Chapter 7 | Create Your Own Opportunities
"Got a vision that no one else sees, lot of dirty work, rolled up sleeves..."
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"Got a vision that no one else sees,
lot of dirty work, rolled up sleeves."
Nicki Minaj - Moment 4 Life
In this lyric from "Moment 4 Life," Nicki Minaj talks about having a unique vision and being willing to put in the hard work to create her own opportunities. This aligns with this chapter’s theme, which focuses on taking initiative and creating opportunities for yourself.
This is one of my favorite chapters of The Ghetto VC. It's about creating your own opportunities and realizing that you have everything you need to build the life you want. When it comes to building an investment portfolio and investing in startups, it doesn't have to be a passive game. You can play an active role in not just finding and investing in interesting deals, but also helping entrepreneurs and small business owners understand that they can raise investment money from their community.
Shift your mindset from focusing on what's readily available to you, like websites for finding opportunities, to thinking about how you can create new opportunities that may not exist yet. As an investor, you can see the value in different products and services that entrepreneurs bring to the market, and you can be an advocate for equity crowdfunding.
There may be entrepreneurs in your community with phenomenal products who need access to capital to scale but have struggled to raise traditional investment rounds or gain funding from a traditional bank. You can help these entrepreneurs see that there are other ways to raise funding, and as a customer and advocate, you can educate the founder on what it means to raise from the community and why you want to be an investor.
Don't just sit back and let the powers that be control sourcing capital to entrepreneurs. Everyday people in the community can stand up and say, "Hey, I want to be an investor." Even if you, as an individual, can only commit $100 to investing in a business, you can galvanize your community and show entrepreneurs that there are other people in the community who are interested, willing, and ready to invest in their business.
Taking on the mindset of the ghetto VC means thinking about how to gain ownership in your community and the startup ecosystem. You have to play an active role and become someone who creates opportunities, not just takes them.