All successful people agree on one thing - if you exhaust all your known resources genuinely in solving a problem, life will bring to you new unknown resources in abundance. We can call it as luck, grace, coincidence or by whatever name we like.

I think of my old friend Ralph, his success story and the above principle of exhausting your efforts and resources, whenever I receive emails from people that say, “I don’t know what to do next.”

Ralph went to New Zealand from a developing country in search of prosperity. He did not know anyone in New Zealand. He thought he could get a job in matter of few days and so confidently began his life in Auckland City with a princely sum of $500.

All his plans went wrong. He could not get a job even after two weeks. He has exhausted all his efforts and resources in his search for a job. There is nothing more he could do. He could not go back to his room as the land lady would be waiting there to collect the overdue rent. He told himself. ‘’No food, no shelter, no money and no job, But I will never lose my hope.”

On that lucky winter day, he was sitting on a resting bench. It was getting dark and shops were being closed. All he had were a bus pass, a mobile phone and $1. He had a sandwich for his breakfast and had not had his lunch. What could you possibly buy with $1 for lunch? Besides Ralph wanted to keep $1 in reserve to meet the unexpected emergency!

After a few minutes of deep thought, Ralph decided to act with common sense. “I am hungry. Well, I have $1 that can buy some snacks. Even if it is a thin slice of bread, it can give me some energy and I can renew my search for a job. ” With this thought, he approached a nearby shop that was almost closed. A sausage roll was the only thing that $1 could purchase. When the shopkeeper learnt that Ralph had made him open the shop only to buy a sausage roll, he expressed his displeasure openly.

Ralph returned to his throne with his treasure. When you are dying of hunger, even a spoonful of cheap food makes you feel as if you were sitting on the top of the world.

Only after finishing the roll, Ralph realized that there was neither water nor paper towel to clean his hands. He looked around to make sure that nobody saw him and picked a waste paper from the waste bin. As he wiped his hands with the torn paper, he saw some classified ads in it. One of ads was for a software tutor who could teach the basic of Adobe FrameMaker in one or two days on one-to-one basis. Ralph knew how to use the software. With a heavily beating heart, he checked the date of the newspaper. It was the morning newspaper.

He immediately called the telephone number and the advertiser said, “I am a small book publisher. Yesterday a big software company asked me whether we could prepare their manuals in Adobe FrameMaker. None of my employees have returned from Christmas vacation. But the company reps want to meet me day after tomorrow. Can you teach me just the basics so that I don’t cut a sorry figure in the meeting?”

Ralph replied, “I can certainly teach you the basics in a day. It will not take more than 10 to 12 hours. When would you like me to begin? ” The advertiser said, “Can we meet now and start the classes this evening? Let’s not waste time. If you don’t mind you can have dinner with me. I will pay you $140. Is that fine?”

The following week, with the money earned, Ralph started his on-to-one personal training classes for Adobe FrameMaker and Adobe InDesign. Today he runs a prosperous training business that employs more than 10 immigrants in Auckland City.

Next time, when you are depressed, confused and really don’t know what to do next to increase your income, prepare a list of skills that you actually have. Identify the saleable skills that others may need. Package your skills as a paid service and market it. Exhaust all your resources in promoting your service. If you do it right, the success rate will be 100%. Like Ralph, keep an eye on everything around you and even one of the banalities may suddenly open up a wonderful income opportunity.