Do you know what I mean by a unicorn?

Something very rare.

In this case, I mean a business that skyrockets – grows very quickly indeed and makes someone or some people very wealthy. Or quite wealthy.

Life-changing money, not necessarily.

Elon Musk’s money.

There are the obvious ones we hear about, Facebook, Amazon, PayPal, Atlassian – businesses that grow to huge proportions and become global phenomena.

Those businesses typically follow a similar trajectory – they start and do well then, get money from investors (because growth costs) and grow more, grabbing that market opportunity.

They’re usually new technology or a new thing that everyone wants. 

And they’re usually consumer, main market and made of money.

We’ll leave them there…

That’s not the market any of us are in, is it? 

Or is it?

I’ve been a business coach for 18 years and I reckon I’ve seen (coached) about three of these unicorns. Businesses that have gone from zero or small to several million in a couple of years or so – so quickly.

They’ve all had similar characteristics (not new technology, that’s the realm of the big guys) but what I’m calling a sudden market opportunity.

All three of the unicorns I’ve worked with have had a sudden market opportunity arise because of a change in government policy and something else.

Government regulation changed around smoke alarms in this country and I worked with a business that grew exponentially because of it.

Government regulation in regards to asbestos has been around here as well as in New Zealand for a while but the Christchurch rebuild represented a huge opportunity and I worked with a business that grew exponentially because of that.

Government regulation around housing for Maori people in New Zealand represents an opportunity and I’m working with a business that’s growing exponentially due to that.

We all saw the Pink Batts insulation thing go neutral in Australia. Despite the noise about people exploiting it and cheating, genuine businesses made a bundle too.

And we all saw solar businesses go mental when demand skyrocketed because the government in Australia subsided or mandated a 60c feed-in tariff.

One thing all those market opportunities had in common is that they were relatively short-lived. 

They came to an end, markets matured and got crowded with competitors.

Those unicorns had a window of opportunity and they had their success because they ceased and ran with it.

So what’s the lesson here?

The clue is in the title.

If you spot an opportunity, grab it, act quickly and get help.

But if you don’t see one of those opportunities, don’t fret. 

You can still be successful.

I’ve coached 3 unicorns and I’ve coached hundreds of normals. 

Businesses like yours (and mine) that provide their owners and their employees with a decent living and help their owners build some wealth.

And the trick to it is that there is no trick.

What those successful businesses have in common is that they’ve done good work, consistently, over the longer term. 

They’ve looked after their customers and their staff and they’ve built the systems and the structure into their business to help them do it.

I don’t want to lecture you here about what those systems are. I want this to be a message of hope and positivity. The path to success and a successful trade business is much more surer than you might think if you do the basics properly.

If you want to read about what those systems are, ask for the ‘7 Systems’ eBook.

Click this link to get the guide – ‘7 Systems’.

A moderately successful business builds a lot more wealth over 10 or 20 years than a unicorn does in 3 or 5.

Build a business sustainably over the long term, make a profit every year and enjoy the journey.

That’s the key.