Luck or Opportunity: Which Plays a Major Role in a Business’s Success

Running a business is hard work. But it can also be draining if you do not quickly realize that there is no guaranteed success in business. Regardless of how laser-focused your research and strategies are, it isn’t guaranteed to succeed. There are a whole lot more factors behind the scenes than these. Some of these factors are luck and opportunity. There has been an age-long argument about which impacts a business’s success more, and many business experts and top business owners have weighed in on it.

One thing is sure in all of their biases – both are important. As a business owner, you need both actually to succeed. Still, which plays a major role in a business’s success? Luck or Opportunity?

Let’s find out in this article!

First, What is a Business Opportunity?

As the name suggests, business opportunities are the chances your business encounters or has to take advantage of anything happening in the market, anything that has happened in the market, or anything that will happen in the market.

Opportunities are meant to be taken, and they typically involve favorable conditions that may make your business succeed while others fail.

Many businesses grew from small or medium-sized to top companies in their industry because they saw an opportunity, took it, and ran away with it. Therefore, your primary role as a business or intending business owner is identifying opportunities before others can find them. The faster you discover, the better it will be for your business.

An example of a business opportunity found before others could is online sales of books, championed by Amazon. Who could’ve thought it was possible to have a digital bookshop? Well, Amazon did first and rode on it till it became massive and mainstream.

Now, many people are coming up with models of that opportunity, but can it have the same effect? Well, maybe; maybe not.

We think it can because there is yet another opportunity inside an opportunity. Business opportunities are everywhere – your role as a business owner or enthusiast is to find them!

Characteristics of a Good Opportunity

How do you know when an opportunity is good? A good opportunity that would benefit your business if acted upon has the following characteristics:

• Clarity. It is always clear and well-defined. If it is shady and not straightforward, then there is a problem with that opportunity.
• Relevant. How relevant is the opportunity to your business?
• Feasible.
• Profitable. Of course, what use is an opportunity to your business if it doesn’t make you money?
• Scalable. As we mentioned earlier, opportunities do not exist alone. They are always in clusters; the more you can dig, the more you’ll find. If you are stuck and can’t scale an opportunity, you may need to do something extra or abandon and restrategize.

So, between opportunity and luck, which one has a greater impact on the success of your business? Let’s find out what exactly luck is and its roles first before we can make a defined comparison.

What’s the Role of Luck in Business Success?

Every successful business person has at least once been lucky in their business. Being lucky may include when an economic policy favors you or when you land a major client that you didn’t directly work to get, and so much more.

Laymen may see luck as opportunities that you do not work for. Are they wrong? Well, maybe not. That is how luck seems on the surface – but truly, you actually worked for them. How? Let’s find out how luck can impact the success of your small business first:

• Going viral.
• Favorable economic conditions.
• Favorable Government policies.
• Hiring perfect and passionate team members.
• Surprise funding from angel investors.
• Stumbling on a ready audience.
• And so on!

Luck vs. Opportunity: Which is Greater?

Indeed, you become lucky when preparation meets opportunity. We have two keywords here: preparation and opportunity. So, let’s see luck as a final product that cannot exist if the two “materials” needed to make the final product aren’t ready.

What does this mean? If you aren’t prepared and you haven’t found an opportunity, then your chances of getting lucky are little to zero. You must be prepared first before you can get lucky. And if there is no opportunity, there cannot be anything called luck.

Therefore, we daresay opportunity is superior to luck, and preparation is the most important piece of the puzzle. This means while luck may be a major factor in business, you may never be lucky as a business owner if you do not put in the hard work to stay prepared when the opportunity comes.

According to Sir Richard Branson, a British business magnate and founder of Virgin Group, “To be successful, you have to be out there; you have to hit the ground running. And if you have a good team around you – and more than a fair share of luck – you might make something happen.”

So, the big question is, is your business prepared enough to find an opportunity and get lucky with it? Do you already have a website where potential customers can find you easily? Do you have a convincing social media presence to create the trust your prospects need when they find you? Is your business even discoverable? How do you tell and sell your story? Because, of course, every business has a story…

This is where the digital marketing experts at Draps Marketing come in handy. We are here to help you create an opportunity-ready website and an engaging social media presence across various platforms while creating a brand identity and personality that leaves a positive and lasting first impression in the minds of your target audience.

Schedule a free consultation section with us today – we’ll love to help your business prepare for the next big opportunity!