A little over a year ago, this business I have today — and any “name” I have now, and infamy, and whatever — didn’t exist. Given that, the fact that this little blogging experiment has led me to a six-figure business and exposure on some of the biggest sites in our own little corner of the Net is something I’m pretty proud of.
But there’s a problem. Let me explain.
My first big break — the first time a decent number of people began to see me in my quasi-developed form — was when I first started writing for IttyBiz, as Naomi’s little experiment. (If you don’t know that story, here’s where it was announced back in early 2009.) That went well, and it was the springboard for a lot of things… like growing an audience, finding a wider customer base, and opening the door to write for Copyblogger. All of that has been fantastic.
You might look back to my IttyBiz debut and say, “If the IttyBiz thing hadn’t happened, we wouldn’t know Johnny B. Truant.”
And then a lot of people will go a bit farther and say, “It’s good that you had the advantage of being on IttyBiz, because a lot of people don’t get an opportunity like that.”
And then a few people just stop beating around the bush entirely and say, “It sure is lucky that you had Naomi stumping for you, or you’d be nowhere.”
I’ve gotten that sentiment in various forms over the past year, and now, right here, I’m going to give my official answer to that statement, and here it is:
Oh, for fuck’s sake.
I could get defensive at this point, but I’m not going to. Instead, I’m going to try and be helpful because frankly, anyone who thinks that luck had anything at all to do with it is punching him- or herself in the metaphorical testicles right now.
If you think I got lucky, then you’ve already chosen to lose in life. If you think it truly is all about luck, then you’re totally screwed because luck isn’t within your control. After all, I got lucky, and unless you get lucky, you’ll never have any success — just like I wouldn’t have had any success if I hadn’t gotten lucky.
Sound about right? We’re all victims, subject to the whims and winds of the universe, helpless to control our destinies?
Fuck that. Here’s how things really work.
How I got lucky with my first big writing gig
The first sizable writing job I got was with a big human resources magazine. My first time working with the magazine, I got $1200 to write a feature – great shakes for a kid who had barely been paid to write before. And check out this stroke of luck: I got that job because my dad knew a guy who knew a guy who was a magazine editor.
I ended up writing over 60 articles for that magazine. And every once in a while, I’d think what some people think about the IttyBiz thing. I wouldn’t give myself any credit. I’d think, “Wow, I have a really great thing going here. Most people don’t get to do this. Most people don’t get to work from home and do something creative for a living.” And on the heels of that: “It sure is lucky I knew Tom, because a lot of people don’t have a connection at a magazine to get them a great gig like this.”
But that’s not how it was. Yes, I had a connection. But that connection would have been useless if I hadn’t been doing the right thing in advance of the opportunity, hadn’t recognized the connection, and hadn’t known the right way to address it.
Tom wouldn’t have referred me to the editor if he hadn’t thought I’d do a good job.
The editor wouldn’t have given me the assignment if he hadn’t checked me out and agreed that I’d do a good job.
If I had turned in a crap article, the magazine would have axed it and would have paid me only the kill fee, and then never hired me again.
And if I had been a shitty writer, shitty businessperson, shitty corespondent, generally shitty guy, or shitty anything else, they wouldn’t have used me over 60 times after that.
Connections and opportunities open doors… but it’s up to you to find the doors, and then to walk confidently through them.
How I got lucky with IttyBiz
The assumption that “I had Naomi to help me” falls apart once you realize that she and I didn’t have any idea who each other was 15 months ago. She wasn’t my drinking buddy. She didn’t owe me a favor. I was one of thousands of readers, one of the hundred pitches and requests she gets every month. If you think she plucked me up randomly to give me a guest spot for the hell of it, you’re wrong.
Pitching my idea wasn’t easy. I had to fight for it. I had to make her an offer she couldn’t refuse. I had to do it in the right way, because she’s easy to creep out. I had to do it at the right time, with the right amount of persistence, through the right vehicles. I had to make her believe that it would benefit her greatly, and I had to do it in a way that wasn’t bullshitty or hypey. I’ve gotten to know Naomi fairly well by now, and I know that people kiss her ass like you wouldn’t believe. There’s a thousand things constantly competing for her attention. Inertia — ignoring me — was very easily the default.
Once I was on her blog, I had to win over her readers. Nobody was forcing them to read my posts. Nobody was forcing them to follow my links, to take me up on my offers. And even if they were just kind of doing what she tacitly seemed to be suggesting (by having me there in the first place), nobody forced people to refer me down the road. Nobody forced people to buy from me when I raised my prices months later. Nobody twisted Brian Clark’s or Darren Rowse’s arm to force them to run my posts on their blogs.
