READ: Welcome to Luckortunity! You will only see this once but I invite you to keep coming back and browse through the archives to Help Yourself Get Lucky. To get started, read 40 Ways to Increase Your Luck.
You can subscribe to my RSS feed and get lucky all the time. Thanks for visiting!
We often look at companies and people and say “wow, that guy made millions overnight”.There are plenty of companies who were not heard of for years and then all of a sudden, they are the talk of the town.They are in the news, at the top of digg.com and somehow connected to everyone’s facebook profile.We look at these people, get inspired and decide that we are going to be the next overnight success.We think of an idea, put it to work and hope for the best.The unlucky person has little success and after a while gives up.The lucky person has very little success but continues to push through and work harder at every stage of the game.It can take years but in the end hard work pays off and if you give up too early, you will never know the meaning of success.
I don’t know if six years is an accurate amount of time or if it is some sort of average but the number does make a lot of sense.If you want proof that it takes years to become an overnight success, just do a little research.Go to Google and search for all of the overnight successes you can think of and you will learn the truth about how long it takes for overnight success.It doesn’t have to be a company, it could be actors too.Jim Carry was an overnight success but it took years of failed stand-up comedy and living in his car to finally achieve his “overnight success”.Now getting over $20 million per movie for playing with his rubber face is natural.
I decided in July 2007, almost exactly a year ago that I want to be successful.I’m not exactly there yet but I am an infinite times closer that I was back then.Now I have ideas that I am putting into place, I have goals that I am working toward and I have a drive to get there.I don’t know if it will take another 5 years but I am most definitely willing to put in the time.
Are you willing to put in 6 years of hard work to be successful or make it big?
After posting this, i read Brian Armstrong’s most recent post on Startbreakingfree where he talked about Ronald Jenkees, “an “average” guy in small town America who happened to really enjoy playing music” and started posting his songs to Youtube and then selling his cds. Brian mentions that it takes 7 years to become an “overnight success” but more importantly, the only reason that Ronald stuck it out was because he enjoyed doing it.
Find something you enjoy and stick to it for your 6-7 years. Best case, you will be the next overnight success and worst case, you will have spent 6-7 years doing something that you love.
I was listening to a podcast this past week onDuct Tape Marketing where Charlene Li, a senior analyst with Forrester, stated what should be obvious but for some reason most companies just don’t see it.She said that Marketers are taught to develop a message and just pound it out to their customers and hope that it sinks in.Charlene articulated how this method doesn’t work and the only way to really get your marketing message out is to build a relationship with your customers and listen to what they have to say.
There are many companies that are already listening to what their customers have to say and are reaping the benefits.Google for example started Google Labs.Google is an incredible company with thousands of brilliant employees who have great ideas all the time for new programs and features but it takes too long to build them and perfect them.Google Labs was set up to let the world test out their ideas and give them feedback to let them know which ideas should be improved and which ones should be chucked.By listening to their users, they are saving tons of time by only developing what people like and want more of.
Another great example is Starbucks.They set up mystarbucksidea.com where their fans can post their ideas on how to improve their company and service and then everyone else can vote on the ideas.Starbucks doesn’t have to think of ideas anymore because their fans are giving them all the ideas they need with an accurate picture of how many people would go for them.Now, not only do they have all the ideas but by putting together this site, they are building a relationship with their community, and creating raving fans who feel like they are part of the company.If an idea that they came up with or voted on is put into practice, you can bet that they will want to be a part of it.
For a company to get lucky, all they have to do is listen to their customers.It is so much easier that trying to read their customer’s minds or hoping that they think like their marketing team.
This doesn’t just work in business.Have you ever gotten a present from someone that you really didn’t want even after giving a million hint of what you did want?
When you have a great idea that you are sure is going to be a success, the first thing you want to do is tell the whole world.You usually start with the people who are closest to you such as your family and friends.You would think that these people who hold such a dear place in your life would want you to succeed and would root for you but this is not always the case.Although they might actually want you to succeed or say that they do, something else is going on in their subconscious.
Deep down, whether they know it or not, something registers that really scares them.They realize that if you go along with your new idea and you are successful, you are going to change and in turn, so will your relationship.If you go for a higher degree, you may be more educated and they’ll feel that you won’t have your intellectual conversations with them anymore.If you start a diet, they may not have those snackfest pigouts that you have every Saturday night at the movies.If you start a successful business, you may be too busy for them or even worse, start to socialize with a higher class of people.
Without knowing it, they will start to find all sorts of flaws with your idea and try to convince you not to go ahead with it.They may seem supportive but they may also be a little hesitant with their support.These friends and family members can really kill any drive you have for success and then you will be stuck in the same place that you have always been with no chance of growing and reaching for the stars.
Lucky people don’t usually have this problem because they make friends or already socialize with people that are where they want to be.If they want to be rich, they will hang out with rich people.If they want to be in good shape, they will hang out at a gym.I don’t remember who said this but there was one wealthy man who said that if he ever lost all his money, he would work hard to buy himself a nice suit and then go hang out at a country club with rich people.
When you have a great idea and you are really motivated, try to keep the idea to yourself for a little bit while you put together a plan and figure out how you are going to do it.If you tell anyone about it, make sure they are someone who is already where you want to be.After all, if you get advice, the person who is already there is the best person to get it from.Just remember, never take advice from someone who has never successfully done what you want to do.If you take their advice, you will end up exactly where they are.
Last week I finally bought myself the 80 gig video ipod and my only regret is that I didn’t get it sooner.I have about an hour and change of a commute to work each way which sometimes turns into 2 ½ hours or more each day traveling back and forth to work.I always thought that I was taking full advantage of my commute by reading books, magazines, blogs and anything else related to my current goals but this past week I found out that I have been missing out.
Store as Many Books as you can Handle
The beauty of the ipod is that you can store as many audio books, podcasts and notes as you need at any given time.Instead of carrying around a bag full of books and magazines, all you need is a pocket sized mp3 player.That way, if you get bored or tired of one book or subject, you can just switch over to something else.Many times at the end of the day I am too tired to focus on heavy material so I listen to something lighter.
Learn While you Walk, Drive or even Rest
Another advantage that audio books and podcasts have over written materials is that you can continue listening even while walking or driving.When I’m really wiped from a long day, I can sit back, relax, put my feet up, close my eyes and just listen.
Let ITunes do the Hard Work for you
BI – Before ipod, I would spent quite a bit of time just finding the right books and blogs and either getting them from the library, store, Amazon.com or online and then some more time if I had to print it out.With itunes, I can just subscribe to podcasts and have them uploaded automatically to my ipod and also browse through books and audio clips right in itunes.
I would highly suggest to anyone looking to get lucky, to get themselves an ipod.
