Some are celebrities or business leaders say,“I’m not lucky! I worked hard to get where I am today.” Or they will tell you, “Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” Yes, hard work is necessary when you’re trying to reach your goals. But luck, both good and bad, repeatedly plays a major role in your business and your life. It takes a keen perspective to see how luck in entrepreneurship plays a vital role in success.
What is Luck?
Luck is simply an event, or a series of events, which affects our lives. These events are often beyond our control. If you’re reading this, you’re lucky.
You’re alive. You can read. You have access to the internet and to the smartphone or computer you’re using to read this blog post. You probably own that smartphone or computer. You also have eyesight.
The amount of control you have over these things varies. You (or your parents) chose to buy your smartphone and/or your laptop. But you have limited control over how well your eyesight works.
Luck in Entrepreneurship plays a major role in how successful you are.
Running a business can be awesome. There are many people and things that can improve your luck while you run a business. This includes having at least a few supportive friends and/or family members. It’s also great to have ways to learn new information and technology to improve your business.
Your luck in entrepreneurship can change for better or for worse, and then change again, and again. There are also people and things that can slow you down and even threaten your business’ success. This includes a wide range of factors such as unsupportive friends/relatives, business mistakes, as well as physical/emotional health issues.
Why Do Some Entrepreneurs Hate “Luck”?
It’s understandable why some business leaders don’t like the word “luck.” Nobody likes feeling out of control.
That’s why we love believing that if we just work hard enough, then we can also be wildly successful, just like the people we admire. Success, for most people, often means fame and fortune, or at least some sense of financial stability and a respectable career.
We shouldn’t resent the word “luck.” It’s better to know that some events happen in your business and your life that are beyond your control.
Some events are good, giving us advantages. And then there are bad events, giving us at disadvantages.
For example, many of us love a story about someone “beating the odds.” We love stories of people who become successful while dealing with problems as a child, being poor, discrimination, sickness and other unlucky events. Beating these types of odds is often a lifelong fight.
So, maybe we shouldn’t look down on the people who are fighting these odds and don’t meet our standards, or their own standards, for success.
How to Use Luck in Entrepreneurship
We need to put luck in its proper place. Accept that luck, both good and bad, exists. Do your best. Do everything you can to make the most of your good luck. And do everything you can to accept and learn from bad luck.
(For inspiration, check out this list of great quotes from Real Entrepreneurs about Luck in Business.)
Work hard. Create and provide the highest quality product or service you can. And know that you will probably need to continually redefine what success means to you as you work on different business projects.
You can’t control all of life’s events. But you can control how you treat your luck, good or bad.
Make the decision to learn something new today, and to share that knowledge with others. You can use your business’ products and services to help people, including those who may be dealing with unlucky events.
Keep working and good luck!
Photo by dylan nolte on Unsplash