I know this sounds like chest-beating, and I’m quite certain it’s pissing some people off. But look, you have to stop believing in luck. You have to stop believing that success stories start with the Good Old Boy network handing down favors to people who would fall on their faces otherwise. If you believe that, you’re totally and completely fucked.
I’ve only been “lucky” in business for a year, folks. If anyone thinks I’m patting myself on the back for my consistently great choices, then you don’t have the full picture.
Consider:
• I took a job in a lab just out of college, an hour away from my house, for $12k per year. My job was counting fruit flies and having severe panic attacks about it.
• I got comfortable in my old freelance job working for only three clients, and then did nothing as they folded one by one, and didn’t so much as attend one event to try to find new clients.
• I borrowed over a million dollars and sunk it into hideously inadvisable, highly overleveraged real estate in bad neighborhoods, then watched in horror as the market collapsed.
All of those things were completely my fault. I was not unlucky. I was negligent. I was where I didn’t want to be each time — and it was totally, one hundred percent my own doing.
The flip side of that is that if I’m going to take responsibility for the stupid things I’ve done, I SURE AS FUCK am going to take responsibility for my successes.
How to make your own luck
I’m about to tell you that you should pick up my new course with Lee Stranahan, called Question the Rules: The nonconformist’s punk rock, DIY, nuts-and-bolts guide to creating the business and life you really want, starting with what you already have. So if that bothers you, stop reading — because I want you to buy it, and am not going to pretend even one tiny bit that I don’t.
Folks, I don’t bullshit. If I were into hawking crap, I’d be selling a formula that will make you rich overnight. I wouldn’t write articles about how AdSense arbitrage is stupid and how the magic ingredient is “persistence.” I wouldn’t tell all of my clients that “it may take a long time, and you’ll have to be patient.”
When Lee and I started talking about creating a course, he had to convince me that we could do it in a way that I would believe. I would not promise that you could quit your job in X months. I would not promise that if you followed a certain set of steps, you’d be able to achieve X spectacular result.
So believe me when I say that Question the Rules will help you. It will not make you a millionaire overnight or make all of your dreams magically come true. But it will help you.
It’s based on the idea that you’re different, or you wouldn’t be trying to do your own thing. If you were “normal,” you’d be doing what normal people do… and getting what normal people get out of life. And as a person who is different — who is a rule-questioner, who is, as we affectionately say, “punk rock” — you need guidance that won’t straightjacket you. You need to know how to operate outside of the norm. And because it’s pointless to give you the blueprints for our lives, we wanted to be able to teach you how to draw the blueprint for your own.
Question the Rules is based on the idea that everyone has connections. Everyone has an in. Everyone has opportunities, or can create them. Everyone can find the right people to help them. Remember, I didn’t have Naomi to help me. I found Naomi and was able to make it compelling for her to help me. Lee interviewed director Kevin Smith as Kevin’s house, writes for the Huffington Post, and wrote, directed, and produced an independent movie. Lee didn’t know Kevin Smith, Arianna Huffington, or his film’s sponsors. He found those contacts. He worked to cultivate those contacts.
We can help you make your own luck.
This post isn’t a disguised sales pitch. This post is a sales pitch. I want you to buy Question the Rules, because doing so benefits you and me both, like any successful connection in the real world.
The price goes up at the end of this week, from $97 to $397. It won’t ever be $97 again.
Here’s the link to Question the Rules. After you’ve gone through it and applied what you’ve learned, come back and tell us how lucky you’ve become. Lee and I are both sincerely dying to hear it.
Damn it, Johnny, can’t you just let us keep our self-fulfilling views of the world? It’s easier this way. I feel a lot safer knowing that I’m not to blame for my situation – it’s just the universe hasn’t smiled on me yet.
And this way, I don’t have to ever fail at anything. In fact, I don’t ever need to try anything in the first place. And when I do, I can totally half-ass it and call Lady Luck a whore when it doesn’t go my way.
And you had to go and fuck that up for me.
Johnny,
I’ve been following your work for just a little while and I really appreciate how candid you are with your audience.
You’re right on.. You have to make your own luck in ANY business that is what it’s all about. Networking, getting favors, putting a foot in the door. Hell, I’m doing it right now by adding a comment to one of the more successful bloggers on the internet with the hopes that a few people might check back to my blog.
