Can someone change your fortunes ?

Can someone change your fortunes ?? This is a question with which I have often grappled a lot without reaching a definite answer.
The scientific part of my brain tells me that its the individual himself who is responsible for what happens to him/her ,good or bad. No one else can be blamed or applauded for any results. Those who oppose this idea would quote "one is known by the company he keeps" and hence the people around you influence your ideas and actions and hence the results.
My argument to the above will be , go and think how many people have you met in your life , and how many do you think had an influence on your attitude or actions. I am sure each one of us would arrive at a number less than 10. The point to be considered is if you were affected by such a small percentage of people and not by such a large percentage of people ,does`nt that mean its you, yourself who allowed some to influence and others not to influence. This change that you bring in yourself under the influence of others might lead to good or bad results, but its you who is responsible for that.

Often, with a few favourable and few not so favourable results we start considering someone close to us as lucky or unlucky. If its the latter case , its a problem , because you hold someone else responsible for your incompetencies and more than that tag him unlucky as well. if its the former case,its still a problem because you will feel dependent on the other person for your success.