How to Increase Your Chances of Getting Lucky

Welcome to the 1st edition of the Taking Personal Action newsletter.

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“We were incredibly lucky to get into the biometric identity industry when we did. It really fueled our business's growth.”

I said that when a news publication interviewed me some years ago.

It surprised them that a then 3-year-old bootstrapped software company run by people in their early twenties could win such major telecoms/gov projects.

But were we just lucky, or was it more than that?

The Backstory

At the time, my company Seamfix was an agency that designed custom solutions for clients.

A company requested our help to create an online software system for them to manage electronic entrance exams for universities - for whom they had agreements.

A biometric fingerprint system was added later to register the applicants and authenticate them during the examination. This was to combat instances of identity fraud.

One year on, a mandate was issued by the government that all SIM cards sold in the country must be accompanied by the biometric registration of the subscriber. It gave the telecommunication operators a brief window to comply.

A friend of ours who worked at a major telco was well aware of our work with universities and called us to join the demo and bidding process at a moment’s notice.

The top 3 software agencies in the country at that time were also invited, with each owning hundreds of staff and millions of dollars of yearly income. We were just 4 young men bootstrapping a company from our living room.

We worked hard for days, coding until 2am the night before the demo, enhancing our university solution to meet the telco standards.

After completing 80% of the requirements, we were so tired that all we wanted to do was go to bed. We chose to keep going until it was finished. We finished at 4am and headed off for the demo by 7am.

Guess what happened?

We were the only ones out of the 4 companies invited to have 100% of the requirements fulfilled.

We were awarded a mega contract by the telco in order to provide the solution and meet the government's regulations quickly.

We were the pioneers of the biometric SIM Registration system in the country, and other telcos followed in our footsteps. The Government later adopted our solution for the enrollment of National Identity cards across the nation.

The difference between us getting the deal or not? Two extra hours of perseverance late at night.

Making Your Own Luck

On the surface, it may look like successful people just got lucky, but look closer and you will find the patterns of how they took advantage of the opportunities they had.

These 5 actions have been successful for me:

1. Being present can make a big difference - even if you don't feel prepared, showing up is important.

2. Focus on identifying and solving problems in your space. People pay for solutions to their problems.

3. Speed is key to success - bigger players may have more resources, but you can always be victorious with speed. Moving quickly levels out the playing field.

4. Remain optimistic and be open to taking on new challenges. Success starts with a positive attitude.

5. Cultivate healthy relationships. Our friend's endorsement opened the door for us. The people you associate with and how they perceive you is vital.

Luck takes work.

Luck is what happens when opportunity meets preparation - Seneca

Have a great week!

Chibuzor "Take Action" Onwurah.