DOES luck play a part in making a business a success? And if it does, is it possible to increase your luck?
Doug Richard is chairman of Library House, which provides research and information on private fast-growth companies, and a former investor on BBC TV’s Dragons’ Den. He believes that luck plays a big role in creating successful businesses.
“Most successes have a bit of luck in them,” he said. “Some people have just persevered through effort and discipline and have created successful businesses but in the vast majority of cases there is also a bit of luck.
“Nothing annoys me more than when entrepreneurs stand up and take complete credit for their success, because there has never been an entrepreneur who is completely responsible for his own success. There is always an element of chance and therefore there is always an element of luck. It could be luck of timing or luck of somebody else’s mistake.”
So if there is all this luck out there, how can you make it work in your favour? Richard said that the secret is to be ready for it when it appears.
“I tend to the view that luck presents itself as unexpected opportunities,” he said. “Luck frequently comes in the form of the thing you did not expect and therefore the only way you can prepare for luck is not to be blind to opportunity when it presents itself.
“Be open to everything round you, don’t shutter yourself. There is nothing wrong with an element of opportunism in your soul when you are an entrepreneur because luck is not going to happen the way you expect.”
Kim Fletcher, business adviser at Business Link in Kent, said there was one simple way to improve your share of good luck – and that was to network with other people wherever and whenever possible.
“If you sit at home and don’t talk to anybody, then nothing is going to happen,” he said. “But if you are really aware of what is going on around you and who is doing what, that is when you spot opportunities.
“And the bigger and wider your network and the more people you talk to, the more opportunities you see and the more chances you get. That is because people are aware of what you are doing and therefore how your service or product fits with them.”
It all comes down to hard work, he said. “What people call luck is really them getting a return on all that intangible work they have put in. The people who think, oh he is a lucky devil, don’t realise just how well-connected that person is. Luck is about ensuring that even the smallest stone does not go unturned.”
Sarah Rogers, who founded Dragon & Phoenix in Mortlake, southwest London, which sells handmade jewellery, said that luck played a big part in getting her business off the ground.
She was visiting her brother in Hong Kong for a short break when she came across semiprecious stones that she thought would be perfect for necklaces and bracelets.
“I trawled round the antique markets and went to see the pearl farms and the jade market and was completely wowed by the whole experience,” said Rogers.
Her sister-in-law introduced her to someone who could turn her beads into necklaces and Rogers brought back 15 pieces, which she immediately sold to friends. She realised she might have stumbled on a business idea and so asked her sister-in-law to send out more stones for another collection of jewellery and the business took off.
Her first stroke of luck, she said, came through having a sister-in-law who was prepared to seek out stones for her in China. Her second was to launch the business at a time when everyone was looking for interesting ethnic jewellery.
Rogers now has a studio of her own where she designs and makes bespoke jewellery. “Luck is out there all the time. You just have to be willing to take a leap of faith,” she said. “It is really about grabbing the opportunities that luck puts in your way.” David Lewis is a neuropsychologist who runs The MindLab, a collective of academics based in Eastbourne that advises businesses. While Lewis does not believe in luck in the sense of it being an external force, he said that for some people believing they are lucky will have a good effect because it can change their outlook and behaviour in a beneficial way. In the same way, he said, believing yourself to be an unlucky person can have a negative impact.
“If you believe you are a lucky person or that you are having a lucky break, it may well change your behaviour, your level of confidence and your psychology so that you actually do become luckier – because you seize opportunities that may once have appeared too risky. If you feel you are in an unlucky streak you probably won’t seize opportunities or pursue things.”
So the answer is clear. Start thinking of yourself as a lucky person. You have nothing to lose and much to gain.
“Act as if you are lucky and you probably will be. Act as if you are unlucky and you almost certainly will be,” said Lewis.
And that means being ready to seize any opportunity that comes your way. “If you meet a man on the train and tell him your ideas and he turns out to be a millionaire who gives you the money for a start-up, that is lucky,” he said. “But if you had not already prepared your business idea and seized the moment to persuade this guy, he would have passed by. Luck is about recognising the opportunities when they arise.”
It is in my opinion mostly about what you believe, not so much what you do though that still is important. Believing positively in a goal is one thing, but it is believing yourself to be fortunate (not lucky) that attracts consistently fortuitous circumstance that cannot be just luck. A positive mindset motivates you to meet the people and opportunities, but without that positive belief you could still meet lots of people, but would more likely be conned than rewarded by those people. There are far more people willing to take from you than give to you so whether you believe in positive thinking or not, odds are that you will be conned unless you make the right connections by focusing your mind on the positive things.
Ian, Leamington Spa, Warwickshire
In my opinion you make your own luck in life; I am currently studying for a degree in business&management and i have had lots of ideas for business and innovation but, i never had the drive or ambition before starting this course now i see everything from a wider prospectis. Before starting the degree i felt as if i was underachieving and this had a negitive affect on my own performance and i decided to do something about it. Now my whole oulook on life is different, my lifestyle has changed in relation to what i eat, how much exercise i get and proberbly one of the key elements time management, managing my time better has enabled me to carry on working, studying part-time and making sure i can still look after my family. I feel lucky but, luck alone is not enough you have make it happen.
D. Leonard, Aintree, Merseyside
Totally endorse what is said here : Its not rocket science once you understand how the conscious and subconscious mind works : we determine our self image from our self talk and thus our behaviour which translates to performance . We can improve our conditioning and ultimately performance from our self talk.
Nick Bishop, Stockport, Cheshire