The right place, at the right time -- with the right people
Luck maker 1: Be open to opportunity
Often, people who appear to simply be in the right place at the right time have, in fact, worked hard to keep themselves open to coincidence and its timing. Susan RoAne, bestselling author of How to Create Your Own Luck (Wiley, 2004), says successful people are those who embrace life's "you never know" possibilities. Whether it's launching a new career or landing hard-to-get concert tickets, being "lucky" means recognizing opportunities when they present themselves and being ready to seize them.
Marta,* who had married her boyfriend as a pregnant teenager, endured years of abuse before she resolved to leave him, to create a better life for her and her daughter and to build her own good fortune. She went back to school and attended business college for a year. Shortly after graduating, she bumped into an acquaintance who told her that a secretary at her workplace was leaving and encouraged Marta to apply. To Marta's delight, she was hired. Several years later, when her workload was beginning to diminish, Marta, who adores greeting cards, sent her résumé to a fledgling card company. Again she was hired. The company went bankrupt a year later; however, a charitable organization with which the card company had shared office space, and to which Marta had provided contract services, offered her a position helping to provide resources and support to the poor in a developing country. The opportunity is helping Marta fulfill a dream: to affect people's lives in a positive way. She has travelled to Haiti twice, is happily remarried and enjoys a close relationship with her daughter and grandchild. "Wealth is not part of my plans, but happiness is," says Marta vehemently.
Luck maker 2: Build a network
"People who create their own luck have a support network in place," explains RoAne. Marta's opportunities came about because she knew people -- some only fleetingly -- who knew of available positions and opportunities. And the more people you know and talk to, the more opportunities you'll become aware of.
Renee Unger built a multimillion dollar Canadian business from products she had originally made to give as Christmas gifts. A former Grade 2 teacher who suffered from allergies to food additives and MSG, Unger decided to create her own salad dressings. After giving away jars of her homemade Caesar salad dressing, many people -- some whom she didn't know but who had tried her friends' samples -- called and asked for more. She told them she didn't sell her concoctions, but they got her attention when they asked what she would charge for a jar. The result is Renee's Gourmet, which markets dressings in supermarkets across the country and got Unger named one of Canada's top female entrepreneurs.
Luck maker 3: Take risks
Margaret Pettie had always known she wanted to be a school teacher, and she loved the teaching position she held in 1976 when she and her husband, John, were offered the chance to buy her father-in-law's Home Hardware business in Elmira, Ont. The idea of leaving her profession was frightening, yet Margaret recognized that leaving her comfort zone to enter the hardware business was "an opportunity to dictate our own rules, a chance to make our own way." It's a decision she doesn't regret.
In 1988, when the opportunity to buy out a competitor arose, Margaret, who had come to Canada from Germany as a child, felt "as scared as I was on the first day of kindergarten when mother dropped me off and I couldn't speak English." Still, Margaret and John took the plunge and expanded. Within two years they exceeded their expectations for the business.
Margaret doesn't consider herself brave, yet she made decisions that required courage. Does that mean there's no point having long-term dreams or goals? Of course not. But to those determined to make this the best year ever, RoAne says: "Be guided by your goals, but not blinded by them. The smart person has a focus, but she always allows for serendipity."
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