Definitely luck involved. I tried to emulate the success of the chap whose viral story about how he reached financial independence. His got 10,000 claps (and still going). Mine has barely been noticed, although it had a few days of going viral outside of Medium. That was disappointing. His was fine, but no masterpiece. It could have gone the other way. I wasn't even sure about publishing mine, because I don't want to become a target for people who think they'll swindle me, so I play it down a little. But mine was just as a good a story, and it did nothing. Mostly the same principles. Same takeaways. So much luck involved.