About a week ago, I got a call from the local animal shelter telling me there was a 2-year-old boxer dog available for adoption. I had put my name on their list hoping to find a dog for my parents, who had just lost their beloved boxer to kidney failure.

I got to the pound, and there was a beautiful boxer dog, perfect in every way. Young, healthy, vibrant, with a pretty face and that famously goofy boxer expression. He was shy and bashful when I opened the door to his cage, but he gave me paw when I asked, and covered my face with kisses when I bent down to introduce myself. I quickly called my parents on the cell and encouraged them to “grab this one while they had the chance.”

My parents, being the old fogeys they are, had reservations. “Is the dog good looking?” “Do you think we’ll be able to handle a young dog?” “What if he runs off?”

I did everything short of adopt the dog myself, to try and get my parents to hurry up and act. I visited him again over the weekend. I took photos of the dog and emailed them to my brother. I mailed the photos to my mom and dad and wrote little captions beneath each one. “Where’s my mommy?” “I love to give kisses.” “I am a good boy.”

Every day, I told them, “You should come down and see him; this one is going to get grabbed up right away.” They were thinking, maybe in a week? Maybe.

Sure enough, within three days, the dog was adopted by someone else. My parents received the photos in the mail, too late. “Oh, he was really cute, wasn’t he!” said my mom with regret.

As I always do, I started relating this situation to managing my own copywriting business.

Experience as an entrepreneur has taught me that if a good opportunity comes knocking, you should take it. It doesn’t matter if there are unanswered questions. It doesn’t matter if things don’t play out exactly the way you hope. You just grab the chance while you have it, and you do what you can to make it work.

If this same thing had happened to me five years ago, before I had my own business, I don’t think I’d be taking pictures, calling my parents with daily updates, and visiting the pound to keep tabs on the dog. I think I’d have left the situation up to “fate.” “If it was meant to be, it was meant to be.”

This leaving things up to fate business is complete B.S.

Managing my own copywriting business has taught me that if you wait for things to happen TO you, nothing will happen.

Managing my own copywriting business has taught me that there is no perfect situation, and that’s okay. You go after the opportunities that appear especially promising, and fine-tune the plan as things play out. If your “gut” accidentally steers you into a predicament, there is always a way out. It’s not a big deal. Just keep problem-solving.

Maybe if my parents had their own business, they’d be the proud mom and dad of a great new dog right now. Maybe the dog wouldn’t be perfect at first. Maybe he’d need some training on how to walk with the leash, or he’d have to get used to a new brand of dog food, or something. But all of that is easily managed and dealt with.

The point is, when you view life as a series of opportunities that are ripe for the picking, you stand a much better chance of making your greatest desires come true.

How has being an entrepreneur changed your outlook?

Copyright 2008 Dina Giolitto, Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing. All rights reserved.

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