Which is more important as a startup: hard work or luck?
I know hard work is important, but I have seen a lot of entrepreneurs work really hard, have great ideas, but who just cannot seem to succeed. I have seen other entrepreneurs succeed quickly with way less work. Does luck play a big role in startup success?
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Aug 13, 2016
Although some would argue, that successful one just lucky or they have got the luck on their side, but to be successful entrepreneur, it needs more than luck in order to be succeed in this hard core competitive market. Luck may take them to the destination they want to reach but it is their ideas, dedication, hard work and their action that can make successful in their long way. Luck is something we have no control, but we do have control on our abilities so we need to put in our best to see what and how we can improve ourselves as an Entrepreneur.
Entreprenuers are some the multiverse,multi -talented and diverse people. They try to perform different roles at same time like they are the projectmanagers,a risk taker, an accountant, a marketer and a salesman etc.
For those who decide that they have what it takes to become an entrepreneur, it is these qualities that can lead them to their path of success or failure.
1. Passion and motivation
The one word that describes the basic requirement for an entrepreneurship venture is “passion”. Passion is the most important trait of the successful entrepreneur. Loving your work is the most important thing. A successful entrepreneur always loves his work genuinely and always willing to put those extra hours and efforts to make the business succeed. the happiness, which is being achieved from success is way beyond their money which they invested in their venture.
2. Risk takers
Entrepreneurs are risk takers and always ready to face the risk into future of uncertainity.Good entrepreneurs are not scared of taking risk on their shoulders. They have to take risks on everyday basis because it is a part of running business. What distinguish a successful or a good entrepreneur from rest of the other entrepreneurs are that successful entrepreneur take calculated risks, they are not the foolish one who would not see the pros and cons of the outcome.
3. Self confidence
A successful entrepreneur must poses a strong sense of self confidence and healthy opinions of their skill and ablities.They must have the confidence and belief in themselves to achieve the desired objectives. They should strongly believe that they can beat anyone in this field. They are responsible for their own success. Therefore must have the confidence to promote themselves and their business on a continuing business.
4. Hard work
It is one of the important trait and completely pivotal ingredient to true success. In order to achieve the goal, the entrepreneur have to put lot of effort and hard work to realize their dream. There is no short cut for success.Hardwork and dedication can take the entrepreneur to that place where he wants to reach and would be able realize his dream.
5. Goal oriented
Entrepreneurs are always goal oriented.Entreprenuers love to set their goals and put their all efforts to achieve that goals.They are always determined to succeed and would remove any hindrances that may stand in their way. They also tend to strategic in their game plans and have got a clear vision and idea that what exactly they want to achieve and how to achieve.
Aug 3, 2016
both
you are going to have to work hard in order to be 10000% ready when the luck finally knocks on your door
Jul 30, 2016
there is no such thing as luck..... only doing things right in a particular instant without ever knowing how it was right n why it was right in that instance. So hard work is really the only option. I guarantee the more you dig into the situations you speak of, you’ll eventually hit a point where the ones who are “working hard” but not going anywhere aren’t “working hard” on the RIGHT THINGS.... while those who don’t seem to work as hard are focused on the things that will drive them forwards and they know the people they’re dealing with well enough to have an intuitive connecting to them as a whole.
Lets use Artists as an example.... most of us growing up were always taught to be successful at it by “being seen and heard”.... so we set out to be seen and heard..... everybody sees and hears us and love what they see and hear and we feel like we accomplished something because everybody saw n heard us n loved it... n those of us who don’t wise up will wind up being out here for 20+ years being seen and heard and even locally FAMOUS..... but haven’t made a single dime because all we ever focused on accomplishing is “being seen and heard”..... figuring once some “big shot” sees and hears us they’ll sweep us off our feet n make our dreams come true.... which is NOT the case.
