Podcast: Download (Duration: 18:55 — 21.9MB)
Business success requires luck and the amount of luck available to you is something you control. Every piece of content you publish and every person you meet is another lottery ticket, and someone holding thousands of tickets gets called far more often than someone holding none.
In this solo episode I work through the question Guy Raz asks every guest on How I Built This, using my student Abby Walker’s story and my own to separate what was genuinely fortunate from what was earned.
Below is the full argument: why the lucky breaks in those stories were manufactured, and the four specific ways to accumulate more chances.
Get My Free Mini Course On How To Start A Successful Ecommerce Store
If you are interested in starting an ecommerce business, I put together a comprehensive package of resources that will help you launch your own online store from complete scratch. Be sure to grab it before you leave!
Table of Contents
Key takeaways
- Luck is real and the quantity is controllable. More action means more chances at a break.
- Abby found her product on a forum and would not have found it without doing product research.
- Showing up in person changes outcomes. An impromptu flight to Asia produced two vendors we still use.
- One friend at Google got us out of the sandbox via a link from the official Google blog.
- Every new person you meet is a ticket, which is the main reason I run this podcast.
- Content is the scalable version, since it works while you sleep and compounds.
- Our media coverage came to us. Real Simple, Martha Stewart Weddings, Brides, and the Today Show all found us through search.
- Sitting still guarantees the outcome. Zero tickets means zero chances.
What people get wrong about lucky business stories
A reader emailed after my episode with Abby Walker to say her success rested on a series of fortuitous events and was not repeatable.
The surface reading supports that. Abby stumbled onto her product accidentally, the manufacturer happened to grant her exclusive distribution rights, and she happened to meet the CEO of the Home Shopping Network.
She went on to make over $100,000 in a single month selling high-heeled insoles, and millions the following year from that one product.
The reading misses what produced each of those moments. Every one of them required Abby to already be in motion.
How Abby Walker manufactured her own luck
Each fortunate event in Abby’s story sits directly downstream of something she chose to do.
She found the insole on a forum where two women were discussing it, which only happened because she was doing product research at the time.
Finding it was not the achievement. She picked up the phone immediately, located the company, and proposed becoming their distributor.
That the company said yes was genuinely lucky. That she was the one asking was not.
Meeting the Home Shopping Network CEO at a product pitch event was luck too, and she was at that event because she flew there to pitch.
The counterfactual settles it. None of this reaches someone sitting at home watching television.
Why showing up in person multiplies your chances
The web is good for research and poor for building lasting business relationships.
Our early sourcing was entirely online, which produced real problems. Time zone gaps made communication slow, and cultural differences caused misunderstandings that resulted in products not matching our specifications.
So we booked an impromptu flight to Asia and dropped in on potential manufacturers unannounced.
The timing was fortunate. Our vendors had just returned from the Canton Fair with all their inventory on hand, so we saw products immediately rather than waiting weeks for samples.
We arrived too late for the fair itself, which we did not know existed at the time, and still left with two solid vendors we use to this day.
How a single connection can change your trajectory
One friend at Google got our store out of the Google sandbox.
Early on our site sat in the sandbox, which meant no organic traffic and no visibility even when someone searched our name directly.
I reached out to a friend at Google asking how to get out faster.
She happened to be writing the next post for the official Google blog, on how online stores use Webmaster Tools to improve traffic.
The arrangement was straightforward. Sign up, find it useful, and she would feature our store.
The link from that post was enormously valuable, and we escaped the sandbox as soon as it published.
The lesson is about timing you cannot predict. A person you met years earlier can matter at a moment neither of you anticipated.
Why networking is the highest-leverage luck strategy
Every new person you meet is another lottery ticket, which is the actual reason I run this podcast.
The podcast does not make much money directly. What it produces is one new relationship a week with someone successful.
The format is unusually good for this. An hour of one-on-one conversation, and typically another hour after the recording stops.
Many of those people would have been inaccessible to me otherwise.
Conferences do the same thing at higher density. I attend five or six a year despite a wife and two young children, because the connections justify the cost.
That habit is what led me to start Seller Summit.
The compounding is real. On our first trip to China and Hong Kong, friends I met through the blog showed us around and helped us find the vendors we wanted, and others in the textile business gave us pointers.
Why publishing content is the scalable version of luck
The more places you can be found, the more likely someone discovers you without you doing anything.
The medium matters less than the consistency. A podcast, a blog, a YouTube channel, or a conference all work.
Conferences are the one I would hesitate to recommend, since running one is genuinely difficult, though the status of being the host elevates you with every attendee.
YouTube is my current focus. Eight or nine months in, three or four companies have reached out about partnering, sponsoring the event, or sponsoring the podcast.
Our store’s content started the same way. We blogged consistently to get indexed, and after roughly six months began seeing meaningful organic traffic.
The arts and crafts pages are what did it. Useful content on a handkerchief store is what separated us from every other handkerchief store.
How rankings set off a chain reaction
Ranking on the first page of Google produces opportunities you never asked for.
Large companies noticed us once we ranked for our target terms.
Real Simple, Martha Stewart Weddings, and Brides Magazine all reached out to feature our products.
The Today Show found us through Google.
We solicited none of it. When I ask how they found us, the answer is consistently that they searched for the product or found a blog post.
Roughly 90% of our media coverage traces back to an editor discovering our content through search or Pinterest.
The lottery ticket theory of business success
Every success story contains luck, and the volume of luck available to you is a function of hard work and initiative.
The mechanism is straightforward. Each piece of content published and each person met is one more ticket.
Holding more tickets does not guarantee a win and it does change the odds substantially over time.
My wife and I attribute most of our good fortune to a network of friends who helped at the start and whenever problems arose.
The reason that network exists is that we kept buying tickets.
The alternative is the only certain outcome. Sitting on the couch produces no chances at all.
Frequently asked questions
Is business success luck or skill?
Both, and the amount of luck available to you is controllable. Every business needs a lucky break, and hard work and initiative determine how many chances you get at one.
How do you increase your luck in business?
Accumulate lottery tickets. Publish content consistently, meet as many people as possible, attend conferences, and take direct action rather than researching indefinitely. Each of those is another chance at a break.
Was Abby Walker’s success just luck?
The individual events were fortunate and the positioning was not. She found her product while doing research, called the manufacturer immediately, and met the Home Shopping Network CEO because she flew to a pitch event.
Does meeting suppliers in person matter?
Substantially. Online sourcing produces time zone delays and miscommunication that led to products not matching our specifications. An unannounced trip to Asia produced two vendors we still use today.
Why run a podcast if it does not make money?
For the relationships. Each episode is an hour of one-on-one conversation with a successful entrepreneur, typically followed by another hour off the record, with people who would otherwise be inaccessible.
How does content create luck?
It makes you discoverable while you do nothing. Roughly 90% of our media coverage came from editors finding our content through search or Pinterest, including Real Simple, Martha Stewart Weddings, and the Today Show.
How long does content take to produce results?
Our store’s blog began producing meaningful organic traffic after roughly six months of consistent publishing, and the rankings that attracted major media coverage took considerably longer to build.
Which content medium should you choose?
The one you will stay consistent with. A blog, podcast, and YouTube channel all work, and consistency matters far more than the format you pick.
