One thing that is interesting about Buffalo, New York is how much everyone loves their darts. It’s easy to learn and fun to play. Accuracy and precision are another thing that aren’t quite so easy to master.

Being as I haven’t grown up playing darts, it’s not unreasonable to imagine that I am not very good at it.

But I have learned one thing that could translate to the business world. It may not be applicable in all circumstances, but what is? The lesson that I have learned is to chase opportunity, not you competitors.

In darts, if your opponent closes off the 20s, you go after the 19s. In business, if everyone is selling warm lemonade, you might go set up a chilled kool-aid stand. Then again, is that where the real opportunity lies? Perhaps you might start selling your competition lemons and ice cubes.

Always look for the opportunity and strive to reach the goals you set. That is where the real bucks will be made. Hey, if it was easy to become a millionaire then everyone would be doing it.

Here in the United States the cost of gasoline is roughly three dollars. That seems quite outrageous to most people that will freely share their opinion on the expensive liquid.

On the other hand, I think that oil is cheap. Even if crude did close at a new record high of $75.15 per barrel, I think it is still quite cheap. I don’t like spending $35 to fill up when I used to be able to do it for $20, but when you look at the amount of work required to get the gas from the ground or ocean floor and into my car, it certainly seems like I’m getting a heck of a deal.

Consider some of the other liquids that we buy such as milk and bottled water.
With bottled water the work involved is simply turning on a faucet and filling up the bottle. Ta-da, bottled water that can be sold at more than three dollars a gallon! Next we’ll look at milk. In order to get this it’s simply a matter of having some cows and then milking them. Okay so then you have to homogenize the milk and separate out the fat, but after that you’re good to go. Milk sells for roughly three dollars a gallon.

Now let’s take a look at getting gasoline from the ground and into your car. First, you have to find an oilfield that you can tap. You have to hire all kinds of engineers for this, particularly petroleum engineers and environmental engineers. All kinds of restrictions apply on where you can drill, how much you can take, and how the land is treated. All of these concerns can be big sinkholes for the investment.

Now that we have found some oil, or at least we think we have, it’s time to drill down to it. So we throw in tens of thousands of dollars getting the required machinery out to the field and getting the pump drilled, primed, and otherwise fired up.

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I remember all of those dreams I had. Go back to school, learn to paint, buy an airplane, work for a charity for free, travel to Tikal… I feel like the dreams that I had will never happen at this rate. I’m stuck, and my bed is that you are, too. Are you really achieving the big picture goal yourself?

We remind each other to take risks every day on Aridni, and I’m trying to be a daredevil. The truth is that my husband and I realize we aren’t trying hard enough. We’ve asked ourselves: How do we establish a million bucks? Are we willing to make the sacrifices?

I think we’ve found an answer, or at least a start. It’s time to take the plunge.

In six months, we are throwing away job security, health insurance, and an outstanding rental contract of six months. We’re going to pack ourselves up and revert back to those days of Ramen noodles if we have to. We’ll buy a rundown, cheap house in desperate need of TLC that we’ll fully provide. I’ll find a job in a town where jobs are scarce (at least I hope I will!), and devote my weekends to our project. My husband will be engaging in our project full time.

It’s scary to think about. Throw away everything? Yeah. But we’re taking the risk when we have nothing to lose. I’d rather look back and know we failed than be still sitting around, waiting and wishing in a lifestyle where we’ll never get ahead for sure. I can’t live this way!

This weekend, I challenge you—not to risk everything, rather to risk.

1. Ask yourself how you can establish a million bucks.
2. Think: are you willing to make the sacrifices?
3. Start thinking of the possibilities as we celebrate freedom this 4th of July weekend—the freedom to chose, the freedom to gamble
4. Don’t spend a potential fortune on fireworks (Todd!)

Can you name the man who said, “With great wealth comes great responsibility” No it wasn’t Old Uncle Ben from Spider Man. His quote was “With great power comes great responsibility” It certainly wasn’t Bruce Wayne, Clark Kent, or Willy Wonka either. It has nothing to do with the new movie “Superman Returns” or anything in the comic universe whatsoever.

The correct answer was Bill Gates. As you might know he recently stated that he was going to retire from Microsoft and work only at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He is now focusing on helping other people who are less fortunate than himself.

While he was doing this, the stock market Superstar Warren Buffet was hatching up his own philanthropic scheme of his own. He just donated 85 percent of his wealth to the Gates Foundation. We’re talking $31,000,000,000 here!

About the inheritance that his children are now missing out on he stated that he believes children of wealthy people should be given enough so that they can do anything, but not enough so they can do nothing.

When dreaming of the $$ paycheck, take a look at the work environment. How much is the big guy making? Chances are, you’ll never top that income no matter if you’re the greatest thing the company has ever seen since they threw out the last typewriter—which can be a bad thing if the CEO only makes $30,000.

For example, I considered a company that seemed pretty cool. Everyone but the owner was in his or her 20’s and didn’t seem to have much direction or a plan for now. They were all on the same level; they all got paid around the same amount. If I started working there, I’d be at the same level after training. Demand for this job was HOT! But why? You can’t grow with the company other than in years. Everyone does the same job, and the company probably can’t steer you toward your dream job anywhere.

I think it’s important to keep your long-term goals in focus beyond a paycheck for today no matter how cool a job description looks on their website.

We all want to know the same thing on Aridni… how can we go beyond fulfilling the American Dream without getting broke in the end? The most effective business leaders anticipate change in the stock market and variations in consumer trends before they happen. Sucessful businesspeople hold the ability to think unconventionally.

Take the infamous Joseph P. Kennedy for example. Why is it that despite his crude business dealings, Kennedy was so successful in the liquor business and remained a billionaire during the Great Depression while the rest of America starved? As a third generation Irish American, Kennedy’s mother raised him to believe that he was destined to be a success and that anything less than fame and fortune would bring shame to his family name.

With that mentality, Kennedy grew up to be ambassador to Great Britain and the father of the thirty fifth president of the United States. In fact, it was mostly his father’s money that brought John F. Kennedy to the Oval Office. The elder Kennedy made his money through bootlegging, not a means most of us would consider particularly moral. Yet, somehow he managed to get away with it when many people worked hard for much less. By the time his son’s name was on the ballet in 1960, Joseph P. Kennedy was the fourth richest man in America. What was his secret? Part of it lay in the fact that Kennedy was foresighted enough to pull out of the stock market before Black Tuesday in 1929.

Freedom of wealth was not an option in Kennedy’s mind. It was a destiny. He was willing to do whatever it took to achieve wealth. Kennedy arranged the family trust so that each generation was guaranteed to be wealthier than the one preceding it. His paradigm was “success with absolution regardless of the means.”

I’m not saying to go out there and make money any way you can. Yet Kennedy presents an impressive challenge to his family that we could adapt:

Know you ARE destined for success.