Creating Lucky Circumstances

Doing the Hard Preparation to Set Yourself Up for Success

“The key is not the will to win. Everybody has that. It is the will to prepare to win that is important.”

-Bobby Knight

I've just concluded a long and somewhat arduous job search. I’m thrilled that I’ll be joining Curious.com in Silicon Valley, but it took a lot to get there. It’s easy to look at the bare facts of my job and how I got it and assume that I was lucky. That I chanced into a position. That could not be further from the truth.

The facts are as follows. I took a trip to SF three weeks ago. The day I left I received an email from Curious asking to speak to me on the phone. I turned that into an in-person meet up given where I was headed. After a coffee meeting on Tuesday, I interviewed with one of the co-founders and a person on my specific team Thursday. I spoke to the CEO the following Monday, completed a homework assignment Tuesday, and received a full offer the following Monday.

I’m a firm believer that luck presents itself to those who prepare. Preparation, creating winning habits, and staying humble create a buildup of positive momentum that usually provides opportunities and results. By the time I met Sadie from Curious in that coffee shop in Palo Alto, I knew their product, their market, their competitors, and how I thought I could help them. None of that was chance or luck.

I honed my research skills and personal value proposition over 120 plus of these conversations—both in person and over the phone. I had a wakeup call early on with a venture capital firm called RPM Ventures. I had been referred to them by a friend and set up a time for a phone call. Where I thought I was doing an informational interview and asking about venture capital as a business and what they did, I quickly found out midway through the phone call that I was in the midst of a job interview. My skin crawled and I started to sweat. When I hung up the phone I knew I did not want that to happen ever again.

I realized early in my job search that I would not be a fit for many of the jobs I applied to. I did not let that affect my aspiration or ambition though. Instead, I channeled all the angst over what I could not control into that which I could. Even jobs for which I was fortunate to get a phone interview, I made sure that I was as knowledgeable and impressive as I could possibly be. Some of the people interviewing me, who would ultimately deny me access to their organization, became advocates for my success and integral connectors in my search.

This was a long process and at times it was easy to question my own inadequacies and skills, but I learned so much. Focus on the preparation, be ready for anything, and overimpress through your own hard work. Luck will find you.