Do you see challenges as opportunities, or is a new opportunity a challenge?
If you talk with any entrepreneur that maintains a positive mindset, you’re likely to find one common trait: they have the unique mentality to handle challenges well.
They don’t look at a problem and see a burden, instead they see challenges as opportunities to grow and learn. These problems often lead them to improve in areas that leaves them better off than before the problem existed.
I know there are times within a business where it becomes difficult to maintain a positive mindset, but knowing how to quickly get back into a positive head space is something worth learning.
When you have a positive mindset, you don’t dwell on failures.
Instead, failures turn into instances that you think about and ponder. You start examining what happened, and look for ways to do it better. You step into a growth mindset which forces you to improve your skills, and further improve your mindset.
It isn’t always easy, but it is always worth it. Problems no longer seem like giant anomalies that you can’t handle, they feel like new challenges that you take on to learn more and get to an even better place in business.
Many of you know, that I am a huge fan of Shark Tank. Before applying to be on, I watched every single episode that was available. I wanted to be overly prepared for when I stood in front of the Sharks.
I had to fill out a huge application, create a video, go through the audition process, and in the end it all turned into crickets after a 6 month waiting game.
It was pretty devastating.
I did have the opportunity to pitch in front of the five Sharks, but even after standing in front of them, hearing a NO from each one, my episode never aired on TV.
However, even though this was a tremendously difficult situation, there is always something positive to be found on the other side. For me, it meant that I had to learn more about going out and finding the right investors for my business.
Eventually, it lead to what I have now, The Pitch Queen and my podcast, Success Unfiltered.
I am living my dream! If those Sharks had said YES, over 5 years ago, I may not be where I am today. I may still be stuck in the food business.
And, while I do love healthy food, and what it can do for us, I do not love food manufacturing. In my humble opinion, it has got to be the worst business on earth unless you are a Chef and love being in a kitchen 24/7!
See! There’s the good right there. It took awhile to find it, but if I hadn’t kept my head in the game, grew and learned, and made even more connections, The Pitch Queen may never have gotten off the ground.
Trust me, finding and identifying your opportunities when you are in the negative space, is the key to experiencing long-term success in business and in life.
Accept That Problems are Inevitable
A guest on Success Unfiltered, Mike Watts owned the product PivotTrim, it’s basically an aftermarket head for your weed eater. Mike and his team attended an event in Las Vegas where they were blasted right out of the gates with a Purchase Order from Walmart.
This purchase order became 85% of Mike’s total revenue in his business. However, the positive didn’t last long, because Walmart wanted Mike to switch the distributor he was using for his product.
After much thought, Mike decided not to go with the different distributor, he had a great relationship with the one he was using and didn’t want to jeopardize that. Almost immediately after telling Walmart that he wouldn’t change distributors, Walmart pulled the product off their shelves.
Remember, Walmart was 85% of Mike’s business! This was a huge, devastating blow, but Mike refused to look at it that way for long.
After a night of drinking and running his mouth, Mike and his team decided to brush it off and take it as a win. They knew something would work out in the long run.
Know that Failures Can Lead to Big Successes
A lot of entrepreneurs would have hung their head and dwelled on this loss, but that isn’t Mike’s style.
Within just a few days he was reaching out to Home Depot, and while it took 6 months to secure it, it was the best thing that could have happened to his company.
Every once in awhile, Home Depot holds open calls where you can show up and pitch your products to the buyers. Mike brought everything with him, their amazing demonstration cage that was made of plexiglass and he had chain link bands inside too.
They wanted to show the buyer that they could take the weed eater and run it up against a chain link fence and the line would never break. They wanted to show Home Depot that their customers NEEDED their product.
In his one-on-one demonstration, the buyer took the weed eater Mike had brought, right from his hands and took it home. The buyer tried it on his dad’s trimmer, and called the next day offering PivotTrim a purchase order for all of their stores, and they would be doing it at $20, not the $15.99 Walmart had been doing.
If Mike hadn’t kept faith in himself and his product they never would have experienced this massive success.
I understand the need to dwell for a day or two, but don’t let failures get you down for long. There are always ways to see challenges as opportunities!
On a side note: not only did Mike get a purchase order from Home Depot, but when Mike launched a smaller version of the PivotTrim, Walmart jumped on that and started carrying it in their stores.
In Conclusion
Mike’s a hard and determined worker, but his success isn’t just because of his hard work, his success comes from maintaining a positive mindset, and trusting that something amazing will come from every opportunity.
In order to find that opportunity, you need to change how you see challenges.
Stop dwelling in the past, and look towards the future!
I want to hear how you’ve found opportunities in the most unlikely of places. Tell me in the comments!
