In it he describes patterns that "lucky" people follow and how to increase your odds of success by basically placing yourself in "right place at right time."

Can you always be in right place at right time? Not really, unless you broaden your definition of that phrase a bit, as I have.

My Definition of The Right Place at The Right Time: "Putting yourself in every corner of your market niche in some fashion so as to be in front of customers and people who can further your business through partnerships, buyouts, joint ventures and many other opportunities that only come through luck you *create* by being active and involved in your niche."

Zweig talks about fact that some people seem actually "skillful" at being lucky. A British psychologist, Richard Wiseman, even wrote a new book on subject called "The Luck Factor." (See www.luckfactor.co.uk)

Wiseman did a study on over 400 people who thought of themselves as either very lucky or unlucky.

"He found that some are indeed luckier than others, that lucky people share similar attitudes and that many apparently random outcomes can be controlled" says Zweig.

Think of first person that comes to mind who owns an online business and who you think of as "lucky." Actually, think of about 5 people. Should be an easy list to make - they are your competition, or business owners you admire, most likely.

Now, what trait would you say your list of 5 lucky people share? I would venture to say they all share same trait of being, at one point or another, "in right place at right time."

How did they do it? Was it really blind luck? Are odds dismal? The same as winning your state lottery jackpot?

Not even close! Although there are some people who really cannot explain their luck, and who truly were just "touched by an angel," most successful people are successful because they are engaged to hilt in their business. They are active promoters of their businesses in a radical way. They all have a fanatical involvement in networking themselves and their businesses.

The biggest mistake I see people make with their online businesses is that they separate their "self" from their business. They let products speak for themselves, which is ok as one component of a marketing campaign, but that's not enough. They also successfully market *themselves* as well as their business. They see themselves as important factors in success and identity of their business.

Competing is a misnomer. You cannot compete with these kinds of things unless you have a site dedicated to something along lines of what people are giving most of their attention to during times like this.

I bet people with anti-terrorism pages, pro or con war sites, and myriad other topics related to our current state of affairs are about only ones noticing a steep INCLINE in traffic right now.

So, how do we turn this seemingly helpless situation into something positive?

Well, war is going to end someday. The market is going to soar. Buyer confidence is going to swing back. Are you going to be ready for it?

Think about all those things you had on your plate when sales were higher and customer service demands were preventing you from getting back-burner projects done.

Now is perfect time to clean your slate of to-dos: Get that report written, update your autoresponder messages, create that killer, sales-boosting freebie you have had on your list to do. Do inventory, reply to emails you have been putting off (what a RELIEF to clean your inbox!), pay your bills, organize your taxes and business receipts, back up your computer, get rid of junk you've collected online that you are not going to use, ever.