Opportunity Knocks Twice; Chapter 15

Editor's Note: Utah Pulse is serializing the book, 'Opportunity Knocks Twice,' by Don Hale, as told to Mark Hale. We'll publish two chapters a week. You'll enjoy the wit and wisdom of one of Utah's great entrepreneurs, founder of Hires Big H. To buy the book, click here.

SECTION FIVE
Acquire Autonomy and Security by Becoming Your Own Boss or a Great Employee

Life is filled with change. And change is inevitable on all levels, personally, communally, nationally, and globally. Even though change creates uncertainty, it also creates opportunity. Perhaps there is more opportunity now than ever before. While we may not always have control over the degree of stability in the world generally, we can make choices that give us command over our lives personally. Since you are responsible for your life and your current or future family, try to take control of your destiny by achieving autonomy and security. You can do this by becoming your own boss by starting your own business—managing the business according to sound business principles; or by becoming a great employee and approaching your job as if it were your own business.
In becoming your own boss, you gain the autonomy that comes with this stature, but also, you need to accept the responsibility that comes with this position. You become totally responsible not only for your own situation, but also responsible for any employees you hire. This venture—becoming your own boss—is for many the only way to go, but it will require work and worry, skill and sacrifice, time and talent, risk and reward, maturity and maneuverability, and finesse and flexibility. As you use this autonomy well, your security becomes greater, because you are in control of your resources.

Becoming your own boss gives you the opportunity to be in control of your own life.

Not everyone can become their own boss by owning their own business. Many do not have the resources or the inclination to do so. But what may be just as good is becoming a great employee by approaching your job as if it were your own business.
Most businesses need employees, and successful businesses require great employees to perform the service or make the product vital to that business. The greater an employee you become, the more successful the business becomes, and the more dependant and appreciative the ownership and management becomes, or should become, toward you, making your job better and more secure. As you gain this security from your employer, your autonomy increases because your employer trusts you more and entrusts you with more, giving you more authority and discretion.
Great employees work hard, promptly respond to their bosses’ instructions, keep their bosses informed of important issues, never surprise their bosses by their actions, identify problems and suggest solutions, and by nature and attitude are easy to work with and easy to teach.

Becoming a great employee gives you greater job security and autonomy.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Finding Your Niche

I believe that everyone can find his or her niche in life. In the 1960s my life began to change because I had finally found mine—a businessman for sure, but specifically in the restaurant business. I began to really love restaurateuring. I went through four businesses trying to find one that coincided with my interests and strengths. I hope you find a business that works well for you, either as an owner or as an employee.
All of us are made up of a unique combination of personality, temperament, intelligence, motivation, needs, and comfort level; and we are happier and more successful when we fit our makeup with our business or job. I like what the Marriott man and, later, our wise business consultant, Ridge Hicks, counseled:

Build on your strengths, not on your weaknesses.

I have always thought that is good advice. One of my needs is independence and one of my strengths is autonomy. I never wanted to work for anyone else; I always wanted to be my own boss. With my drive-in, I finally found the business that best suited my skills and personality. I started to learn more and more about it and how to run it so that its success continued.

Love what you do or get out. If you love what you do you will be successful at it.

I learned to love the restaurant business because it enabled me to provide both a product and a service and showed me that doing both well produced success. The restaurant business teaches so many aspects of business in general. It is one of the few businesses where you can take a raw product, create something from it, market it, sell it, have the customer consume it and comment on it, and receive the revenue for it all within an hour or two.
Developing a restaurant that specialized in new ways of preparing the classic American hamburger and fries, and going into business for myself became the only way for me to go.
Business is a wonderful concept. In business life we either sell a product, or a service, or both, to someone who needs a product, or service, or both. Everyone specializes in a product or service and hopes that his or her speciality will be wanted and valued by someone and, hopefully, by many. Business encompasses all professions—medical, legal, accounting, engineering, teaching, etc.—and all trades, from contracting to lawn mowing and everything in between. Business becomes our way of life with each business providing goods or services for another. The more we can learn about business principles, the more we can be successful in a chosen field of employment.
Going into business for oneself becomes a great
way to go. Creating a business does so much for the individual and for the community and country. It provides the opportunity to become one’s own boss, to become autonomous, to create one’s own security, to dictate one’s own schedule, to map one’s own success and growth, and to learn every aspect of business. It provides the community and country opportunities for jobs, opportunities for new or improved products or services, and opportunities for competition. Ask yourselves what product or service you can invent, create, or do that has not been done. The future is as rich with opportunity as the past has been.
Consider this piece by Salt Lake City newspaper columnist Lee Benson reiterating the message he recently gave the student body of the junior high school he attended forty years ago.

For my theme, I decided to tell the kids about all the things I wish I’d been smart enough to have invented before they got invented.
The trouble was, back in 1963, I was quite certain the world was completely developed. We had the Chevrolet Corvette, we had Converse All-Stars, we had rock ‘n’ roll, we had Levi Strauss Levi’s, we even had the brand new Cottonwood Mall.
What else was there?
My myopia, as I explained, really cost me, because as it’s turned out there were a few things yet to be brought into the world, including but not limited to, microwave ovens, cell phones, computers, dishwashers, cassette tapes, CDs, DVDs, the Internet, cable TV, digital cameras, Velcro, pocket calculators, cruise-control, word processors, photocopiers, fax machines, Palm Pilots, Post-It notes, self-propelled lawn mowers, The Clapper, air bags, ice makers, high-definition televisions, Blackberries and iPods.
Also, the creation of artificial hearts, hands, legs, arms, knees and hips, arthroscopic surgery, laser surgery, LASIK eye surgery and Prozac.
In sports, the mountain bike and snowboard were waiting to be invented when I was in junior high, as were aluminum bats, graphite racquets, metal woods, running shoes, parabolic skis, Springbar tents, Gore-Tex, carbon frame bicycles, ESPN and the three-point shot. Soccer was a European rumor.
In 1963, I reminisced, there were no 7-Elevens, no Taco Bells, no Pizza Huts, no Panda Expresses, no breakfasts at McDonald’s, no Jiffy Lubes, no pay-at-the-pump, no ATMs, no Ziplock bags, no disco, no grunge bands and no karaoke. Even the Beatles were still a year away for American fans.
Forty-two years ago, who knew?
“What I’m saying,” I said to the kids, “is you could be hitting yourself on the head 42 years from now, like me, asking yourself, ‘Why didn’t I think of that?’ I just wish I could tell you what it is that’s going to make you so aggravated.”
With that, I wished everyone a happy 50th and drove away in my four-wheel-drive SUV, still not sure someone wasn’t going to make me stay for algebra. (Lee Benson, The Deseret Morning News, April 15, 2005)

As one has said,

If you want to be successful, find a need and fill it.