Sometimes Opportunity Looks Like More Work

Something happened recently that reminded me how differently people can look at the exact same opportunity.

I had a BMW diagnostic scan tool for sale.

I know a mechanic personally, and when I saw the tool, I immediately thought of him. Not because I expected him to suddenly become a BMW specialist, but because I could see a simple opportunity for him to add another service to what he already does.

So I sent it to him.

His first response was basically:

“What’s this?”

He hadn’t really looked at it.

After realizing what it was, he responded that it was a BMW scan tool and that he stays far away from BMWs, so he wouldn’t invest in it.

Fair enough.

And let me make something clear: there is absolutely nothing wrong with him deciding not to buy it.

This isn’t about him.

It’s about what happened inside my own head immediately after reading his response.

Because he saw:

BMW = complicated cars = headaches = work I don’t want.

I saw:

BMW = people with warning lights = people who want answers = a service someone will pay for.

That’s when it hit me.

Sometimes the difference isn’t the opportunity. It’s what we think the opportunity requires us to do.

My first thought wasn’t:

“Buy the scanner and start repairing BMWs.”

My thought was:

Scan the damn cars.

That’s it.

A BMW owner comes in with warning lights on the dashboard.

Plug in the diagnostic tool.

Run the scan.

Give the customer the codes and some initial information.

Charge a reasonable diagnostic fee.

Then, if the repair is outside your expertise:

Refer them to a BMW specialist.

You haven’t rebuilt an engine.

You haven’t removed a transmission.

You haven’t committed yourself to becoming a European-car specialist.

You simply solved the customer’s first problem:

“What is wrong with my car?”

And you got paid for providing that service.

Even better, the customer now walks into the specialist with more information than they had before.

That has value.

Three People Can See the Same Tool and See Three Different Futures

This is where mindset becomes interesting.

Give three people the same opportunity.

One person thinks:

“I don’t work on BMWs, so this has nothing to do with me.”

Another thinks:

“I could probably use this occasionally if a BMW comes through.”

The third thinks:

“How many BMWs are on the road around here? How many owners get warning lights? What could I charge for a diagnostic scan? Could I advertise BMW diagnostic scanning? Which BMW specialist could I partner with for referrals? Could that specialist send general mechanical work back to me?”

Same tool.

Same market.

Same 24 hours in the day.

Completely different thought process.

That is one of the differences between a limiting mindset, a comfortable mindset, and an opportunity mindset.

The limiting mindset asks:

“Why won’t this work for me?”

The comfortable mindset asks:

“Can this help me do what I already do?”

The opportunity mindset asks:

“What else can I make this do?”

Successful People Don’t Always Work Harder. Sometimes They See Further.

We talk constantly about hard work.

“Work hard.”

“Grind.”

“Put in the hours.”

And yes, effort matters.

But there is another skill that doesn’t get discussed enough:

Seeing opportunities without automatically attaching unnecessary work to them.

Every opportunity does not require you to personally perform every part of the transaction.

The restaurant owner doesn’t grow every vegetable.

The jeweler doesn’t mine the gold.

The car dealer doesn’t manufacture the vehicle.

The travel agent doesn’t fly the plane.

Business often works because somebody identifies where value can be created, delivers their portion of that value and connects the customer to the next solution.

That mechanic doesn’t necessarily need to repair the BMW.

He needs to decide whether there is money to be made by helping the BMW owner.

Those are two completely different questions.

The Referral Can Be Part of the Business

Imagine this:

A customer comes in.

“BMW check-engine light. Can you check it?”

“Absolutely.”

Scan fee: $50.

Ten minutes later, the customer understands that the issue requires specialized BMW attention.

“Here’s what the scanner is showing. I don’t perform that particular repair, but I can recommend someone who does.”

Customer pays.

Customer leaves better informed.

Mechanic gets paid.

BMW specialist potentially gets a customer.

Nobody loses.

And if the mechanic builds a relationship with that specialist, something even more interesting can happen.

BMW specialist:

“I don’t really deal with this type of general work. Go see my guy.”

Now referrals start traveling both directions.

A $50 scan just became relationship-building, lead generation and another entry point into the market.

That is what opportunity thinking looks like.

This Goes Way Beyond BMWs

The lesson isn’t about cars.

It’s about how often opportunity knocks and we reject it because we’re looking at the largest possible version of the work instead of the smallest profitable part of the opportunity.

Someone sees an empty room and thinks:

“I don’t want to run a hotel.”

Someone else thinks:

“Can I rent the room?”

Someone sees a camera and thinks:

“I don’t want to become a photographer.”

Someone else thinks:

“Can businesses pay me to create simple product photos?”

Someone sees a piece of equipment and thinks:

“I don’t know how to do everything this machine can do.”

Someone else asks:

“What is the simplest thing this machine can do that somebody will pay me for?”

That question can change businesses.

Opportunity Doesn’t Always Arrive Looking Like Money

Sometimes opportunity looks like equipment.

Sometimes it looks like information.

Sometimes it looks like a relationship.

Sometimes it looks like a problem.

Sometimes — and this is important — it looks like work.

That’s why people miss it.

They see the inconvenience before they calculate the potential.

The entrepreneurial mind tries to separate the two.

What part requires my time?

What part requires my expertise?

What part can be referred?

What part can be outsourced?

Where exactly is the value being created?

And where, in that chain, can I legitimately get paid?

That doesn’t mean every opportunity should be pursued.

Some opportunities genuinely aren’t worth the investment.

Some markets aren’t big enough.

Some tools won’t pay for themselves.

Successful thinking isn’t blindly saying yes to everything.

It’s being curious enough to run the numbers before saying no.

Before You Say “That’s Not For Me…”

Ask yourself:

Do I actually need to do everything involved, or just one profitable part of it?

Is there a customer problem here that I can solve?

Can I provide the first step and refer the rest?

Can this create another income stream without dramatically increasing my workload?

Can this introduce new customers to my existing business?

Can I partner with someone who handles the part I don’t want to do?

And perhaps the biggest question:

Am I rejecting the opportunity because it doesn’t make sense — or because I haven’t looked at it long enough to see how it could?

There is a massive difference.

I sent someone a BMW scanner.

He saw BMW repairs.

I saw diagnostic fees, new customers, referrals and another potential revenue stream.

Neither of us changed the object sitting in the box.

The only thing that changed was the lens through which we looked at it.

And sometimes, that lens is the difference between struggling, surviving and building.

Opportunity doesn’t always say, “Here is some money.”

Sometimes it simply asks:

“Can you see it?”

— Kerwin Boxill

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