Is this a lucky break?

I met up with one of the people who took part in the Productise Your Expertise programme last year for a chat and to see how she was getting on. And to get some ideas on how to improve the next programme.

Maya* told me about some of the changes in her business and some of the new work she was doing. I had a big smile on my face when she told me about how she’d got some work recently for £900 for a half-day. I remembered that we’d spent quite a bit of time during the programme talking about pricing for productised services and encouraging her to get past the £250 a day she had been charging for her unique and brilliant service.

“That was an incredibly lucky break on LinkedIn” she said.

We talked some more about how she was doing, and she gave me some great pointers on how to make the group exercises in Productise Your Expertise work better. But then she said something strange.

“I’m finding LinkedIn and networking a real grind. I’ve paid for LinkedIn premium, which cost a fortune, and another £350 for training on how to use it, but it takes ages, and it doesn’t feel like I’ve got much out of all that effort.”

10 minutes earlier, she’d been talking about the lucky break on LinkedIn and getting £900, so I was a bit puzzled.

Why this happens

This is something we silly humans do all the time. We ascribe good fortune to luck or chance and forget about all the hard work that went into creating that “incredibly lucky break”. I suspect that this is because we often have to do the hard work a long time before we get the reward, so the two become disconnected in our heads.

She hadn’t realised that the great gig had come her way because she’d spent hours doing LinkedIn outreach. She’d forgotten what we’d talked about in the Productise Your Expertise, that you’re doing all this work on LinkedIn so that you are in the minds of people all the time. And then, when they have a problem that fits with your solution, you’re the one that comes to mind.

Carry on inviting the lucky breaks in

So this is a little reminder that if you’re finding something a grind or feeling that your marketing efforts aren’t paying off in the way you want them to, it’s good to just carry on doing it to lay down the red carpet for those “incredibly lucky breaks” that are coming to you. Even if you can’t always see the direct connection between your effort and the opportunities it opens up.

Although you might want some help along the way to make sure that your marketing efforts are the right ones for your business…after all, LinkedIn and networking were the right mix for this person, they might not be right for you.

Some more business stories like this one

Every week I send out a little business story by email. They’re usually based on something I’ve learned from one of my business coaching clients, or someone on one of the productising courses and programmes, so they’re true stories from real businesses.

*Not her real name, obvs