The Right Place at The Right Time, or Genius?

I bumped into my old friend in a pub one evening and recounted my experience.  He asked me back to his house and he would show me something.  Over a coffee he layed out his local news paper we turned to the classified adds there were page after page of mobile mechanic advertisements literally pages full, some big colourful ads some small black and white ads.  He went to the top drawer of his office and produced the same paper but six years previously he kept it for prosperity because it was his first advert for his business.  He said rather smugly “You see my advert and my advert alone for a mobile mechanic” he continued to tell me the work poured in because it was a new concept in the area, sometimes he worked till late evening by torch their was so much work! his conclusion to me was “You’ve missed the boat ole son its sailed years ago”.

He was in the right place at the right time or was it shrewed business acumen?.  A little while ago i saw a documentary on self made millionaires, they were seated in a T.V. studio and were recounting their rags to riches stories, one that stuck in my mind was this, this was back in the late 1950s or early 1960s, a young man walking to his job in a factory had to start at 6.00am for his shift, he walked past countless News agents and corner shops they were all closed they didn’t open until 9.00am way too late for him to purchase his morning paper and smokes.  The gent there and then had a eureka moment.  He would buy a newsagents that’s a bit run down, clean it up and open it from 6.00am till 10.00pm he even slept in a cot in the back of the shop.  Ten years later he owned a chain of news agents and corner shops over the country.  The reason he was so successful was no one else opened till 9.00am, now days they all do there are 24 hour supermarkets newsagents open nearly all day Sunday, its not new now the boat has sailed. If you worked every hour god sent you would be lucky to keep a roof over your head in that line of work now.

So we sat at our dining table struggling for ideas. Whatever idea one of us thought of the other one had heard of, by the time average people hear of a great money making scheme its too late, because so have the rest of the world! the sea is full of missed boats with millionaires waving their cash at you from over the stern of their private yachts.

We are huge fans of the T.V. show “Dragons Den” i believe the American version is called “American inventor” I have seen fully qualified inventors with credentials growing out from their finger nails! they take in a brilliant safety idea such as a safety beacon on a floating key ring for boats you drop your keys over board they float and send out a homing beacon for 36 hours, I thought a fantastic idea did he get any sponsorship? no way, he was told a similar product was patented in Australia! the man was devastated, conversely a Black guy with long dred locks walks into the Dragons Den singing a catchy little song about a hot sauce called ”Reggae reggae sauce” his own recipe from where he grew up in Jamaica, he didn’t understand money or quantities very well, but one Dragon liked it they sponsored him. Its in nearly every supermarket chain in Britain and McDonald’s are now using it.  He’s a millionaire! he even goes around schools sharing his experince with children.

In conclusion please excuse my rambling examples, but is there genius in these people or does luck and good timing play a huge helping hand, I don’t know.