How to Take Advantage of Luck When It Comes Your Way in Business

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How to Take Advantage of Luck When It Comes Your Way in Business

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Coaching From The Carpool – How to Take Advantage of Luck When It Comes Your Way in Business

#smallbusiness #entreprenuerlife #entrepreneurway

TRANSCRIPTION:


Howdy! How are you? It’s Leslie. we’re here in the car pool it is a bright, bright, sunny day and we are finishing up our series on luck in business. How you can respond to luck, how you feel if you feel lucky or unlucky; where are you on the spectrum. I thought we’d just wrap it up with how to take advantage of luck in your small business.


I was reading this article, because I’d love to see what other people think – it helps me frame my own views on things – and the author talked about the phrase “would you rather be lucky or good”. This author did and he’s said, “I’ll take lucky any day.” He felt that luck was one of the success factors for highly successful people. I must think about that.

“What do I think?”

"Look, I think luck is about positioning yourself to be in the right place at the right time and to be able to do something with it. I think that luck is about being strategic and intentional for you to be in the right place at the right time and then taking advantage of it. Straight up, it’s action."

Today we’re all about how you take advantage of luck in your small business because a lot comes to you because opportunity comes to you. More will come to you, when you do more. When you’re taking action in your small business and when you’re planning, you’re giving intention and all these things line up. Just like ducks in a row.


There’s a lot of reasons ‘to do’, what I share with my clients on the ‘tactical to do’ side of things is this. It has so much to do with being prepared for when luck comes your way.


Let me give you a couple of examples. By the way if you’re just joining us for the very first time, and why haven’t you been here yet? I’m so excited you’re here. Make sure to come back. I’m Leslie Hassler I own Your Biz Rules business coaching. We do Coaching from the Carpool – I am in my car and I’m not driving. I’m parked with the AC on because it’s kind of warm today and we do this Tuesdays and Thursdays around 2:45 or so. Just so you know, so come back share it with your friends. I would love for that to happened.

There’s a couple of things you can do to better position yourself to be ready for luck in your business, ready for opportunity.

Luck is about showing up about having intention about doing good work and paying it forward. #yourbizrules#How to Take Advantage of Luck When It Comes Your Way in Business

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One is being very strategic.

Such as having concrete goals. You know if you’ve got them or not. Let me just share it one of my concrete goals that we’re working on. It is that we need to generate a three hundred and fifty-thousand-dollar business this year. That’s where we need to be in this coaching business. Everything stems from that right there, but if you go even above that goal. I have a vision; a vision is to be the premier resource in the DFW Metroplex for women entrepreneurs in small business.

Everything we’re doing goes back to that vision. The tactical side of its the money and the dollars. If you look at the strategies that we’re putting into place, it’s all about supporting that grand vision. Supporting that grand goal, which is revenue; because I am in business, I need to generate a revenue. Plus, I have a lot of goals, a lot of things I want to do. I have a lot of things I want to share with you. Those things, it’s crazy, just so you know – that’s helpful because it starts to share opportunities. When you make those declarations, opportunities start to come. What business owners start doing is saying, “No, No, No”. They start to lose their opportunity. I think that is sometimes what we do. We either ignore them or are blind to them because we never got clear on where we want to go.

I will tell you, I will listen to about any idea. I’m always going to be open to opportunity and to listen to it. Then it is time for discernment, because I have that vision and those goals. If the opportunity is not a good fit for my business at this time, or that’s not something I can put my attention. I’ll own up to it. If it sounds like a great idea, but not something I’m going to take advantage of right now – then it goes into the Good Idea File. Or, I can say yes.

Let me tell you, even with one of my strategic partners, we were up in Allen being sponsored by Comerica Bank to do a Small Business Academy this year. Four sessions throughout the year. We did the first session yesterday and my partner, from Comerica called and said “Hey, would you travel?”

Of course, I’m “well yeah!” I’m willing to talk. I didn’t say yes to anything more than the beginning conversation of what could be another opportunity. Is that luck? I don’t think so.

"I think luck is about showing up about having intention about doing good work and paying it forward."

You know, you must be willing, to give and be willing to say yes.

I could say, “Well I don’t know when I’m going to travel. I’ve got kids and that just can’t happen.” This week, another opportunity popped up. I was asked to participate in an event in Fort Worth and it wasn’t on paper wasn’t the most ideal event for me to be spending my time in. But, I was kind of intrigued. So, I called them up, I said “I want to say yes, but right now I’m a no.

What can we do? How can we make this a yes?” Then in the conversation they told me what I needed to know. I’m in.

This is probably what I stress so much in our mastermind, in creating and you’ve heard me say it before; but if you have the financial stability and not just stability, guys I’m talking about three to six months cash flow in your business. I not that I’ve always I want to caveat at this before I even say this next statement lest you think I perfect. Because I am NOT. I have not always been in this situation especially in this business, which is my third small business. I strive for a three to six months cash flow.