The only people that believe in lucky breaks are the ones that just sit around and let life happen to them instead of making their lives the way they want to be. Good luck with your product launch.
-Joshua Black
The Underdog Millionaire
Love what you’re doing. I’ve read IttyBiz for years now and thought you fit right in with her tell-it-like-it-is approach.
The interview with Chris was inspiring. I’m thinking about doing my own similar thing (long time IT guy) … without the writing … since I have no talent in that department.
So … here’s my question. Without the writing … just the technical services and coaching … would you be making money? Do the writing gigs bring in all your customers?
This reminds of the following quote:
“I’ve found that luck is quite predictable. If you want more luck, take more chances. Be more active. Show up more often.” Brian Tracy
Great post, thanks Johnny.
I could be the only person to quote Oprah in your comments but she always stops guests who say they are lucky and she will say “there’s no such thing as luck – only preparedness meets opportunity.”
You were prepared when you got the opportunity. Rock on, dude.
We’ve got this ideal in the U.S. that it’s better to make it on your own. Nepotism is a bad thing, and no one should take advantage of “special breaks” to get where they are.
You know who agrees with that sentiment? Losers. You know who perpetuates it? People with connections.
Seriously, if I had better connections I’d be exploiting them for all I’m worth. And the few I do have I’m already pushing as much as I can without begging. (Speaking of which, hey Johnny, I could expand this to guest post length … hint hint. You’ve got my Twitter name.)
If you’ve got connections, it makes sense to use them. If you’ve got connections and you’re an asshole, it makes sense to convince the proles that using connections is icky.
Fucking A, man.
As the saying goes, “I find that the harder I work … the ‘luckier’ I get.”
Great line here, ‘This post isn’t a disguised sales pitch. This post is a sales pitch.’
Hah. How many blog entrepreneurs would say it so bluntly.
Your message is a good one. Belief in luck doesn’t empower people to reach their potential. Belief in oneself, does.
“Lucky for you” that you bust your ass 24/7 writing on every freak’n blog on the planet.
“Lucky for you” that you’ve busted your ass getting out there and knowing your audience.
“Lucky for you” you’ve tried, failed, got up, tried, failed, got up, and so on
“Lucky for you” you’re such an ass that people like you.
I could go on, but I think we’re tired of hearing how lucky you are.
Nice sales pitch.
Funny, most _real_ business people wouldn’t think twice about dropping $97 for a business lunch.
Rock on, Johnny. I’m so glad you shared this. I think a lot of people really need to read it.
I kind of think of it 3 ways:
1) You have highly influential parents and can do whatever you want or
2) You happen to be in the right place at the right time and you work your ass off or
3) You position yourself in the right place at the right time and you work your ass off
Obviously you went the #3 route.
I think the reason that so many people want to say that others are “lucky” is because it gives them an out.
What I mean is this: If someone like you actually built a six-figure business in a year and it was actually due to you working your ass off, then the people who say you are “lucky” might actually have to accept that hard work could bring them the same level of success!
hmmmmmmm…….I think YOU DID GET A BIT DEFENSIVE……
why not just say this……..LUCK is when PREPAREDNESS ( lots of effort and experience ) meet OPPORTUNITY.
without preparedness, opportunities go by the wayside.
without opportunities, all the preparedness in the world will not make luck.
smiles, just write……you do not need to justify your success……..do you????
thank you…….for your inspiration……
smiles,
deborah
Effin A!
While I enjoy the Luck = Preparedness + Opportunity quote (was that Oprah or Seneca?) here are a couple of other winners:
Luck has the peculiar habit of favoring those who don’t depend on it
&
Your luck is how you treat people
You treat us well, Johnny…you lucky bastard!
I admit it. I”ve been waiting for luck to strike me, and I’ve just recently realised I am going to have to make it happen.
I wont pretend like I know you at all Johhny. I think I’ve read only 2 of your blog posts. Hell, I only just discovered Naomi’s blog the other week when I was stumbling through the internet for information to help me complete a marketing assessment.
But in the brief and short time I have known you and Naomi, you’ve given me reason to believe in internet marketing again. Usually sales pitches on the internet make me want to vomit. But yours enticed me to buy. Well done to you on that!
What I love the most is the increasing trend for us to expose our individuality, and succeed by doing so. It turns the traditional model of business on its head, and as someone who bailed out of that corporate bullshit years ago, I am excited to see where this whole “being ourselves” takes us forward in business and in life.
