

Rafael Dudela, a Venezuelan, is a well-known entrepreneur in the oil industry and shipping industry. He is known for his ability to "create opportunities". He made his fortune by constantly finding good opportunities to invest. In less than 20 years, he built a $1 billion business.

In the mid-1960s, Dudela owned a glass manufacturing company in Venezuela's capital.

However, he was not satisfied with this profession. He had studied petroleum engineering. He believed that the petroleum industry was an industry that made a lot of money and could better display his talents. He wanted to join the petroleum industry.

One day, he got a piece of information from a friend saying that Argentina planned to purchase butane gas worth US$20 million from the international market. After receiving this information, he was full of hope and believed that a good opportunity to enter the oil industry had arrived, so he immediately went to Argentina to win the contract.

After going there, he learned that two established large companies, BP and Shell, had already been actively operating. Undoubtedly, this is already a very difficult competitor to deal with, not to mention that I am not familiar with operating the oil industry and do not have strong capital, so it will be very difficult to close this business. However, he did not give up and adopted roundabout tactics.

One day, he learned from a friend that Argentina had a surplus of beef and was eager to find a way to export it. He had an idea and felt that the god of luck had arrived, which provided him with an equal opportunity to compete with BP and Shell, and he was full of confidence that he would win. He immediately went to the Argentine government. Although he had not mastered butane gas at that time, he was sure that he could get it. He said to the Argentine government: "If you buy 20 million US dollars of butane gas from me, I will buy 20 million US dollars of beef." At that time, The Argentine government wanted to sell the beef quickly, so it gave Dudela the bid to buy butane gas. He finally defeated two powerful competitors.

This news is another good opportunity for Dudra to seize. He went to discuss with the Spanish government. Dudela said: "If you buy beef from me for $20 million, I will order a supertanker worth $20 million from your shipyard." Spanish government officials wanted this. , immediately made a deal, and immediately contacted the Argentine government through the Spanish Embassy in Argentina, asking the Argentine government to ship the $20 million in beef ordered by Dudela directly to Spain.

After Dudela resold $20 million in beef, he continued to search for butane gas. He arrived in Philadelphia, USA, and found the Sunoco Company. He said to the Sunoco Company: "If you can pay 20 million US dollars to rent my tanker, I will buy 20 million US dollars of butane gas from you." Sunoco Company accepted it. Dudra's advice. After this series of dazzling business operations, Dudra achieved great success. From then on, he entered the oil industry and realized his desire to join the oil industry. After painstaking efforts, he finally became a tycoon in the Venezuelan oil industry. In the 1850s, there was a gold rush in California, USA. When the young Jew Levi Strauss heard about this and rushed there, it was too late. The activity of panning for gold in the sand had come to an end.

He brought a large roll of twill with him. He wanted to sell it to a businessman who made tents to make some money as capital for starting a business. But when he got there, he discovered that people had not needed tents for a long time, but they needed strong tents. Durable pants, because people deal with mud and water all day long, and pants deteriorate very quickly.

He thought quickly and made all the twill he brought into durable trousers. Thus, the world's first pair of jeans was born.

Later, Levi Strauss installed copper buttons next to the pockets of his trousers to enhance the strength of the pockets. After that, Levi Strauss began to mass-produce this novel trousers. The sales were very good and attracted other clothing manufacturers to imitate. However, Levi Strauss still ranked first in sales, selling about 100,000 yuan per year. More than 1 million pairs of these pants were sold, and the turnover was as high as 50 million US dollars.

It seems that there is indeed luck in business. When Levi Strauss used twill to make trousers, he would not have thought that these trousers made of twill would be called " "Jeans", I would never have thought that this kind of jeans would cause a revolution in the clothing industry, let alone that they would become popular in the 1960s and even become the spiritual symbol of that rebellious era.

The gold rush of the 1850s was undoubtedly a God-given opportunity for the Jew Levi Strauss, but he failed to catch up. what to do? So he wanted to create opportunities for himself, and this is how he came up with the "jeans" that are so popular today. His example fully illustrates that if there are no opportunities, you must actively create them. This is one of the characteristics of people with high financial intelligence.

Of course, there are differences between people with high financial intelligence who create opportunities. Some people create smaller opportunities, while some people create larger opportunities. The size of the opportunities also determines the gap between people with high financial intelligence. .

Socrates has a famous saying: "The most promising person is not the person with outstanding talent, but the person who is good at taking advantage of every opportunity and goes all out."

