Luck vs. Effort
I've been thinking a lot lately about what it takes to make a successful business. When you look at certain companies out there, it's very obvious that their owners and employees have put a tremendous amount of effort into the business. They have passion, dedication, and they've clearly put in the time to build something to be proud of. With others, you honestly aren't sure how they are successful at all, or how they're still in business. It's not always obvious how a company got to be large enough to become self-sustaining.
I think of these two types of businesses as lucky vs. hard-working. My friend Max Sinnis and I had a conversation about this just a few weeks ago. Clearly there are hard-working businesses out there - you can see this in their clever or innovative advertising campaigns, their well-thought-out online strategies, their engagement with their customers, or their constant strive to be better and do better. But Max doesn't believe in luck when it comes to business - rather, that every business that "got a lucky break" was able to do so only because they put in the hard work to put themselves in a position to capitalize on an opportunity when it came along. Luck is, in effect, an inevitable payoff of hard work. It only looks like luck from the outside, because you're not aware of what went on behind the scenes leading up to that critical point.
Certainly there are businesses like that. Those hard-working owners got a break or made a great deal or landed a key client at some point as a result of all their effort, and things snowballed from there. But in those cases, you know it wasn't really luck because you see the constant signs of a hard-working, dedicated owner all the time, every day. Businesses that are successful because of hard work don't make you wonder why they're successful - it's obvious. There may have been a catalyst that moved them from "working hard but getting nowhere" to "working hard and benefiting from it," and this is what some people think of as getting lucky, but really, their success was based purely on their effort.
But what about those companies that are successful for no readily apparent reason? Their services may be stagnant or outdated. They may not be modernized, or make any effort to engage with existing or potential customers. Maybe they think everything is fine the way it is and never needs to change or adapt. They might be using an outdated or unsustainable business model, relying on ignorance to ensure they keep finding new customers (I have a particular hatred for web design companies that charge tens of thousands of dollars for simple websites, or who convince their customers that hosting a website costs hundreds of dollars a month - it's a dirty tactic to prey on peoples' ignorance.).
Their owners may not even know what they did to get where they are, or can't tell you why their business is doing as well as it is. I'm always baffled when I see something like a business consultant (whose job it is to help a new or struggling business to focus their efforts and find clients more effectively) that only has a Facebook page, or uses a hotmail email address for their business email, or has links on their website that don't even work. How could I ever trust someone like that to fix my business if they're not even taking care of their own properly? These are the companies I think of when I call their success lucky. Sure, it's possible that they worked really hard at some point in the distant past, but it certainly doesn't look like they're working hard now!
So what's the key? How do you get from working hard to the payoff? Lots of businesses that worked just as hard as anyone else have failed anyway. Did they just not get a lucky break? Were they wasting their effort in the wrong direction? Was their business model just never sustainable based on where they were or who their potential client base was? Possibly any or all of these reasons. These thoughts are scary for a small business owner, struggling to find their place (including me!). Barry Randle from the Stone Soup Cafe and I often joke that being self-employed is the hardest you'll ever work in your life for less than minimum wage (once you math out all the non-billable hours), and boy is that true when you're a new business.
Ultimately, the best thing you can do is to try to focus your efforts. Do your research when you're starting out. If there are already 10 comic book stores in your town - maybe don't open an 11th? Make sure you have an actual audience for what you're offering. Offer something new. Make yourself available to your customers - be active online. That's something not enough companies in Pictou County do. Engaging online, and more importantly having your company readily available online makes you easier to find and more likely to get customers from online searches. Especially nowadays, people use their phones to look for services - if they can find your website from their phone and dial your number directly from there, they're much more likely to call you over someone with no online presence, or just a Facebook page.
If there's something you need for your business, but you don't have the skills yourself, hire someone. Don't be afraid to get help from somebody who knows better. Don't go without. You don't have to be a web designer, and an accountant, and an HR manager, and a social media manager, and an advertising executive to be a plumber. There are people who can take on those tasks for you so you can concentrate on what you're good at. You'll get a better quality product in the end, and the time you save is time you can spend actually working with clients.
