When I left my job, people initially said ‘Wow, you are so lucky to run your own business’, ‘You are so lucky to be able to work from home’. ‘Wow you are so lucky that you can work for yourself, lie in and watch daytime TV.‘
When I heard this something didn’t quite sit right, but at the time I wasn’t quite sure, I would just politely nod my head and move on the subject. I then started to think about this and felt bit offended.
I didn’t think it was down to luck that I was in this position. I had been working seriously hard to build my business from the ground up. I have no official business training or education. No one gave me money to be able to leave my job, no one worked on my blog posts for me that brought in clients, I didn’t pay someone to do my SEO and marketing, no one was out there networking for me, doing the shoots and the leg work.
I did it, I still do it…all myself – it’s not luck, it’s hard work.
A couple of years ago I came across a business guru, entrepreneurial, just an all round boss called Gary Vanerchuyk. You may have heard of him if you are a business owner and watch Youtube videos, listen to podcasts, or just in the general business and personal development world.
I first watched Gary Vee (also known) through watching a video series by Chase Jarvis, a fantastic creator, photographer, and businessman. You can see the video here. I find them both incredibly inspiring and still to this day I consume their content – highly recommend subscribing to their Youtube channels, or if you are more of a podcast listener they both have great podcasts!
I recently read on Gary’s blog “I can’t and I won’t attribute all of my successes to luck. In fact, my success is a culmination of many things. I’m “lucky” because I have confidence in who I am as a person, and when I want something to happen, I work my ass off to execute.” I resonate with this so much, and really believe that it is how you look at it.
Yes you can see it that it is luck, luck of the back of working your arse off and the work you are putting in is paying off. But also that we create our own luck, by focusing and believing in what we are doing.
Work hard towards your goals and passions in life and you will get there – whether you view it as ‘luck’ or not, hard work 100% pays off!