There are two attitudes towards opportunities: one is to wait for opportunities, and the other is to create opportunities. Waiting for opportunities can be divided into two types: passive waiting and active waiting. However, no matter what kind of waiting, it is always passive. You should take the initiative to create favorable conditions and let opportunities come to you faster. This is creating opportunities.

To create opportunities, you must first overcome obstacles. Wrong thoughts, incorrect attitudes, and bad mental habits are subjective obstacles to creating opportunities. If you cannot overcome subjective obstacles, you will be held back and defeated by yourself.

In fact, life is full of opportunities! Every course in school, every first article in the newspaper, every guest, every speech, every trade is an opportunity. These opportunities bring education, bring courage, build character, and make friends. Every test of your ability and honor is a valuable opportunity.

Opportunities will not fall to those who sit back and wait. Only those who dare to act and take the initiative can seize opportunities. There is an American proverb that says: "The road to failure is full of missed opportunities. Those who wait for luck to come in through the front door often ignore the opportunities that come in through the back window."

Seize opportunities and seize them. To seize opportunities, you must bravely face challenges with your best advantages, strive to choose the best plan, and then put it into action. We must proactively look for opportunities and be keen to "seize opportunities." Opportunities can only be given to explorers who step out of iron shoes and actively pursue them, rather than to those who sit back and wait passively.

To look for opportunities, you must extend your tentacles, open your eyes wide, and keep an eye on all kinds of information. If you are good at grasping information and using it, you will seize opportunities to a considerable extent.

Getting opportunities is a good thing, but opportunities cannot be equated with success, and opportunities cannot be regarded as privileges. Opportunities only provide the possibility of success. To truly achieve success, you still need perseverance and hard work.

Billionaires all have a keen sense of opportunity. Those who become billionaires are people who have a keen sense of opportunity. As long as there is an opportunity, they will seize it and succeed.

Armand Hamann is a typical example of someone who is good at seeking opportunities, taking advantage of them, and constantly making progress to make a fortune. He himself often said that it was opportunity that made him a huge profit. So, how did timing lead him step by step to become rich?

During Prohibition in the United States, Harman learned about the popularity of ginger beer. Therefore, he sent people to India, Nigeria and other big ginger-producing countries to purchase large quantities of ginger, thereby monopolizing the ginger market. This move allowed him to obtain huge profits.

When President Roosevelt was about to take office, Harman was sensitively aware that Prohibition was about to be lifted, and the public's demand for alcohol would increase significantly. At this time, the United States not only had no wineries, but even barrels to hold wine were in short supply. As a result, Harman took the lead and monopolized the wooden boards used to make wine barrels, and at the same time established a large-scale modern wine barrel factory. In just two years, the factory's profit reached more than 1 million US dollars.

Haman’s grasp of opportunity is classic, but Yamer’s story is even more dramatic.

In the mid-19th century, news of the discovery of gold mines in California spread like wildfire across the United States. Many people thought this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to make a fortune, so they traveled all the way to California. The gold mining dream of getting rich overnight is indeed beautiful. The 17-year-old farmer Yamer also became a member of this huge gold mining team. Like everyone else, he went through untold hardships and finally arrived in California a month later.

There are many people who dream of gold mining, and more and more people are coming from all directions. For a time, California is full of gold diggers, and gold naturally cannot be as good as gold diggers. Willingness is becoming increasingly difficult to find. Not only is there no gold to be found, but life is becoming increasingly difficult. California's climate is dry, vegetation is sparse, and water sources are scarce. Many unfortunate gold diggers not only failed to realize their dreams of becoming rich, but also died here. Little Yamer searched hard for a while. Like most people, not only did he not find gold, but he was tortured to death by hunger and thirst.

One day, looking at the little water in his water bag that he was reluctant to drink, and listening to the complaints from people around him about the lack of water, Yamer's financial intelligence suddenly gave him an idea: the hope of gold mining was too slim, so he might as well sell water. ! Although the price of water is nowhere near that of gold, it is in high demand. So Yamer resolutely gave up his efforts in gold mining and used the gold mining tools in his hands to dig ditches. He introduced the river water into the ditches from a distance, filtered it with fine gauze, and turned it into cool and delicious drinking water. Then he put the water into buckets, carried it to the valley and sold it to gold diggers in pots and pots. At that time, many people laughed at Yamer: He went through all the trouble to come to California, and instead of digging for gold and making a fortune, he did this kind of small business with a small profit, and this kind of water selling business couldn't be done anywhere. Why come here? However, Yamer continued to sell his water based on the concept of "no matter the wind and waves, it is better than taking a leisurely stroll". He was secretly happy: Where in the world can there be such a good deal? Sell ??large quantities of water at almost no cost. Where is such a good market? Hundreds of customers, and daily needs. Another very special thing is that the people who come here want to make a lot of money, and they will not hesitate to spend a small amount of money to buy water. In the end, most of the gold diggers return empty-handed, but Yamer made money in a very short time. Earning thousands of dollars selling water was a considerable fortune in a recession.

