Making Opportunity-Recognition a Conscious Activity

Submitted by Alec Miller on Sep 28, 2009

Submitted by Anonymous on September 28, 2009 - 4:11pm

Article Posted By:

Alec Miller

Lightbulb What do rice cakes have to do with entrepreneurial insight? A simple, but ridiculous story helps make the point quite clearly.

The other day, my office-mate was snacking away on a rice cake at her desk. Of course, anyone who has had the pleasure of eating such a delicacy knows that they’re a bit messy. The following is my recollection of the dialogue about the subject:

Katrina: “There’s rice-cake debris everywhere...you’d think that somebody would’ve invented a rice cake that didn’t make such a mess.”
Alec: “What you need is a rice-cake debris shield of some sorts.”
Katrina: “Yeah...like those plastic collars that they put on cats and dogs at the vet, but modified for humans eating rice cakes.”

A ridiculous conversation no doubt, but it reminded me of something I’ve come to realize about entrepreneurship after having been involved in this loosely defined space for a couple years now. Specifically, it reminded me of the importance of consciously recognizing opportunities. Way too many people let experiences pass them by without thinking that there may be an opportunity if one digs beneath the surface.

Whereas many people believe that “opportunity knocks” [and entrepreneurs answer], I think it’s the other way around - entrepreneurs knock, and opportunities answer. As I see it, opportunities come to those who create them. Opportunity recognition is not some passive activity, but rather, an active process. A true entrepreneur is constantly on the lookout for complaints, grievances, annoyances, inconsistencies, and imperfections in the way the world works. On the flip-side of these imperfections are opportunities that willing and capable entrepreneurs stand to benefit from if they can create a solution that someone is willing to pay for.

So, rather than letting experiences pass you by, stop and think. Ask yourself if there is an opportunity hiding beneath the surface. Be curious. Be conscious. Be an entrepreneur.

- alec [dot] millertechalliance [dot] ca (Alec Miller)
Resident Business Analyst, TechAlliance

Canada vs. USA Entrepreneur

Submitted by Anonymous on October 1, 2009 - 2:07pm.

Alec: interesting view on being vigilant with opportunities. I am wondering if geography can play a role for an entrepreneur, in that, living in a rural vs. urban setting or being situated north or south of the 49th parallel can help or hinder an entrepreneur. Geo-political issues should be areas of exploration in order to foster the entrepreneur spirit. Is the “American Dream” different than the “Canadian Dream”? Creating your own business, generating independent wealth in a competitive environment seams consistent with American values; while Canadians default to consumer and passive roles to the entrepreneurial spirit. Canadian would rather critique and evaluate, call a Royal Commission, and then study the situation further – so academic. Obviously a wide brush is being applied here, but there is something to be said about the history of both countries and what we default too when it comes to setting-up a business.

Canada vs. USA Entrepreneur

Submitted by alec@techalliance on October 1, 2009 - 3:37pm.

Interesting perspective. It's been said that necessity is the mother of all invention. As I mentioned in my post, creativity seems to come out of imperfection. With this in mind, perhaps the entrepreneurial spirit among Americans is more pronounced due to the fact that they require it more than we do. The U.S. seems to have had a much more "tense" history than we've had in Canada - more wars, more socio-economic stratification, more ethnic/racial/religious divisions, etc. These are highly charged events and dynamics, which I'm sure many people find to be unsatisfactory. Perhaps this is what causes a culture of entrepreneurship, and perhaps more broadly, a progressive attitude.

London vs. Canada Entrepreneur

Submitted by Anonymous on October 13, 2009 - 6:34pm.

I'd be cautious about painting with a wide brush. I'm sure you'll find less entrepreneurs in DesMoines, Iowa than in NYC, but that doesn't mean the midwestern US is void of entrepreneurial spirit. Maybe it just means the enrtrepreneurs are forced to relocate where the capital is. Or maybe it just means certain places have their own culture. Maybe living in London causes people to be a little less entrepreneurial. How many times have you heard anyone from London say: "I don't like Toronto, it's too much like a US city." and yet I'd argue Toronto is much more entrepreneur friendly than many US cities of similar size. And certainly Calgary is an example of the entrepreneurial spirit at work. Consider the recent survey which picked Kitchener Waterloo as the best place in Ontario to invest. Where did London come in on that survey? We didn't even make the top ten. One of the reasons KW made the top spot is their plans to build a new LRT system in the city. I'd hate to even suggest such a thing in London as our municipal representatives would argue about it for twenty years before saying well it's too late now. (I'm harking back to the old 'ring road debate' in case you hadn't noticed.) It's this kind of inaction that drives the entrepreneurs away. Certainly in it's past there has been entrepreneurial spirit in London, but where has it gone? Apparently, the co-founders of Imperial Oil, Holiday Inn of Canada and a some other well known companies once lived in London, but i don't see many claims to fame in the last few decades. Furthermore, nothing was really built around these establishments. Maybe this city does not want to be the next hot bed of new technology. Maybe that ship has sailed and we have to settle for being a sleepy university town with a little incubator to start businesses that can be grown to fruition elsewhere. I hope not. If that's so, I'll be going where ever they are going.

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