Knock, knock
Who's there?
    John.
John who?
    John, your neighbour.
Urrrgh, this fucking guy. Just a moment!
    Ok!
Fucktard!
    What was that?!
I said just a moment!!
    Ok!


You wait a few more seconds and then get up reluctantly and go to open the door for John, the neighbour, he always has some cockamamie idea and since he has no wife anymore it has become your burden to bear. He wants to tell you his idea.

Dammit, she was lucky to get out when she did, you think, John's wife that is, or she would probably be in jail by now, sure it would be worth it and you wish she just did it because now you might have to go to jail.

Opening the door with as little expression on your face as you can muster, in front of you and soon to be inside your house is the biggest irritation aside from herpes and those other things that only friends of friends seem to get. That reminds you that you are not buying meat at that butchery again, dude looked like he was humping the edge of the counter.

"What do you want John?"

    "Dude!!"

"What?"

The precum walks in and goes to plop himself down on the sofa.

    "Really great, super day."

"I did not ask how your day was, I asked what you want?"

    "Ooooh, you, classic. Yes let me tell you."


He does not tell you anything, no as you go to sit down in your spot he pauses just long enough for you to lose interest and start to watch tv again, ah the bliss all alone just relaxing....

    "You know those suppliers I mentioned that bring things in from China?"
"Yes... Probably."
    "Yes man you know the ones I am talking about, I still told you at the office about..."


You don't know but do remember him mentioning something about something and then saying China. In your defense he is really irritating, a fact you ponder on many times in the day. You look away from the tv and nod at him knowingly. That will do.

"Yes, I know, what is it about the suppliers?"

    "Well.. They said if I order in bulk they will give me a great discount, these are awesome products you know, and the people who sell them here are so expensive, we can make a killing."

There it is.

"We?"

    "Yes, you are very good at making the things look amazing, and you are capable of teaching others to do that also, and I promise you won't have to deal with the customers at all, I will be doing that."

"Making what? What are you importing."

    "For now we will make coffee mugs, coasters, mousepads all those things."

"There are plenty of people doing that in town already."

    "Yes, but we can beat their prices and have much better designs than them."

"Ok."



You need not say much more because the flood gates has opened he will proceed to spill everything over the course of the evening with very little input from you, this part is great relationship advice you think, maybe you should write a post on steemit - Relationships last longer on Auto - the only reason John is still alive.

    "Yip, you will manage the designs and templating, I will deal with clients and marketing, I will also bring everything in to get us started, telling you, this is a great opportunity."



He was right it is a great opportunity, and after another hour of listening to stats of how many people in some shitty facebook group with your towns name want mugs and dead people memorabilia he felt assured that this is a great venture. He even made you feel a bit of a tingle.

    "We are going to make so much money."

"Yes, it sounds ok."

    "I am telling you, it is great."

"Yes, see you tomorrow, I will have a look at it tonight."

    "Bye. You know this is quite exciting. Ok see tomorrow."

"Yes."


You shut the door and pause for a second, yes it does sound promising, but you will need to check it out for yourself, this dude gets excited over anything and especially if he thinks it will be a quick buck, hell he would have been a grave robber if he could find someone to dig up the grave for him, trying to convince them there is a great future in this.

---

---

Momentarily there might be a great future, but it seems people tend to catch on to what you are doing, so they do it themselves and compete, and even worse just lose interest in it.

As you go to sit down, not too bothered with what is on tv anymore, so long as it is not those human turd Kardashians or any show where the audience is overly excited and should probably be shot on their way out from the studio, just to save their friends from having to hear about them being on what the fuck ever it is they were on.

Rick and Morty, great this is good thinking material, contemplating the future and already knowing the stats to a degree which is something you would not tell John since you saw what he was doing and looked into it already, well glanced at a bit of the information.

You summarise it, yes you could make a few bucks early on, but not enough to cover costs, he is under the impression that he will recoup it all within six months.

You laugh at his stupidity, and sheer blind enthusiasm

---

---

6 Months down the line, a squiggly one with bits missing

You have learnt that Johns idea of building the business was to post adverts on facebook and hope that people come, instead of undercutting he is now attempting to overcharge. You are still the only one that actually knows how to produce any of the products and have to explain it to every person that asks since John has no fucking clue what is happening he just cares how much has been sold.

"I'm going for a smoke."

    "Did you do those mugs the old lady wanted?"

"Yes her dead husbands face is forever emblazoned."

    "And..."

"Yes."

    "Ok, they said it was urgent."

"It is just a birthday, if they lucky the kid gets hit with a bus and they save some cash."

    "Haha, you. Good work though, we are doing less than expected but it might still grow, I will put more adverts out."

---

---

No that is an anti-climatic ending if ever I read one, John is still alive and you? Well, you have been pulled into someone else's opportunity, you might even have helped give it a turn for the better if you took charge seeing as you obviously you are the only one that knows what is the reality.

Opportunities are tough things to identify, since almost anything could be a potential candidate, it is much easier to be pulled into a situation driven by others than it is to go headlong into something yourself, you feel less angst, have less risk, and above all can usually call it a day.

Once you are along for the ride for some time then it becomes a problem, and knowing when to take control instead of doing backseat driving will be of paramount importance.

I think we all have times like this, where although this opportunity was mismanaged by not fully comprehending the scope or even having a John.



John never just took a step back and said you know what this is my dream and I need to work at it as an example to those I need to help realise this.

John always just cobbled it together and when things got tough wanted to try and cheat.

John always just had that quick buck in mind.

You need to decide what you are going to do, because no matter how you look at it, there are only two option. You either give it up and stop wasting time which is not just their time anymore, you are already shoulder deep in the quicksand.

Or you show John how, you let him take a back seat, come out from the backroom put on your running shoes and catch that slow ass retarded buck that the herd is forcing towards the outer edge as they try to escape.

Keep doing that.

Every day.

Get all the bucks.