The Difference Between Serendipity And Ill-Prepared

Luck is about choice. And preparation. And a willingness to put in the work – regardless of the outcome.  You position yourself to get lucky. It’s about trusting – in your own abilities. Luck is about how you show up and contribute. - BYDN podcast

You never know when life is going to drop something fabulous in your lap – however you can always be prepared for luck to happen.

By prepared, I’m referring to putting yourself in front of serendipity, to create your own good luck. Which is the exact opposite IMHO of being ill-prepared for opportunity.

Let me give you an example.

It's the story of how I met Sandy Cross, Vice President People & Culture, PWHL. Previously Sandy held a variety of transformational roles (including Chief People Officer) at the PGA and it was then when she was at the PGA, that Sandy and I crossed paths.

We met because of a blog post.

It was not a "hit publish" immediate connection. I did not tag the PGA in my post. Rather, thanks to algorithms and search engines and Sandy’s need for a speaker for an event she was planning – we were introduced a handful of year’s later and the rest you could say is history. I’ve now had the pleasure of speaking at a number of PGA events, and interviewed Sandy for my book – all because of a blog recounting an earlier segment of my career, and why I chose to learn how to play golf (to advance my career).

The blog was planned, the topic intentional, the good fortune of it catching Sandy’s eye was not. That my friends, was pure serendipity. 

But here’s the thing: every day you have the chance to position yourself in front of people you don’t even realize are looking for you, so put your skills and expertise out there for others to discover (this could be as simple as updating your online profile to writing a blog post, adding a constructive comment on someone's social post, or being on a podcast) and then delight when the unexpected comes seemingly from “nowhere”. IRL (not online), it's sharing what you're working on or seeking with anyone who will listen - because you never know, that person you're casually chatting with at a networking event could hold the answer you're seeking.

Tap Your Network for Crowdfunding Success

“…I took the networking advice from your book and newsletter and I'm happy to report that I launched my first crowdfunding campaign, and I hit the $10,000 public goal in three days.” 

Don't leave the success of a funding campaign to chance!

If you’re contemplating a crowdfunding campaign to fund your passion project or to test product-market fit with pre-orders, I urge you to read Kathryn Finney’s story at page 81 of Build Your Dream Network (“Tap Into Your Crowd For Success”) as well as the Crowdfunding roadmap at page 176.

And I’ll also share this. On the "To Do List" for creators thinking about launching campaigns on a well-known crowd-funding site, are the following to-do’s:

• Under funding goal, it says “what support can you confirm with your current networks?”
• Under outreach, it notes “who in your network(s) has a huge social following? Who will help spread your message?”

Don't imagine it's chance that results in crowdfunding success. It's all how you engage your network.

Suggestion: Download and complete the exercises in Chapter 2 of my forthcoming book The Social Billionaire. The network audit outlined in the chapter will guide you uncovering the network resources you have at your disposal.

And on luck, we were damn lucky Catherine O'Hara pursued a career in comedy, then that along with her pursuit of fame - without botox, fillers and surgery - along with a sudden surge in widespread popularity (damn! the woman suddenly seemed to be everywhere and in every ensemble) "later" in her career, gave us an example of how to age and pursue ambition, with grace, groundedness, joy and humor. She's a role model we lost too soon.