Thanks for paving the way for a new way of being in business. And a huge call out to everyone else who is stepping out boldly by embracing who they are and letting the world know about it!
To anyone out there who’s thinking about buying QTR:
I bought this product without really believing the “no bullshit” line. I expected more of the same things I’ve heard elsewhere, and I’m not sure why I bought it except that sometimes a person needs to hope. I’m almost through with the class material, and am starting to listen to the interviews, and I can say that Johnny and Lee are about as straight-shooting as it’s possible to be. They’re not trying to teach you how to sell; they’re trying to teach you how to rock. I’ve never sat through a networking session without feeling dirty and a bit queasy, and now I find myself looking forward to heading back for the third in a row. For me, this class isn’t just about learning to find your luck, but rather about learning to believe that the right people are out there, and that there is a good, honest, non-sleazy way to approach a world that’s too often just a sham.
I second Erica’s emotion. I’ve listened to some modules more than once already. It’s fun and really makes you think.
@Marc – MAYBE. Writing has been essential to getting where I am via the route that I took, but it’s possible I could have just done the social media dance, using Twitter and Facebook and sharing photos and witticisms, and gotten some of the same results. But the thing is, let’s face it — tech services are a dime a dozen. You have to find a way to stand out as a person rather than as a technician. For me, most of that came via writing, but you could maybe do it in video or audio or, like I said, social media short-form stuff. Check out this Copyblogger article I wrote for my basic thoughts on what you’re talking about.
@Drew – Remind me in a week or two, when my brain has returned. For real.
@Bamboo Forest – I have this theory that you folks aren’t totally stupid and would kind of figure out I wanted you to get QTR anyway.
@Wendy – Exactly. The problem, of course, is that if you take the out, you’re screwed.
@Mandie – I also try to be honest to a fault, and I hope people think I succeed in that. I’d rather not insult people’s intelligence. Luckily, things still seem to work out okay without all the “tactics.” (Okay, I use some tactics. But I eschew a lot of them too.)
@Erica – Wow, that’s such an awesome thing to read. Thank you, and we’re glad you’re getting some good stuff out of it. We tried to do it differently.
Robin Williams tells a story about appearing at a Comedy Club – I don’t know if it was “the” Comedy Club, but probably. He said that he would go on stage and everybody would know who he was and they would do the old clap and cheer. He also said that having a name will buy you about 5 minutes (or less). If you didn’t have what it takes, you might as well pack your bags and go back to Poughkipsie (?).
I have to say, of course you were lucky. Nothing wrong with that. Maybe it was the luck of persistence. Maybe it was the luck of right time and right place. Luck just the same. Having said that, luck carries you through the first post, or the first article. Then you’re on your own.
And it would seem that “your own” had made it. I still don’t know if you should downplay the role luck played in it all.
You’re right, Mike. That’s the tricky thing about talking about this stuff… there’s a fine line in the meaning of the terms. It’s really not so much that I literally don’t believe in luck at all; it’s more that I believe that you can position yourself to be “lucky” and can be ready to capitalize when your opportunity arises.
It’s like what others said about luck being preparedness meeting opportunity.
JT! Superb article – hence I’ve re-tweeted it!
My Brother got LUCKY as a Small airplane pilot on $30,000 per year – he met the chief pilot of a big airline at an airshow, became friends, and got a 747 Job ($100,000+) within 2 years of qualifying as a pilot… Lucky?
Horse sh**! You got to MAKE connections and create
AND you gotta get the skills to make the connections worth anything.
Rock on JT and thanks for MY Punk site dude, you are a legend!!
Damn straight johnny. I have been reading/watching/following/stalking/whatever you since you first appeared on ittybiz. Wait, I might have found her through your humor blog back in the dark ages. I don’t have that kind of memory.
What was I saying? Oh, I hate people that just comment to say they love/agree/adore your post, but I completely love/agree/adore your post.
‘Worthy’ is a dirty word. You wouldn’t have had the year you have if you weren’t capable of handling or at least juggling it all. Just smile and nod at the haters and try to understand it’s because they are stuck on feeling ‘unworthy’.
Keep going, I can’t wait to see what you do next.
Thanks, Lorrie. I love/agree/adore your comment.
But Johnny, you can’t say nice things about yourself and take credit for all your hard work. You must call yourself blessed and dismiss compliments and be ashamed to ask for money for your product. What willl people think?
You’re the real deal.
Your message holds truth – you can build your own luck – and your honesty makes it even more meaningful.
Thank you for this post!