As Luck Would Have It

I seem to have more time to think recently and my mind has drifted back to the past – firstly when growing up and later with my own children. The holidays – playing, swimming, fishing, and generally being lazy.

Good times will return and they’re not far away. The unwinding is underway. A bit harder to realise if you’re doing it tough and lost your job or your business is hurting but maybe this is an opportunity for change, diversification, re-skilling.

It’s also got me thinking about how lucky we are here in Australia. We’re getting through this better than the rest. Australia is No1 and NZ is No 2 regarding cases, reinfection, mortalities etc. It truly is THE LUCKY COUNTRY.

We’ve got shelter, no shortage of food, and unlimited entertainment. We have a government (with bipartisan support from the opposition and the unions) and a banking system pulling out the big guns to support people and the economy.

I’m feeling quite lucky, a bit stir-crazy, but lucky. But then, I’ve always been lucky. I expect to be lucky. What about you? What is your attitude about luck? Tell me.

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This is what carpenter turned actor Harrison Ford had to say about luck, “Hard work and a proper frame of mind prepare you for the lucky breaks that come along – or don’t”.

I remember being interviewed years ago by a journalist. He asked me about my first development, how I got into it, and how it went.

That’s a long story for another day, but basically it was a four lot subdivision listed for sale with a real estate agency I worked for where the landowner showed me how to buy and develop it as a vendor finance deal using none of my own money.

That was a long time ago but in today’s dollars the profit would be around $450,000. More importantly it was the deal that launched me as a developer.

The journo’s comment upon hearing the long version was “Wow, that was such a lucky break”. If you didn’t know the backstory, it would appear that way. So now the short version of the back story.

I was involved in a car accident (head on to a bridge while driving and having a sleep at the same time). I was on crutches for almost a year and out of action for 18 months. That consumed what little money I had.

While recuperating I looked around at what to do when I recovered. A friend of my dad was a builder/developer, drove a nice car, and seemed to be rich. I was so poor, everyone else seemed to be rich, and I drove a crap car.

Fully recovered, ten feet tall and bulletproof, I headed to the Gold Coast to make my fortune. Unable to become an instant developer, I got a job in a real estate agency selling mainly subdivisions and houses for developers. That’s where I met Tony who was selling a four lot subdivision site.

So was I lucky like the journo said, or had I used my recuperation wisely, reading good books, investigating new opportunities and getting lean, mean and hungry? Was I lucky or did I intentionally take on a commission only job to learn more about property and to mix with the right sort of people?
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