This is the advice: identify, target and grab. To be successful in business (and in just about anything) you must grab opportunities.
Is it ethical to grab opportunities? You want me to put in less forceful language? Would you be thinking about ethics if I said you must take opportunities?
Look, I’m not suggesting you break the law or snatch lollipops from the hands of small children. I suspect most of our objections amount not so much to grabbing as failure to grab. What if something goes wrong? What if they reject me? If rejected, be pleased you made the effort!
Identify, Target, Grab
So, be present and aware of opportunities as they present themselves. Identify opportunities to meet people interested in your offer. You attend a network meeting, with a room full of people, and any may be potential opportunities.
If there are a lot of people present, find out who may be interested in your offer. Perhaps you will hear their pitches. Target 1 or 2 people and be sure to talk to them.
Have a conversation and make them an offer. Note the word “grab” is actually a metaphor. You haven’t actually grabbed anything. But you have acted decisively. Do it often enough and your business will be a success.
Awareness
I deliberately chose “grab” but could just as easily written about the need to be present in any situation. Awareness is the key to any business, so you can act when you find an opportunity.
One of the issues that bedevils marketing is the use of language. The language of grab is common and conforms to a masculine worldview. The language of presence or awareness conforms to a feminine wordview.
At least, that is what we are led to believe. Masculine and feminine are perhaps helpful shorthand but the truth is more complex. These distinct approaches to the same thing are commonly associated with male and female but in practice they are associated with personality types and not the sex of the person using them.
The question is which language builds community? We cannot sustain a world where grabbing for myself is the norm.
Please let me know if this post has been helpful. I’d be happy to expand on any of the issues raised.