When you are prepared and confident about your offering, and then an opportunity strikes, you are considered lucky. Someone once said, “people think luck is a lady with fairy dust flying and randomly bestowing people with gifts”.
You and I know there’s no such thing. Sure, a lot of life and success depends on luck, but the most successful people create their own. I heard it said somewhere “the best players don’t wait for the ball, they run to it”.
Luck is as simple and hard as that.
Sometime in March 2011 internationally renowned musician, Kanye West sent D’Banj and Don Jazzy a tweet telling them to hurry back to New York that there was work to be done. As expected, the internet caught fire with speculations. Are they about to be Kanye’s new artists? Are they collaborating? Is there some special album in the pipeline?
These questions kept pilling; questions that were finally answered in June the same year when D’Banj tweeted about a contract with Kanye’s GOOD Music. The question on everybody’s lips was, “how had the connection come about?”
Rumor had it that D’Banj had been at the International Airport in Dubai and had heard, via a hostess that Kanye just arrived the airport. As the story goes, he walked up to Kanye with his ipad in hand and introduced himself as an African artiste who’s trying to crossover internationally. Kanye reportedly told him “You have five minutes to impress me” and D’Banj played Oliver Twist and some other songs for Kanye.
Ten seconds into the record, Kanye was dancing – and the rest is….
It’s pretty clear that some supernatural force (God, providence or whatever you want to call it) was working to allow D’Banj be at the airport with Kanye at the same time. It’s also clear D’Banj was ready.
How well do you know your stuff?
See Also: Consulting business ideas you can start now.
Confidence
We cannot overemphasis the importance of confidence in building anything. Without confidence, getting someone to invest in or even support your vision is an uphill task. People need convincing. Tell me who will do the convincing if you, the dream seller is not convinced about it?
Confidence; especially about a goal, passion or dream doesn’t just float around like dust clouds. It comes from knowing what you’re selling; the dream or product or whatever it is you’re ‘entrepreneuring’. You have to know enough about your offering to present it in short, concise statements whenever necessary. You also should be able to write a paper or thesis on it if need be.
In short, live and breathe your dream.
Preparedness + opportunity = Being lucky.
Part of knowing your stuff is also being aware of trends and happenings within your industry. Know where the next big thing is coming from. Know what the next big stuff is and so on. And then, you align yourself with these happenings and stay in tune with the flow of things.
Too many people with great ideas are too comfortable sitting behind a computer screen somewhere. They convince themselves that they are entrepreneurs who are waiting for their big break. In their fantasy world, some investor with a gazillion dollars is just going to waltz in their door one day and offer them the life of their dreams.
You have to be ready to get lucky.
They say “If wishes were horses, beggars would ride”. It’s not enough to wish it, it’s not even enough to just want it. You have to want it enough to get up on your feet and do whatever it takes to get it.
Whatever it takes.
Imagine with me.
You have been working on this genius idea for months now, and you’re confident enough to share it with some of your closest friends. The feedback has been positive mostly and there are just a few adjustments you need to make. However, you’re exhausted. Funding hasn’t been coming the way you expected it to. You already owe some of your staff salaries and so on. You’re thinking of abandoning the whole idea and just starting again or even going back to your former boss to beg for your old job.
Just then, you get an unexpected call from a friend who you least expect help from. He says he shared your idea with an uncle who is a commissioner and he is interested in funding. He needs you to come in the following morning to present to a panel. The call from your friend is actually to confirm your availability.
What do you do?
This is the closest you have been in almost a year to securing a future for your idea, and you’ve all but given up on the idea. What do you do? You’re about to get lucky – but are you prepared?
A successful artiste said, “A lot of the success in this game has to do with luck, but before you get lucky you have to be prepared”.
So, Mr./Ms. Entrepreneur, how prepared to get lucky are you?
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Photo Credit: Cloviahamilton
