What is the entrepreneur’s chance?

Yoann Laurent-Rouault, Literary and Artistic Director, JDH EDITIONS, Co-author of The Paris Stock Exchange: 10 Big Bosses, 10 Great Stories (JDH EDITIONS)

Knowing one’s luck is, above all, understanding one’s self. In the second case, it is to analyze the situation. “What is all the same! ” or “lucky hit” reasoning should be prohibited. Realizing the range of possibilities that bring about your “luck” requires introspective and realistic thought and reflection. And neutral.

Some may rely on and be satisfied with several other concepts. Such highly philosophical concepts as “chance”, “conjuncture” and the famous “being at the right time and in the right place” can interfere with reasoning. For those entrepreneurial poets, a subscription to Madame Soleil’s newsletter or a loyalty card from a descendant of Nostradamus, plus a horseshoe, rabbit’s foot and gri-gri with the option of “marabout” are welcome.

But what is a business opportunity?

How could we determine this?

I would like to give this personal definition of “luck”: above all, opportunism and a realistic view of the market, as well as its field of activity, with shades of originality and avant-garde. And it should definitely focus not only on the product, but also on what surrounds the product. From packaging to distribution. From service to service implementation. Some managers will add the famous “10% luck and 90% work” ratio. Normally, for me, this is a recipe for a magic potion. But maybe I was born too early in a very ancient world? Extensive discussion. Get a ticket.

But let’s try, let’s try now to recognize and distinguish the chance. Without going through the major university case reports on the subject, nor by all the successful coaches that abound on the internet and in our mailboxes. The question is, “As a business leader, how would I classify luck?” “. To draw a realistic portrait of the rainbow, let’s try to do it by the method of Munsell’s color table. I distinguish 4 main colors in my color spectrum.

Let’s start with the blue or starting chance. Winning lottery ticket. This chance happens by chance and without effort on the part of the beneficiary. It goes against all data and all statistics. But it remains rare and phantasmagorical. It’s like waiting for the phone to ring. Let us take you where you least expect it. Starting with this principle of chance, known as truth by the average citizen, then there will be countless entrepreneurs in PMUs and other casinos. These places would be populated by entrepreneurs who would wait ad vitam aeternam “for the right move”. A winning lottery ticket is not the end, but the icing on the cake. The lottery is the enemy of “repeats”, and the repeater is the friend of company sustainability.

Now let’s take the color green to symbolize the luck of the visionary. A visionary perfectly identifies that there is something to be done and therefore an action to be taken in a given context. It translates into an opportunity with a chance to become aware of the potential of a vision for a particular situation and a human need that has yet to be exploited in a commercial sense. For many of our contemporaries, being a visionary is a chance. It is almost deified. Whatever the field. Putting yourself first and creating a market is a guarantee of success if done smoothly. The history of trade is rich with examples of this. Moreover, the words “patents” and “inventors” are often associated with this type of luck. From Jean-Claude Decaux’s nationwide systematized bus shelter to Bill Gates’ computer product for the general public through the small piece of plastic on the end of a lace that created the inventor’s fortune.

Let’s try red for opportunist’s luck. It is because you are looking for it. It definitely exists. You provoke him. You weave the web. You are a hunter-gatherer-trapper. A real truffle dog. And above all, with remarkable sensitivity, you dare to do what others have not attempted. Risk it all? Not necessarily. Opportunity is everywhere. I even recently heard a President of the Republic say, “sometimes it was enough to cross the street…” More seriously, opportunity is real direction. A real estate or financial business turns opportunities into niches.

Now “biblical” luck in yellow. You believe it and you create and implement your idea as a father god during your vacation week on earth. You make a mannequin from the measurements taken from the couturier, and from the mannequin you create the product line. Father or Mother Nature, you are the gardener of financial Edens, the tree grower. Our two great French billionaires are of this character. You invent. You know your sector and are promising in idea labs. You are creative. You love white water, waterfalls, and you’re not a fan of pond paddling. It’s your job to get down fast. You love innovation. You are an observer. Yellow suits you, it is the color of light and nothing travels faster than light.

So, what is the luck of the entrepreneur? Well, that’s all I think. Four colors and their nuances according to cases and contexts. But is it all luck or skill? Or both? Learning, developing, observing, trying, deciding, working are our real chances. Hazards, conditions, luck, these are meteorological phenomena. Neither more nor less. Hasn’t it been said, after centuries of careful observation, that after rain comes good weather? But conversely, the expression also works. And this is important. We often forget this. After good weather it rains. More than anything else, I personally believe that the real chance of an entrepreneur at any level, like a boxer who wants to win a title, is his ability to make money. With four primary colors and two non-colors, white and black, you can produce more than 500,000 colors that the human eye can distinguish. So feel free to mix and match and create your palette. A canvas is a certain number of colors in a certain stacked order, even for a master painting.

Yoann Laurent-Rouault.
Literary and artistic director of JDH publications.