So people would look at these “local Artists” and say “oooh they just weren’t lucky enough to make it big.... which is kinda sad because they’re actually reallyreallyreally good..... but who knows.... maybe their luck has yet to come..”.... Now all along because they just want to be seen and heard.... they’ve always created their artwork with that purpose in mind..... “to be seen”..... so they would just create it on a canvas and put it up for people to look at... imagine if they started putting price tags on them... they may have sold a lot of pieces. Imagine if they took it even farther and applied their artwork to different types of products, like t-shirts. So now instead of thinking of what to draw based on “showing people a pretty picture” they’d be thinking about what to design based on “giving them something to wear”. Then instead of always thinking from their own imagination n wherever the pencil takes them.... they’d be honing in on a particular kind of people and thinking of concepts that convey certain expressions and attitudes that resonate with these people. So when they see the shirt it isn’t a matter of how “famous” the Artist is who created it... it’s a matter of them seeing a message that hits home in their heart and they now NEED that shirt because they want to be able to convey that message to everybody they encounter by wearing that shirt. If there were 200 people in their city who loved it and NEEDED it that much and they made like $10 profit per shirt, that’s $2,000 they would’ve made off of that design..... But that never crosses their mind because they think they need to be “seen” and “heard” for some unknown amount of time before they finally earn the right to make those kinds of moves....
This same example translates into pretty much every other industry in its’ own way. There’s just a lot of stuff people do wrong that they don’t know is wrong so they repeat it over and over and over thinking it’s the only way to do what they do and they just gotta keep doing it until they finally crack through the surface.... Another downfall is the whole “start off as the cheapest guy in town and work your way up” philosophy... which NEVER works because first impressions are everything and the minute you say “hi I’m Mr. Willing to do anything to peanuts” that’s who people will remember you as FOREVER to the point where you literally have to shut down and re-open with a new name and face and start back over as a “nobody” targeting the market you REALLY want to tap into and begin the process of convincing them that you’re worth the price... which after you succeed at makes you go “I should’ve just done that from the beginning”...
People think that way because that’s ho we progress at A JOB!!!!... so they carry over the model and mechanism of being an “employee” into “running a Business” which does NOT apply. An electronics store may hire you starting you at minimum wage..... but they don’t lower the prices of their t.v.s and computers just because you’re new and take the prices up slowly over time as you gain experience.... yet this is LITERALLY what people do with their own Business.
So as I said... there’s no such thing as luck.... it’s about discovering things we don’t know we don’t know that holds us back... which requires an open mind and a daily habit of pushing our brain into the ‘unknown” so we can start bumping into new information that we’re currently incapable of researching because we know NOTHING about it or that it even exists as something to look into that can help us. Also learning to detect good advice from bad advice..... if there’s a local rock band of guys in their 60s who’s been doing it since they were teenagers and are really awsome at it..... but have never published an album or got much of a crowd outside the city.... still waiting on their “big break”.... you should be weary of the advice you take from them and apply to your band’s success.... because how are they THAT great... but never went anywhere?... while other bands who aren’t 1/4 as good are traveling the world making millions?... SOMETHING about their process must clearly be off.... so you gotta get to the bottom of things and figure out what to NOT do so you don’t wind up 60+ years old n one of the greatest guitar players who ever lived but nobody knows it.....
Jul 24, 2016
As an startup company, we know how difficult it is to handle expectation of the people. It is need to know that every successful company have faced this problem. Several issue comes at once as funding, projects, team. The person who manages to find a wise is team is half way across. The success should be theirs. We provides support to that startups that has an ambition and ideas to do something.
http://mobisoftinfotech.com
Jul 24, 2016
Mostly hard work and smart work. Timeless wisdom that goes back to at least Roman times per this quote from Seneca: ""Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." (but there are no guarantees)
Jul 8, 2016
neither the sole hard work nor the sole luck makes entrepreneurs succeed. It is the planning and design of business that makes any enterprising succeed. Ideas could be great, but without implementing capabilities, the ideas collapse.
Jul 8, 2016
OMG "Oh My God". The eternal question.
Thomas Fefferson answered you question ages ago. He said :
"I’m a Great Believer in Luck. The Harder I Work, the More Luck I Have"
Nov 21, 2015
Hi, Zack. I was going to say it's more of working smart than working hard that does the trick, but I've already seen people mention that here. So allow me to elaborate mine instead: Those hard working entrepreneurs - if their ideas really are as great as you say - may only be missing some targeted exposure. I've seen businesses who have great products fail because they're unable to get it out there.Or it's also possible that their marketing efforts are reaching the wrong crowd, not their ideal customers. That said, promotions should be crafted to appeal to your target market (which I know takes some digging around to identify) to make all the effort really count.
