One of the ways a “smart” entrepreneur makes his/her business profit even in times of economic downturn is the ability to turn disaster into opportunity.

For example, I know once my dad, who runs an international trading business, got into trouble when one of the biggest companies in the U.S. sued him for $300 million.   If that lawsuit was pursued, my dad probably lost his whole company and ended up on the streets.

Instead, my dad made an “opportunity” out of that disastrous situation.  Instead of fighting the lawsuit, my dad went to the company and made a deal.  In fact it was a $30 million deal for the Intellectual Property that was being sued upon.

In the end, he sold that Intellectual Property for $30 million and was able to make a disaster into opportunity.

I can’t really talk about the “details” but the lesson learned here is that no matter what hits you, there’s always a way to turn it into an “opportunity”.

Or in other words, “think out of the box”.

Let me give you another example.   Every year, near the holidays, people stop searching/browsing the internet less and less.   That means less money for web publishers like me who run content-oriented web sites.

Instead of making less money on the holidays, I actually tripled my profits by gearing my content towards the holidays.  For example, during New Years, people tend to get un-digitized and use the internet WAY less.   I usually then focus on New Years sales events, which will bring me even more web traffic because that’s what people are searching for the most.

Anyways, there’s a lot of opportunities in times of Disaster.  Just look at Apple!  They are selling these useless iPads like hotcakes when everyone’s practically broke and they are racking in all the CASH.  Seriously though, I can see iPads are great gadgets to have around in addition to my laptops but they certainly aren’t the next generation computers as typing is hard (unless you use an external keyboard) and doesn’t multi-task.

But Apple has done well to “market” their products as they always have with everyone of their other products.

It’s probably true that the best “marketers” make the money while the really “smart” people eat the leftovers.   I know a lot of patent companies who produce some of the best inventions in the world and a lot of companies who pay them 1% of royalty to get their ideas to production/consumers (and make millions).

Well, business is like that I guess, just having an idea can’t make you rich but somehow making it profitable will.

Here’s some ideas how you can profit from a disaster (literally!):

For one, you can start a business that helps rebuild communities after an earthquake.   Or you could start a business selling disposable umbrellas for $1 that can also be recycled easily for rainy days.   Well, I will let you do the thinking, I am running out of ideas myself. disaster, Great Entrepreneurs, how to, Inspirational, marketing, opportunity, turn