Like Richard Branson, the rebel billionaire and founder of Virgin Group once said, “business opportunities are like buses, there’s always another one coming”. The truth is, opportunities are always showing up, but if you don’t know how to leverage on them, those who know how will take advantage of them. Here is how you can recognize business opportunities.

#1-Opportunities are hidden in Problems: Every problem, whether personal, corporate or societal, comes with at least an opportunity in it. However, if you only focus on the problems, you will never see the opportunities. Most inventions are invented as a result of trying to solve problems. The surest way to finding an opportunity is to look at your present problem. If you are going through that problem, there are over a million people going through the same problem. Once you can find a permanent solution to the problem, trust me, you already have a business opportunity that can spin money for you. So, deliberately look at your problems differently, and begin to find solutions to them.

#2-Opportunities are hidden in crisis: Crisis mean a time of intense difficulty or danger. Whether it is a personal, corporate or societal crisis, there are opportunities in it. Once a crisis breaks out in your home, office or community, you should be thinking differently. Your thought should be how you can find a permanent solution to the crisis or what will people need during the crisis. The first three months of the Covid19 pandemic, the billionaires lost money like they had never done in history. The subsequent months, they made money like they had never done in history. They started seeing the opportunities in the global crisis. Some smart entrepreneurs also seized the opportunity to create businesses that are raking in tons of money without them leaving the comfort of their homes. They simply recognized the opportunities in the crisis. Next time you sense a crisis, start thinking of the opportunities that will come with it and leverage on them.

#3- You can spot opportunities by observing: If you train yourself how to observe things around you, you will find hundreds of opportunities. Observing your environment will ignite your creative mind to start spotting opportunities. Opportunities are like puzzles lurked in every corner, you can only spot them by observing things. Observe trends in your neighborhood, city, state, country and the world at large. The Covid19 brought about series of trends in almost all industries. If you are very observant, you would have noticed few of them. Seize them, they are business opportunities.     

#4 –Be conscious of innovation: Some inventions simply need innovation. Study the trend of innovation and you will spot opportunities. You should be thinking of how to make life easier for people, that is how innovators recreate things. They simply leverage on what already exists and then improve on it. Don’t be from that school of thought that says that is how the cookies crumble. There is no rule to how the cookies crumble. There is no rule to how things are done; they can be improved. And those improvements may be waiting for someone to spot them.  Be that person.

#5-Brainstorming: When having spontaneous discussion with a friend or more, be sensitive. In such discussion, ideas may be birthed. I once heard that a top fashion designer stumbled on the name of her fashion brand while baking and discussion with a friend in her kitchen. I have a friend-turned-brother, and together we have created hundred of business opportunities while brainstorming on how to produce ideas. If you don’t have such smart friends, then discard your current friends and find yourself at least a smart friend. That way, you will be thinking differently and creating business opportunities.

#6-You can create opportunities: Sir Winston Churchill, a British Statesman and Writer, once said “I like things to happen. And if they don’t happen, I like to make them happen”. Be that person that wants things to happen and then go ahead to make them happen. About twelve years ago, my works were rejected by newspaper and magazine houses because I was talking like a visionary. I got upset by the rejections and wind up creating my own magazine and then published my works. Don’t wait to be giving a platform; create your own platform. That way you will discover business opportunities.