I live in a small village, in an area known for its natural beauty. We occasionally have people walk past our home, who are on their holidays. They see the open fields, the winding canal and the streams that snake their way through the village, and occasionally tell me;
“You’re very lucky to live in such a beautiful place.”
Lucky?
As with most things in life, luck had nothing to do with where I live. In order to move from London, where many of my friends were and where 100% of my clients were based, required a huge amount of planning, financial investment and hard work. I had to totally redesign my business model and leave the city, where I grew up and had lived almost all of my life.
Planning and action
As a marketing professional, I see people every day, who are hoping that they will get lucky one day and suddenly attract the income and lifestyle from their business that they have always wanted. Their marketing is ineffective, their sales are disappointing and yet they decide to carry on by themselves, so nothing changes. Sure, they work really hard, but hard work is not the secret of success; if it were our grandparents would all have been millionaires! We have to be smarter than that.
If you know someone, who is working hard but not getting the results they want from their business, tell them not to wait for things to “just get better.” In my experience, the world doesn’t work like that. Every successful business and person I have ever studied, achieved their success through careful planning and taking action to make those plans real.
When we do the right things correctly, it’s amazing how our luck changes!
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I was reading the book “Ignore Everybody” which talked about the exact same concept of not waiting around to be “found.” If you think you have a great idea and you want to be successful, you have to go outside and start telling people.
Whenever I start a new project, my first step is to login to skype and tell everyone I know to take a look at it. Then I take that feedback and build off it. And I do it again with comments, emails, customers, whatever…feedback is essential if you want to start growing.
Obviously I ask them how they are doing first, haha.
I think if your friend or whoever is waiting around to get lucky, you should ask them to have a look at their product and then (gently) dissect it. Sometimes you have to be shown what’s not working to build something that does.
.-= Corey Freeman – Simple Blog Coach´s last blog ..How to Get Serious About Your Blogging =-.
The kind of proactive approach you mentioned from the book you read, is one of the key factors to success in anything.
Thanks for sharing, Corey.
One step at a time, Jim… I agree lucky and luck have little to do with success. Everyone I know who has reached success has worked to get there. Getting the right advice and following it is more than half the battle.
.-= Julie Walraven | Resume Services´s last blog ..Why I Moved to Headway =-.
I couldn’t agree more, Julie.
I spoke with a business owner last week, who has been in business for 9 years and not made any real progress for the past 7 years.
I said he needed to try a different approach, as what he was doing wasn’t working. (He’s been handling his own marketing all along and has no idea what he’s doing.)
He said I try new approaches all the time. My point, is that the new approach he needs, is to stop screwing up his marketing by doing it himself.
Thanks for the feedback.
Your post so resonated with me Jim. I must admit it hacks me off more than a little being told me and my husband are lucky. Everything we have now (and I am not talking material things here – I’m talking change careers to jobs we love, moving to a country that gives us the lifestyle we want, working the hours we choose etc) we have created through planning, making big changes, taking action (plus some calculated risks) and a lot of hard work. For me, luck isn’t a factor – it is the decisions we make, the actions we carry out and our perserverence until it is achieved that creates results.
.-= Ali Davies´s last blog ..Success Mindset: The Optimist’s Creed =-.
You make a good point, Ali.
I think there are certain people, who are so worried about the cost of hiring expert help that they are actually more comfortable missing out on a fortune, than getting professional advice and working with it. I worked with a trainer in 2008 and in 9 months, managed to triple his income. He wasn’t happy about what he had gained, but angry as hell about what he had lost, by doing his own marketing for the previous 17 years and missing out on maybe millions of pounds worth of business.
I don’t know about your experiences Ali, but I have found that the people least likely to pay for professional advice, are those who sell professional advice. I’ve always found that odd.
Thanks for the feedback!
Yes, I see that too. I think part of what is driving that issue is that people are focussing on hiring help as a cost rather than seeing it as in investment. Also, if people are viewing their current situation through a scarcity mentality, it becomes very hard for them to make quality decisions based on ROI.
.-= Ali Davies´s last blog ..Success Mindset: The Optimist’s Creed =-.
I agree. Many business owners I hear from, start off their business with a set of inspiring targets and goals. They are ready for anything!
Then, after failing to achieve those goals for a period of time, they slowly adapt to living with less and the inspiring goals from the beginning are replaced with “getting by” thinking.
Usually, they end up working longer hours and getting paid less, than if they had stayed in employment.
Sad.
There are fortuitous meetings, events, coincidences etc that do help – but without taking the time to understand & work on one’s own resistance to making use of opportunities, it can be easy to let them slip by.
I love the way Corey has put it “Sometimes you have to be shown what’s not working to build something that does”
One of the things that can really get in the way of success is looking at the success of others and BELIEVING that the brick wall standing between you and your own personal fulfillment is Other People or Personal Circumstances or Restrictive Obligations etc.
.-= Reeta Luthra | Stress and Health´s last blog ..Empower Yourself: Develop a Vested Interest in Your Goals =-.
An excellent point about taking responsibility there Reeta.
IMHO, those fortuitous meetings are not that fortuitous. Unless you know what you want, you will never know if you are meeting the right person or not. It’s only when we know what we want, that we know who we need to speak with and what resources we need.
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[...] visiting!The other day I was reading a blog post by Jim Connolly on Jim’s Marketing Blog called Lucky me? I so resonated with this post, as people saying I am lucky is something I have had said to me many [...]