Over my career I have always been part of a community of business owners as well as part of the optical community. Having other people to lean on, both professionally and in business helped me develop and make better work decisions.
One character who was part of my business support group back in the 90s was something of an extrovert by the name of Andrew. Andrew was in his mid-40s at the time and his business was buying and selling boats. He dealt mostly in second-hand vessels, anything from a battered up old dinghy to nearly new luxury cruisers. He was quite outgoing yet friendly and considerate. The great thing about Andrew was that he rarely spoke about himself; he was always genuinely interested in you, your family and what you had been up to.
Andrew always seemed to get fantastic deals for his business from the most unusual of circumstances, which the rest of us amateurs would put down to his enthusiasm and of course ‘luck’.
One meeting, in our round of introductions he proudly stated that the previous week he had sold a £350K yacht after meeting a ‘random stranger’ on a flight from Paris to London. We quizzed him on this deal, and many others he had mentioned, and wanted to know his ‘secret’.
Andrew shared that whenever he travelled, whenever he was in a queue, whenever he was at a social event or at virtually any other gathering of people, he would make sure that he spoke to as many people whom he did not know as possible.
For example, if he was in a queue of people waiting at, say the bank, he would strike up conversation with the person in front or behind him. When travelling on flights with his partner he would always book seats to leave a single empty seat next to him, allowing him to strike up a conversation with that person. In a business event or exhibition, he would quickly identify whom he wanted to meet and make a point of meeting them.
Once he had found some common ground, rather than spending all evening talking to them, if they were a potential customer, he would suggest meeting for a coffee rather than ‘taking up any more of their valuable time’.
What Andrew thought made him stand out from the crowd was that he always followed up. ‘The trouble is most people simply don’t follow up after a chance meeting. If you want to really make a difference and stand out, you must be fastidious and disciplined in following up from these meetings,’ he would say.
Practice = Luck
For those readers who play golf, you will be familiar with the quote ‘the more I practice the luckier I get’.
It is difficult to ascertain who came up with this quote originally, or indeed if it was a golfer at all, but for the purpose of this article that matters not.
I think my favourite story around this quote comes from Gary Player in his famous interview with Golf Digest in 2002.
‘I was practicing in a bunker down in Texas and this good old boy with a big hat stopped to watch. The first shot he saw me hit went in the hole. He said, “You got $50 if you knock the next one in.” I holed the next one. Then he says, “You got $100 if you hole the next one.” In it went for three in a row. As he peeled off the bills he said, “Boy, I’ve never seen anyone so lucky in my life.” And I shot back, “Well, the harder I practice, the luckier I get.”’
On the same topic, when Lee Trevino hit a magical iron shot, which appeared to curve around a tree trunk, duck under some branches, just clear a bunker and bite on the flag a few feet from the pin, someone called from the gallery: ‘Are you always that lucky?’ ‘Señor,’ replied Trevino, ‘it just seems to me that the more I practice the luckier I get.’
Luck is ‘preparation for opportunity’
My most recent discussion about the notion of luck came when I was meeting Peter, a friend and business colleague for lunch. In the queue a few spaces ahead was someone Peter had not seen for many years. Peter invited him to join us and during the ensuing conversation mentioned how lucky it was to have met up like this after all those years. He was met with an interesting reply: ‘There is no such thing as luck. Luck is “preparation for opportunity”.’ This comment was like a lightbulb moment for me and it helped me realise that to be lucky, one needs to throw out as many opportunities as possible and increase your odds of successful outcomes.
It turns out in fact that the quote, ‘Luck is when preparation meets opportunity,’ is credited to Seneca the Younger, a Roman philosopher, statesman and dramatist, who live 2,000 years ago.
Summary
Was Andrew the boat broker lucky? Of course not, he just spoke to people and put himself in a position to improve his odds. He was also optimistic, working on the assumption that things would work out for him, which probably meant he worked harder for it.
Was Gary Player a lucky bunker player? Indeed not, hour of not just practice, but perfect practice meant he could hole that shot more often than not.
Was it lucky I met Peter’s friend? Not really, it turns out that he often had his lunch at that café, so merely by meeting Peter for lunch that day rather than having a snack in the staff room increased the odds.
As is usual with this column, I want to set you a challenge. I am not going to wish you good luck but I am going to challenge you to make your own luck. Put yourself out there and be interested in others. Continually be on the look out for opportunities which would otherwise have passed you by and overall work on following up those opportunities…