"Talent alone won't make you a success. Neither will being in the right place at the right time, unless you are ready.  The most important question is 'Are you Ready'?"

Quote by Johnny Carson

Commentary by Jerry "DRhino" Clark

Whew... I know Johnny Carson is not really known for his profound statements, but this one really sunk in at a deep level when I first heard it nearly 2 decades ago...

Let's analyze the quote a bit more:

"Talent alone won't make you a success." 

People have a tendency to think that just because they are talented in something, that should be enough to guarantee their success...  Well, maybe it should, but it doesn't...  The world is full of broke, miserable, and depressed people who have lots of talent...  Don't get the wrong idea here.  I mean, I believe that Talent is Good... It's Great... It's Fantastic...  It's Impressive... It's Noteworthy... It's just not enough...  So, go ahead and work on your talent.  Develop it.  Improve it as much as you can.  But just don't be dissapointed when you've developed all of this super talent and no one is superbly paying you for it. 

Just keep in mind that Talent does not equal Entitlement.

Ok... Now let's move on to the next part of Johnny's Quote:

"Neither will being in the Right Place at the Right Time."

Yes, we've heard this statement over and over again.  She was in the Right Place at the Right Time.  My come back is this... So What!   I've realized over the years that being in the Right Place at the Right Time is still not enough...  This realization struck harder when I was having a conversation with a good long time childhood friend of mine named Anthony a while back...  Anthony and I have been friends since the age of 13...  Back when we were in our early 20's (approx. 22 years of age) we got into Real Estate Investing...  I would buy a house at a really good price and then I would turn around (usually within 48 hours) and immediately sell it to another investor for about a $7,000-$12,000 quick profit.  Anthony would purchase some of these houses from me and he would fix them up and sell them to a Home Buyer (the end user) for about a $20,000-$30,000 profit...  I got to a point where I was buying and selling at least one house per week using this formula... Anthony would buy about 1 of these per month from me and I sold the other ones to other investors. 

Here's the point...  Eventually, Anthony had accumulated a pretty sizable nest egg after a relatively short period of time (Several Hundred Thousand Dollars before the age of 23)...  During this time, he was looking for other investments to make and he was approached by one of his Investment Advisors to purchase some Microsoft Stock which was selling for a bit less than $8 per share back then.  (Right Place, Right Time)... But guess what... Anthony was not ready, thus the opportunity passed him by... 

We were reflecting on this just a few days back and we were talking about what that stock would have been worth even if he had put a modest amount of his portfolio (10%) into Microsoft Stock back then...  Whew, let's just say we came up with an 8 Figure Number (That's 10 Million and above in case you're wondering). 

I can go on and tell you story after story in my own personal life where I was in the Right Place at the Right Time but simply wasn't ready to capatalize on it... 

The Point is just as Johnny Carson mentioned:  Being at the Right Place at the Right Time doesn't matter too much if you're not ready...

Now when you are Ready... Whew... Then watch the Magic Unfold...

Roy D. Chaplin, Jr. is credited with saying, "Be ready when opportunity comes... Luck is the time when preparation and opportunity meet."

Someone else (whom I'm not sure who it was) said, "It's better to be prepared and not have an opportunity, than to have an opportunity and not be prepared."

David Schwartz, the guy who wrote the Self-Help Classic The Magic of Thinking Big said, "Take a second look at what appears to be someone's 'good luck'.  You'll find not luck, but preparation, planning, and success-producing thinking."

So my question for you is this...

ARE YOU READY?

If not, then I advise you to GET READY NOW!

Take the advice of Abraham Lincoln when he said, "I Will Prepare And Someday My Chance Will Come."

Whoa... Long Commentary, but believe me when I tell you I can write an entire book on this subject right at this moment...  It's such a powerful point and I want to make sure you get it.

GET READY NOW AND WHEN YOUR CHANCE COME, RIDE IT FOR ALL IT'S WORTH...

Until Next Time,

Go, Go, Go!!!

Jerry "DRhino" Clark