Getting rich, at least under our current system, has a lot more to do with luck (mainly being in the right place at the right time) than it does with being smart or even working hard. The reason perseverance (which is related to working hard, but is not quite the same thing) helps is that the more willing you are to keep playing the game without winning the more likely you are to eventually win.

(You can see this dynamic at work in the small here on HN. Getting a lot of upvotes has more to do with getting a pithy comment in early enough that it rises to the top where it gets noticed before the story falls off the front page and people stop paying attention. The wisest comment in the world won't get any love if it's submitted after the story drops off the home page. A similar dynamic also plays itself out on the New page. It's even more dramatic there because very few people ever look at the New page. And yet, the more participate, the more likely you are to hit an upvote jackpot.)