entrepreneurship

The ‘it‘ referred to above is business. I keep hearing about the role luck has to play in a (successful) business, but this is debatable. Some people believe that the harder you work at making your business successful, the luckier you get. One of my lecturers in college use to often say, “in business you make your own luck”.

There use to be a poster on the wall saying, “we are all born equal, after that it’s up to you” this is something I definitely disagree with. We are not all born equal. If you were born in a reasonably safe country, with all your basic needs taken care of, you have a huge advantage - you’re lucky already.

I read an interesting article about luck on “Good Luck: Create the Conditions for Success in Life & Business”.

They spoke to people who thought their lives had been blessed by good luck to try and figure out what factors they had in common. It turns out that my lecturer was right. Their research can be summarized in a single simple sentence - in business, we make our own good luck.

What did these creators of good luck have in common? How can entrepreneurs make their own good luck as they’re making their businesses successful?

The principles are summarized below:

1. Responsibility
Business owners who feel that they have had good luck also feel responsible for their own actions. When things go wrong or the outcome of any given situation is other than intended, they never point the finger of blame at external factors or other individuals. Instead, they look to themselves and ask, “What have I done for this to occur?” Then they act accordingly to solve the problem.

2. Learning from Mistakes
Creators of good luck don’t see a mistake as a failure. Instead, a mistake is an opportunity for learning. Thomas Edison is the classic example. More than 1,000 attempts to invent the first long-lasting electric light bulb led to bulbs that only stayed lit for a few minutes. One of Edison’s colleagues asked him, “Mr. Edison, don’t you feel you are a failure?” Lacking any sense of vanity, he answered, “Not at all. Now, I definitely know more than a thousand ways how NOT to make a light bulb.”

Sure enough, just a few days later, he turned his inspiration into a practical concept. Did you know that the very first light bulb was invented by Sir Joseph Wilson Swan, who demonstrated the theoretical concept but gave up trying to develop a practical application after only three attempts. By contrast, Edison made his own good luck and designed a working light bulb.

3. Perseverance
Creators of good luck don’t give up or postpone. When a problem or situation arises, they act immediately to either solve it without delay, delegate, or forget about it.

These business people don’t carry a list of “things to do” in their brain. Instead, they resolve problems and situations as quickly as possible. This enables their energy to be fully focused on their work and avoid conscious or unconscious distractions, which only generate inefficiency.

4. Confidence
The most powerful principle is often the most overlooked. Confidence is divided into two parts: confidence in yourself and confidence in others.

Confidence in yourself is essential, and those who create their own good luck have high degrees of assertiveness and self-esteem. They keep to their purpose, persevere, and work to create the conditions that ultimately help them achieve success. Also, they are great visionaries. They use their imaginations to form mental images of their goals.

Closely linked to assertiveness and self-esteem is trust in others and respect for them, seeing other people as major sources of opportunity. This doesn’t mean that one must be naive and trust just anyone. Instead, it is the ability of seeing others as sources of opportunity for achievement.

5. Cooperation
Synergy is key. Trust in others leads to a solid network of work colleagues and friends, which, in turn, provides more resources to carry out projects than if they were managed alone. Think cooperation rather than competitiveness. At the most basic level, any project or undertaking takes place in the context of the broader group, and everyone should have the chance to emerge a winner.

As we have seen, whether or not one can create good luck basically depends on an attitude towards oneself, towards others, and towards life. It is also tied to the perception that the individual is much more of a cause than an effect. And above all, to the realization that one must make oneself the creator of the conditions that promote success and the achievement of specific, visualized goals.

We think of the kind of luck that wins lotteries as random. It can be favorable or not, but it is always occasional, brief, and impermanent. We have found that of the people who have won big sweepstakes prizes, many lose everything they gained, typically within four to seven years of hitting the jackpot. Also, their relationships with family, friends, and colleagues often suffer.

However, those who create their own good luck owe success only to themselves and their own initiatives, not just to a random roll of the dice, they are very aware of the origins of their good fortune. Moreover, having seen it work before, they know how to repeat it.

The problem is that we often seem to forget old principles based on common sense, which basically say that we must work, be aware of our actions, and take responsibility for correcting them when the need arises. The person who grasps that wisdom is lucky indeed.

The above is undoubtedly thought provoking. I do believe that luck has a lot to do with being successful in business, but I’m still not convinced if we make our own luck in business. Feels like we’ve just scratched the surface on this one. Until next time - Good Luck!

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