That's working smart - an even better version of working hard. And who knows? Maybe those hours you save will lead to your lucky break!
I think of these two types of businesses as lucky vs. hard-working. My friend Max Sinnis and I had a conversation about this just a few weeks ago. Clearly there are hard-working businesses out there - you can see this in their clever or innovative advertising campaigns, their well-thought-out online strategies, their engagement with their customers, or their constant strive to be better and do better. But Max doesn't believe in luck when it comes to business - rather, that every business that "got a lucky break" was able to do so only because they put in the hard work to put themselves in a position to capitalize on an opportunity when it came along. Luck is, in effect, an inevitable payoff of hard work. It only looks like luck from the outside, because you're not aware of what went on behind the scenes leading up to that critical point.
Certainly there are businesses like that. Those hard-working owners got a break or made a great deal or landed a key client at some point as a result of all their effort, and things snowballed from there. But in those cases, you know it wasn't really luck because you see the constant signs of a hard-working, dedicated owner all the time, every day. Businesses that are successful because of hard work don't make you wonder why they're successful - it's obvious. There may have been a catalyst that moved them from "working hard but getting nowhere" to "working hard and benefiting from it," and this is what some people think of as getting lucky, but really, their success was based purely on their effort.
But what about those companies that are successful for no readily apparent reason? Their services may be stagnant or outdated. They may not be modernized, or make any effort to engage with existing or potential customers. Maybe they think everything is fine the way it is and never needs to change or adapt. They might be using an outdated or unsustainable business model, relying on ignorance to ensure they keep finding new customers (I have a particular hatred for web design companies that charge tens of thousands of dollars for simple websites, or who convince their customers that hosting a website costs hundreds of dollars a month - it's a dirty tactic to prey on peoples' ignorance.).
Their owners may not even know what they did to get where they are, or can't tell you why their business is doing as well as it is. I'm always baffled when I see something like a business consultant (whose job it is to help a new or struggling business to focus their efforts and find clients more effectively) that only has a Facebook page, or uses a hotmail email address for their business email, or has links on their website that don't even work. How could I ever trust someone like that to fix my business if they're not even taking care of their own properly? These are the companies I think of when I call their success lucky. Sure, it's possible that they worked really hard at some point in the distant past, but it certainly doesn't look like they're working hard now!
So what's the key? How do you get from working hard to the payoff? Lots of businesses that worked just as hard as anyone else have failed anyway. Did they just not get a lucky break? Were they wasting their effort in the wrong direction? Was their business model just never sustainable based on where they were or who their potential client base was? Possibly any or all of these reasons. These thoughts are scary for a small business owner, struggling to find their place (including me!). Barry Randle from the Stone Soup Cafe and I often joke that being self-employed is the hardest you'll ever work in your life for less than minimum wage (once you math out all the non-billable hours), and boy is that true when you're a new business.
Ultimately, the best thing you can do is to try to focus your efforts. Do your research when you're starting out. If there are already 10 comic book stores in your town - maybe don't open an 11th? Make sure you have an actual audience for what you're offering. Offer something new. Make yourself available to your customers - be active online. That's something not enough companies in Pictou County do. Engaging online, and more importantly having your company readily available online makes you easier to find and more likely to get customers from online searches. Especially nowadays, people use their phones to look for services - if they can find your website from their phone and dial your number directly from there, they're much more likely to call you over someone with no online presence, or just a Facebook page.
If there's something you need for your business, but you don't have the skills yourself, hire someone. Don't be afraid to get help from somebody who knows better. Don't go without. You don't have to be a web designer, and an accountant, and an HR manager, and a social media manager, and an advertising executive to be a plumber. There are people who can take on those tasks for you so you can concentrate on what you're good at. You'll get a better quality product in the end, and the time you save is time you can spend actually working with clients.
That's working smart - an even better version of working hard. And who knows? Maybe those hours you save will lead to your lucky break!
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