Many people have always posted this question to me. ‘Do you feel that luck played apart in your success?’ ‘Are some people just luckier than others?” ‘Does it take good luck to succeed?’ Is there a way how to motivate someone to succeed through luck?
Well, I believe that there are two kinds of luck, ‘gambling luck’ and ‘business luck’. I have noticed that there are some people who are just born with ‘gambling luck’. These are the guys who are the ones who keeping striking the 4D (like my father in law) and who keep winning whenever they gamble. I for one, have got no gambling luck at all. Everytime I play Chor Tie Tee (I don’t know what is the correct spelling), I keep losing. Everytime I gamble at the casio for fun (Jackpot or Craps), I ALWAYS end up losing. However, I noticed that there are some of my friends who just keep winning at cards. So, I must admit that some people are just born with this DUMB LUCK. In fact, when I was in the army and out on missions, I would always gamble with my sergeants (I was a Platoon commander) Chor Tie Tee. Everytime, I would always lose. Some of my sergeants would win sometimes and lose sometimes. But there was this particular sergeant who kept winning for every single mission we went to. I
n my Ad agency, I used to employ a production manager who kept winning 4D (he won 7 times in 3 years) and even won a car in a lucky draw. But you know what? None, of these guys are rich or successful. So don’t envy them. In fact, these DUMB LUCK people tend to spend whatever they have as soon as they enjoy their windfall and end up broke again.
Although I have no ‘Gambler’s luck’, I have another kind of luck that i must say has been responsible for me making my millions. It is what I call ‘Business Luck’ or ‘Mindchamps‘. The best part of it is that business luck is not something the heavens bestow upon you…it is something that you can MAKE YOURSELF. I find that the harder you work on what you are passionate about, the better business luck you have. Gambling luck requires no hard work. Business luck requires lots of hard work for it to surface.
So what is ‘Business Luck’? Business luck is the OFFSPRING generated when OPPORTUNITY meets PREPARATION. In other words, BUSINESS LUCK = OPPORTUNITY + PREPARATION. So, to have business luck, you must have lots of opportunities and be prepared to take advantage of those opportunities.
Now, many people complain that they have no LOBANG! That is hokkien slang meaning they have no opportunities. You know why? It is because they don’t take any action. They don’t go out and network. They don’t read latest news. They don’t track trends in the market. They don’t listen and keep a lookout. I believe that oportunities to make money are there EVERY SINGLE DAY! It is only when you take massive action do they appear to you. But, let me tell you a secret! Opportunities never look like opportunities. Opportunities ALWAYS come disguised as PROBLEMS!!! Those who have the millionaire mindset see opportunities, while the average person only sees the problems.
For example, many people said that I was very lucky because I had the OPPORTUNITY to buy Osim Stock at $0.85 and AIG stock at $50 early last year. But, everybody in the world had the same opportunity as me. The only thing was that they saw the low price as a problem (SG market was down and AIG was investigated for accounting irregularities). I saw it as an opportunity. People say that I had the opportunity to start a motivational camp for teenagers Malaysia program for kids and write the book ‘I Am Gifted, So Are You!’ But, everyone also had the same opportunity to create a product to serve the lucrative educational market. It is just that people see ‘lazy kids who cannot study’ as a problem. I saw it as an opportunity where I could create great value and at the same time, make alot of money from it.
The bottom line is that you have to look for opportunities in problems. In fact, whenever something looks like an opportunity, it is often just a SCAM. I am sure you have received emails from Nigeria where this son of a Sultan Abibaboo claims to have US$250m and they need your help to get the money out of the country and they will pay you 10%! If something is too good to be true, it ALWAYS IS.
But being able to see the opportunity is NOT GOOD ENOUGH. You must, be PREPARED to take advanrtage of the opportunity in order to generate LUCK! For example, I was able to take advantage of Osim and AIG’s low price because I had the financial training to know what their true intrinsic value was (Osim’s true value was $1.80 ands AIG’s true value was $80). True enough, when market sntiment improved (it always does eventually), the prices moved towards its intrinsic value, allowing me to sell and make a nice profit. When I saw the opportunity that there were many parents who did not know about camp for kids, I was able to capitalize on the opportunity because of my knowldge and training in accelerated learning and NLP.
So, my advice is to constantly build your knowledge base and skill set. Learn about how to invest, learn about business etc… So when the next opportunity comes, you are prepared to pounce on it and make your luck happen!
Sim Wong Hoo talked about this concept in the form of IQ, EQ & AQ (Adversity Quotient). IQ & EQ can be trained but AQ is something you might have to wait a lifetime to surface. And when it appear, we would be in a favourable position to take advantage of it.
[…] Adam, the only self-made millionaire I know personally, reveals the answer to the question; does it take luck to succeed and make it rich? […]
I personally do not agree that AQ (adveristy quotient) is something you have to wait a lifetime to surface. I believe that the ability to handle adversity and turn it into opportunities is something you can master IMMEDIATELY. Your level of AQ is determined by how you choose to respond to an event. Thsoe who have read my books would remember the powerful formula E + R =O . Event + Response = Outcome. Those who choose to have high AQ always respond to events in an empowering way and take positive action to get great results. Thsoe with low AQ always respond it a lousy way and forever remain lousy
I always want to gbe successful, I am going to be successful, thank you very much for your sharing. But I do not know where to start, could you please advice me on the fundamantal requirement in becoming an entrepreneur. I have a poly dip, counselling psychology dip, now doing my sales & marketing dip, read think and grow rich, rich dad, etc… now reading NLP, a gift from a friend, listen to anthony and mr glander tapes, etc
Thank you very much
Thanks Adam for his insights.
Dr Dolf De Roos always say, “The deal of the decade comes along every week.”
I totally agree. Its about continuous learning, finding new things and exploring opportunities. Its all about making effective use of time. The power of one minute is tremendous if used properly, either in learning, gaining knowledge, and most importantly, using that knowledge. Without taking action, knowledge is as useful as a reference books in a library.
Take action now. Every minute counts. Invest $1 a day at 20% returns and see your money grow! 🙂 Exercise today, not put it off to tomorrow. Learning 3 new things every day and you would have learnt 1000s of new things a year. The trick is to put it to good use…Take action now.
Thanks for sharing Adam. Great stuff.
I am starting a website to help asipring entreprenuer ( even a grey-hair entreprenuer like me) to correctly decide on the right path to wealth, get into the right business that matches his passion and vision and believe that he will be successful (because there is a science of getting rich). I believe that there is a ‘science of getting rich’. ie, you need to follow a CERTAIN way. If Adam or Sim Wong Woo, or Richard Tan of SkyQuestCom can do it, you can too. However, how many of us start our business young? What about those that are in their 40s+ etc and cannot take as much rich as these people do. We heard of people going thru school of hard-knocks and emerged again successfully . But there are some who failed and failed at age of 40s+ and could not come back. I came across another guru name Roger Hamilton. He developed a Wealth Profiling test that identifies a person’s ‘least-resistance-to-wealth’ path. And there are 8 type of paths. You see, would Tiger Woods be rich if he tries to be Bill Gates who invent products? Would Warren Buffer be rich if he tries to be Tiger Woods?
Adam Khoo’s has a 5 steps plans to Riches. One is to believe that if someone can do it, I can too. Finding the right vision (path) and have passion etc ..and so on. One of the point from Adam is about mentoring- ie choosing the right mentor. I noticed Adam’s chose mentor like Jack Welch, etc. who are people oriented wealth creators. I can see that Adam Khoo is choosing his path right. Perhaps Adam can comment.?. I will be going out to buy the Secrets of Self-Made Millionaires book soon 🙂
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