Make the luck you need to succeed in business because if you keep waiting for it just to happen, it never will.

“You’re so lucky.”

It’s the worst thing you can say to me. And if you notice, it’s always said with a frown.

“You’re so lucky,” implies that you didn’t really work for it; it was handed to you.

“You’re so lucky,” implies you were just in the right place at the right time; it could have been anyone.

“You’re so lucky,” implies “it should have been me.”

Meanwhile, most of the time, it’s just the opposite of any of those things. You did really work for it…you put yourself in the right place at the right time…but it could have been anyone else if they had also worked just as hard to get it.

It’s not about being lucky; it’s about making yourself lucky.

As my grandfather always said, “it takes a lot of hard work to be lucky.”

I was the kind of kid who always knew I wanted to go into entrepreneurship, although admittedly I’m not sure I knew what that meant back in the day. Regardless, I set my sights on what it would take to become a business owner: a good education, substantial work experience, a good business idea, and eventually the killer job at an agency running events for one of the big guys.

So, after graduating from college with only an AVCE in Business and getting a job doing financial settlement in the city, I took the plunge of starting Groovy Kidz, a small events agency specialising in children’s parties, enrolled in a local ‘Business 101’ class, and surrounded myself with as many entrepreneurs and business orientated friends as possible.

And still, all I heard was “you’re so lucky.”

As if! Luck had nothing to do with it. In my world, luck is where opportunity meets preparation. I worked hard to figure out what I needed to succeed, and I went out to get it.

I placed myself at the right place at the right time, so when job interviews were posted, I was selected based on my particular and purposeful background. And sure, there were others, many others, going after the same thing, but truth be told we all succeeded. Because we all worked for it. Those who didn’t make the cut looked at us as just being “lucky.”

“It takes a lot of hard work to be lucky.”

At that point, were we lucky? In some ways, yes. Because even after all that planning and hard work, it doesn’t always work out. Not by a long shot.

Been there, done that.

Luck does play a part in the grand equation here, but it’s not random luck. It’s the luck that comes from planning, preparation, and a whole lot of sweat.

While I’ve had more than my fair share of mishaps, I am lucky to say that things have mostly worked out. I try my best to make myself lucky.

I hope you do the same. Good luck to you.