To know I have three to six caps months cash flow to grow my business. Now last year, this time I was down to zero months. I was down to zero months because we had a death on our family and I was grieving hard, hard. You weren’t getting much out of me. You got me sitting and reading books underneath blankets, that’s how bad I was grieving. I went through my cash reserves. 

Honestly, what brought me back was I didn’t have any more time. Last year was all about building it back. It took me a year to build it back, guys. It really did and this year, where we’re sitting at right now, for what we’re committed to. I have money for the year, like my cash flows out through the end of the year. That gives me the ability to make choices, and that’s why you want that cash stability is to have the ability to make choices, to not be in a ‘I can’t’ mode, “I can’t afford it.” “I don’t have time to.”

The next one we’re going to talk is that it is not just about money but time.

Put yourself into a can mode.

I can easily look at my cash flow forecast for the rest of the year and make a different investment choice. I could say well I’m not going to hold. I’m not going to take that full year. I’m going to make an investment, which is going to shortchange the cash flow that I have and decrease the amount of time that I have cash. But in the terms of making a better, a bigger business investment I can.

This is a big year for investment for me. I have more cash going out than I am used to, and that has its own scare factor. But I’m pushing through it because we’ve got that vision, and that goal. I knew that it can’t happen if I keep do things like I’ve done it in the past. So, having that financial safety, that financial freedom means that you could do a lot of things. You could know that there’s an employee, who would just be a Rockstar in your business, and help take you to the next level.

You could be able to go hire them away from your competitor. You could be able to do that, if you had cash sitting there. You could do infrastructure, you could do marketing, you could do so many things. You could have a new product idea and be able to develop it.

That’s just how you take advantage of luck, but the other part of it is guys you must have the time for it.


You have got the time for it. I was recording a training today for our pricing tool. The tool I use to help people understand where their pricing needs to be in their business. There’s a concept of being intentional about your workload and knowing how much you want to work. Making sure that you’re building a business that gives you freedom at a time, not just freedom of cash; but freedom of time as well.


When you have space for opportunity to come in and space for things to be thought through; When you have space to have consideration; then you’re able to take advantage of that luck.

You can take advantage of luck because you are going to have the money in the bank. But if you don’t have time on your calendar, you’re not going to know what to do with that. You’re not going to know what to do with it, or you’re going to say “I just don’t have time. I can’t even think about it.” Opportunity’s just going to pass you by. That luck is just going to pass you by.

Sometimes, it’s not big. Sometimes, it’s really small. Sometimes, it’s just having time for a conversation. You need to make space for that in your business and ensure that you can do that.

Now, like I said we’re shifting and changing at Your Biz Rules. And the last few months have been very hairy, hairy, hairy. We’ve been doing a lot of things. There have been some opportunities that have come my way, where I passed. However, I did go back to my vision. I asked myself, is this something that meet our vision? Is it something that would help contribute to our bottom-line number or top-line number that we’re working on? I’ve also said no, they’re not.

So, I’m not going to give them space. I’m not going to give them time. I do not have time, because of what we’re working on. This needs to be finished first so that I can move on to the next thing. As we’re coming out, we’re coming out.

We’re coming out of that foundational work that we’ve been concentrating on for the last few months. I’m thinking, okay I have space again. I’m out having some interesting conversations, looking for that next bit of luck, that next opportunity that’s going to take this business to the next level.

Have you adjusted for that? My mastermind is going to go through time management this month. It’s going to be really interesting. It’s going to be really interesting. Because it’s about being smart, if you’re going to create time for yourself. You’re going to have to be very smart and very judicious with where you invest your time.

We all, Lord knows, there’s enough stuff to do in business. We want to make sure that we aim for that and put priority on it. We’re strategic with it, so that it doesn’t take over our life. Small business will be a big hairy monster. I’m being silly today so but that’s it for today school is almost out. I want to go play hooky, but it’s off time to be mom. We have a track meet and soccer game and of course they’re 45 minutes away from each other! What are we going to do? It’s a lot of family time.

That’s it for today guys. Let me know what you think, what struck you? Are there some things that you need to shift in your business for you to be able to take advantage of luck when it comes to your door? If there is somebody that needs to hear this, if so please share. Be sure to tune back in here for our Facebook lives most Tuesdays and about 2:45.

Until then, I’m Leslie Hassler with Your Biz Rules business coaching and we’ve been Coaching from the Carpool.

Business Motivation Speaker

Leslie Hassler

Leslie Hassler is a popular author and speaker who spends much of her time coaching business owners on how to run their growing businesses by their rules. Delivering high-touch, personalized service, Leslie works with her clients as a partner, not just a consultant (who would pop in, tell you what to do, then leave).


Leslie teaches her clients a structured way to decide what to do first, second, next -- and never – in their businesses, so that they can learn to do it for themselves.


Leslie lives in Dallas with her husband and two kids, so she knows it’s not just about growing the business – it’s about getting the business ship shape so it grows and you can be home in time for dinner.


Leslie speaks on topics such as business leadership, prioritizing the business owner’s To Do list, and how to create and implement a strategic plan for growth.


If you’d like to have Leslie come speak to your group or organization, or present at your event, inquire here.


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