Ralph Engelstad was a multi-millionaire real-estate magnate and casino owner.  Ralph established Elgelstad Construction in the 1950’s after struggling to get a $2,500 loan to start his business.  He was turned down by two banks before Valley Bank finally allowed Ralph the opportunity to fulfill his dream to start his own construction company.

In the 1960’s Ralph expanded his horizons and started housing construction in Las Vegas, Nevada.  He then built a new casino and hotel, the Imperial Palace, one of the largest privately owned hotels in the world, which opened in 1979.  Then he continued building his business empire with a second Imperial Palace hotel-casino in Biloxi, Mississippi, and property ownership across the nation.

In December 1998, Ralph Engelstad announced that he would donate $100 million to his alma-mater, the University of North Dakota, and use the bulk of that money to build the best possible hockey arena for his former team, the Fighting Soux.  Today, the Ralph Engelstad Arena is one the finest hockey facilities in the world.  This magnificent arena has more than 100,000 square feet covered in granite, 3.2 miles of brass inlay, 11,640 leather seats with cherry wood armrests, more than 300 television sets, two sheets of ice, 14 locker rooms and a $2 million Daktronic scoreboard.

So what is Ralph Elgelstad’s success secret?  He was lucky.  If you were to ask Ralph himself how he got to be so lucky, he would most likely respond with his favorite saying that describes what he considered to be the secret to his success:  “The harder I work, the luckier I get.”

In fact, Ralph was so fond of this fundamental belief that you will find it in a prominent sign in his arena.

Joe Kraus, the successful founder of the startup company Excite, can relate to this.  In his interview for the book Founders at Work he describes his thoughts on this subject:

“Some famous person once said ‘Success is 50 percent luck and 50 percent preparedness for that luck.’  I think that’s a lot of it.  It’s being ready to take advantage of opportunities when they arise.”

Be prepared for when luck knocks on your door, and you too may find success.