Sometimes, opportunities will come to you, it depends on whether you can find them.

Zenyou Konoike, a wealthy man from Osaka, Japan, is one of the top ten chaebols in the country. However, at the beginning he was just a small businessman traveling around.

One day, Hongchi had a conflict with his servant. The servant angrily threw the ashes from the stove into a barrel of cloudy sake. At the end of the Tokugawa Shogunate, Japanese sake was all cloudy, and there was no sake sold on the market today, and then ran away in a panic.

When Hongchi checked the wine the next day, he was surprised to find that there was a layer of sediment at the bottom of the barrel, and the wine above was extremely clear. Take a bite and it tastes pretty good, it’s incredible! Later, after unremitting research, he realized that charcoal ash has the function of filtering turbid wine.

After more than ten years of research, Hongchi made sake, which was the beginning of his becoming a millionaire. However, Hongchi’s servants never knew that it was he who gave Hongchi the opportunity to get rich. Zach, who lives in the suburbs of New York, is a mediocre civil servant. His only hobby is skating and nothing else.

In the suburbs of New York, everything freezes in winter. When winter comes, he goes there to skate there whenever he has free time to amuse himself. However, in summer, there is no way to go to the outdoor ice rink to have a good time.

It costs money to go to an indoor ice rink. A New York civil servant has a limited income and cannot go there often, but staying at home is not an option. It makes life very difficult.

One day, when he was bored, an inspiration came to him: "If wheels are installed on the bottom of shoes, they can replace skates. Ordinary roads can be used as ice rinks."

A few Months later, he cooperated with others to open a small factory manufacturing roller-skate. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined that the product would become a worldwide commodity as soon as it was launched on the market. Within a few years, he earned more than 1 million.

In real life, to discover and seize business opportunities, we must first understand the performance of business opportunities. So, in what aspects are business opportunities manifested? The most basic manifestation is human needs. Where there is need, there are business opportunities. It can even be said that human needs are business opportunities.

In this process, two questions need to be clarified. The first question is what people’s needs are and how wide they are. The second problem is how to make exchanges between people complete in the fastest and most efficient way. In fact, everyone engaged in business is trying to solve these two problems. To solve the first problem, we must study what people's real needs are, how many people have such needs, and what kind of products should be produced to meet people's needs. For example, the sun is scorching in summer, and the temperature even reaches above 40 in some months. People urgently need to cool down. The items that meet people's needs include fans, electric fans, and mats. People can also go swimming, eat cold food, or go to the mountains and waterside to escape the heat. . However, these methods cannot fundamentally solve the problem. The advent of air conditioners directly meets people's needs. Almost everyone will choose this method to solve the problem of extreme heat. This shows that the market prospect of air conditioners is very broad. The remaining problem is how to get people with spending power to buy a certain brand of products.

The key to the second problem is that people live in different places, and the limitations of space and time prevent people's exchanges from going smoothly. How to enable most people to complete their exchanges in the most efficient way is what businessmen think about. Problems to be solved. Behind these two problems lies many business opportunities.

Therefore, what many people should consider when creating wealth is which product and which method can meet people's needs as quickly and effectively as possible. So, how much do people need? Roughly speaking, people have seven needs, namely clothing, food, shelter, transportation, health, entertainment and work. The famous psychologist Maslow believes that people's needs are hierarchical, with the lowest level of survival needs, such as clothing, food, and shelter, and higher levels, such as social security needs, the need to be recognized by others, and The need to be respected by others and the need to fulfill oneself. Maslow examined people's need hierarchy from the perspective of human behavior and motivation. To discover business opportunities, wealth creators are required to examine human needs from a business perspective. Because business considerations can turn potential markets into actual markets and meet people's needs.

Only after you fully understand people's needs can you more keenly capture various opportunities and successfully create wealth due to opportunities.