Nov 19, 2015
Dear Zack,
In my opinion the best is "SMART WORK" that is a combination of doing the right things on the right time in a smartest way possible and with this on going work activity the chances of luck find you works are higher.
Because the worst thing for an startup is counts only with luck.
Regards
José Amancio
Nov 14, 2015
In every business, one has to commit the business into GOD's hands first..Hard work is the best whilst luck is second. In principle, hard work 95%, luck 5%, but GOD and natural forces will have to take control of the business.
Nov 12, 2015
The single most important aspect of a startup is establishing relationships with others. This is neither hard work (it should be fun and fruitful) nor luck. It is smart, good business. The more people you know who have a deep understanding of what you do and how you contribute to others in business, the more business will be attracted to you. My nine year old business is thriving thanks to the many wonderful people I have established great connections with (and continue to enhance).
Nov 12, 2015
Richard Stern-The most important factor determining your launch is a well crafted Business Plan and Budget. Having an "experienced" team to support your business, and you as an owner able to execute your Plan and make adjustments once you begin. Lastly be wary of opportunities beyond your capacity to handle the contract and not disturb your regular business by taking business with "small" margins
Nov 12, 2015
Luck is a real dimension in all walks of life. It can be defined as an event that is unexpected and unpredictable and therefore the specific event or happening is unplanned for. And the event can also have either a good or bad outcome.
The key is: how well prepared are you when the event occurs? In the case of good luck: are you ready to take full advantage of the event? In the case of bad luck, have you the ability to step back and make the necessary adjustments to your business in a timely manner?
The aim should be to make a positive return on either good luck or bad luck.
And you put yourself in that position by doing the hard work beforehand.
Nov 12, 2015
In building a business from the ground up takes a lot of hard work including networking - attending chamber of commerce, BNI's, etc,. But some of it luck. But to quote an old baseball adage: "Luck is the residue of design"
Nov 11, 2015
Persistence with good startup project, does not need hard-work but good luck will result over time.
While in a hot greedy market some startups seem lucky, and others must keep working hard to find capital and open markets plus further develop the products and services - again, it takes long staying powers with the wisdom I model as A Good Marriage, for any startup to grow in a healthy safe and rewarding way.
It is all part of my pre-patent pre-partnering for global taxation business strategy we employ.
Nov 11, 2015
Both of these can be important but there is another key ingredient that is missing from this recipe for success: working smart. One reason some folks work really hard and succeed while other hard workers don't succeed is because motion gets confused with progress. Just because you're doing stuff doesn't mean it's the right stuff. Every action needs to be evaluated against this simple litmus test - how does this help me reach my objective? If the answer is "well, it really doesn't" then you might not be working on the right thing. Another check point is to consider purpose and results separately. What I mean by that is that just because your purpose may be clear to you, if the results (or reasonably expected results) don't support your goals then you need to re-evaluate your activity.
Nov 11, 2015
One thing I have yet hear to be mentioned is intelligence. Being smart plays an important role here. One can work very very hard but fail to create a product that people want (product market fit) and no matter how hard they work, they are burning energy because they are more interred in what they love than in what the customer needs. Work hard, yes. But we have to be smart too and make sure we are meeting a real or perceived need in the marketplace.
Nov 11, 2015
Gary Player, one of South Africa's most successfull golfers said " the harder you work the luckier you get". In my opinion from working with and growing more than 100 companies, hard and smart work creates all the luck you will ever need.
I agree with this. Most companies that work hard and seem "lucky" often have goals and a plan to hit those benchmarks, where others work hard without any direction. As Earl Nightingale says in "The Strangest Secret", a ship with a destination will almost always reach that destination while a ship without a destination may end up on a beach derelict. (paraphrased)
I believe good fortune, or luck, follows when you put a plan in place and work it. Hard. The Universe almost "has" to respond.