Engineered Luck

The time has come to call out those ‘unlucky’ business owners. You know the ones, they are always envious of their competition who have all the luck. At some point in time they must realize that there is only a certain amount of true luck or karma. Most of the time if you look at the lucky ones it has nothing to do with luck, but plain old hard work.

How many times have we heard ‘they were at the right place at the right time’ when a business got a big contract or an amazing customer? Chances are that business owner was at a certain place for a very specific reason, and something unexpected happened. Chances are that business engineered their own luck and yes, something unplanned was the result, but if you are honest about things, it was planned in a way.

To be certain there is a fair amount of just dumb luck, but I believe it’s much more commonplace that luck is engineered by our actions, words and relationships. Is it lucky that we get the big offer after we go to certain meetings or attend events, take continuing education or go to seminars? Is it luck that are business is healthy because we take the time to care for our employees? Is it lucky to make the connection that leads to a great job after we join the networking group, volunteer organization, church group or fan group that broaden who you know?

It’s been my experience the most lucky and successful businesses are the ones who figured out early on that luck has nothing to do with it. Even when things may not be going their way, they keep plugging along, following their goals, taking the baby steps that eventually lead them to the big breakthrough. So much comes down to the cumulative effect, the little productive things we do that lead up to that one big ‘Lucky Break’.

So don’t wait to hit the lottery (engineered luck because you have to be in it to win it, but also dumb luck because the odds are so stacked against winning), keep on going with all of those carefully crafted building blocks that you create and make your own luck.