Article by Christian Ross

Much to my wife’s disdain, talk radio not only keeps me awake during road trips it entertains me and helps to pass the time much more quickly as I drive. She on the other hand finds it mostly boring and doesn’t quite understand my attempts to argue with a medium that is incapable of hearing or responding to my points. Thankfully, during our recent return trip from holiday our little one needed her attention more than usual and I was able to argue, insult, agree and disagree with almost any talking head I wanted.

For a majority of the morning I spent listening to sports talk radio and realized that consecutive show hosts must not listen to each other nor are they required to go over their show points or line-ups in advance. Most of the issues covered on the early show were re-hashed and re-worded time and time again later in the day. Needless to say, my afternoon listening strayed somewhat from sports talk radio to other interesting topics I could find on my overwhelming number of satellite radio stations.

There was one section of my sports talk radio listening that stood out in my mind this morning and I have been thinking about it most of the day. The host spent a good portion of his time trying to get his listeners to understand that luck plays little to no role in the success of successful people. At first I thought his idea was just an extreme to rile some up but as he explained his points a little more with sports examples, I began to see it a little more clearly and ultimately wonder how much it plays into the life of a freelancer.

Lucky

Many of us often wish good luck on others before performances, life events and travels but when they finish the task we wished them luck for do we attribute their success to luck? I have a sister-in-law who makes the decision (for what reasons I cannot fathom) to push her body to the limit and run races in distances up to 26.2 miles. Before her race, I and many others wish her luck at her upcoming task. But is it luck that she finishes? No, it’s because she trains diligently and consistently for weeks on end prior to said race to prepare her body and mind for the task at hand.

Similarly, I don’t feel that my ability to find work and provide a living for my family is due to luck in freelancing. I have worked hard the last three and a half years to produce a quality brand, good work, and I make every attempt to be as reliable as possible to my clients. It wasn’t luck that when three new lodging companies opened in a certain area this year that they called looking for help promoting their businesses. They called because the quality of work I provide to similar clients in their field stands for itself. They called because others in town, when asked, mentioned my company as the only one worth working with and could attest to my meeting their needs.

Fortunate

Different from luck, but not necessarily different in nature, being fortunate isn’t usually the first answer either. At least in freelancing.

If your great-grandfather started a manufacturing plant in the 1930’s and then passed it on to your grandfather, father and ultimately your hands – you are fortunate. In almost every case, freelancers don’t have that fortune. We start from ground zero, working every day to polish and produce with the hopes of one day creating a fortunate instance for those who come after us.

I am a firm believer though that the harder you work at something, the more fortunate you become. Feel like writing for a living? Start writing. Write every day. Start a blog, write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, write cards to your family/friends, and even write things nobody will ever read. You will not only get better at your writing but I firmly believe that somebody will notice you. It’s crazy (and humbling) to see emails and responses to stuff I’ve written from people all over the world who’ve stumbled across my writing in some form or another. From writing on my own and practicing my craft, my work has been found and opportunities have been afforded. That to me is hard work showing itself as good fortune.

Good

What we sometimes consider lucky or fortunate are by-products of being good at what we do. Am I fortunate to have a job that I don’t have to ask for time off or worry about whether I only have 3 vacation days left? Yep. Did I get it because I was lucky? Nope. I got it because I work hard at what I do and I work harder at getting better at it every day. By getting better at what I do, I create circumstances around myself for others to notice and hopefully gain from it.

The problem you will find as a freelancer is that you have to be getting better at every part of your business all the time. Building relationships, networking, selling, invoicing, client interaction, placing your product, marketing, PR, writing, designing, developing and so on. Though some may not be highlights of your day, each part of your business is integral to the whole. If your marketing is failing, more than likely your sales are dropping. If your development skills are lacking then your finished sites aren’t coming off as beautiful as your mocks were to the client.

Reputations and client relationships aren’t based on luck. CEO’s of big firms, top sales guys, athletes and entertainers rarely make their mark on luck. I would venture to bet that in almost every case of self-made successful people hard work paid dividends multiple times that of luck. Create your own good fortune with hard work and don’t fall into the trap of thinking that someone is doing better that you because they are just lucky.

Are you lucky, fortunate or good?