Was It Luck? Was It By Design?

There are many times in my life when I jumped into things and out of things, in a random way.  But I landed on my feet. Was it luck?  Was it by design? Let’s see…

Getting my first copywriting job

Luck!

I did not know the advertising industry existed, and that I could get a job in advertising copy.  If I had known about the industry, maybe I would have made it a goal to get into advertising.  I would have gone to J J School of Arts in Bombay to get a Bachelors degree in Mass Communication.  I did not do any of that. I was a college drop-out without a plan, happy to compose silly songs, and do some freelance writing for the local newspaper.

Here’s how I got into advertising:  My sister had a friend Mela, who worked as an Account Executive in a small advertising agency close to our home.  When the agency had an opening for a junior copywriter, Mela called my sister and said “we have a job for that sister of yours who writes”.

And so, on my 20^th birthday, I started my copywriting career at this agency.

So the answer is Luck on this one!

Moving to America

Luck!

I had two sisters who were American citizens when I decided I wanted to move to America.

It was not long after I got that first advertising job – maybe a year and a half after that I asked them to sponsor me.

You could argue I had my designs on moving to America, because after I decided I wanted to emigrate to America, I initiated correspondence with my sisters. I exchanged several letters with them, expressing my desire to move to America, expressing my confidence that I would be able to succeed in America, in spite of not having the high qualifications they had.

More than a decade would pass before I would get my visa and pack my bags, but I moved.

Was it luck?  Was it by design?

Luck!  I was lucky to have two supportive sisters who were American citizens and who agreed to sponsor me.

I am very grateful to them for that to this day.

Getting my first Commissions Administration Job

Luck!

I was flailing around, messing up sandwich orders as a significantly underworked Administrative Assistant at Palm Inc.

I spent a lot of my time chatting over the cube wall with April. She was an interesting person who was sometimes redheaded, sometimes orangeheaded. She expanded my horizons to include Jeff Foxworthy and more. When I was not chatting with April, Nina and I were busy trying to become the Mimi Sheraton and Ruth Reichl of Bay Area restaurants.

My boss Andy was clever.  He knew being idle is fun in the short term, but makes you miserable and leads nowhere in the long term. So he summoned me to his office and said, “I can tell you are not really comfortable in this role. Why don’t you apply to one of the open positions in the company?  You are over qualified for this job.”

“Like what?” I asked, and I told him I was sorry that my being ill at ease was noticeable. “I knew what this job was, going into it.  So don't feel pressured to solve it.”

“Nevertheless, you should try for something else,” he said.  To my “like what?” he said “Go check with Laura….she needs a Commissions Analyst”.  He pointed out the cube where Laura sat.

If I did not know what advertising copy was once upon a time, I did not know what a Commissions Analyst was.  It sounded terrifyingly unfamiliar and daunting to me.

But I went to Laura……nevertheless.

What do you think she said to me?

“No”

But of course!

She asked me what my background was and then said, “I don't think you will be a good fit. I need someone with Commissions Analyst experience".

So back to Andy I went, “Laura says she needs someone with Commissions Analyst experience”.

What do you think Andy said?

“Oh okay”?

Nah. Good guess, but wrong answer.

Andy was on a mission, “Go back to Laura and tell her that you have a lot of free time on your hands, and you can assist her in your free time until she hires a Commission Analyst.”

So that’s what I did.

And Laura then finds out some things about me. I think I got her at “I am a single mom.”

So next thing, I know, I am assisting Laura.

And next thing I know, Laura is telling Andy she needs to convert me from his Admin Assistant to her Commissions Analyst - with a nice bump in pay and everything.

And next thing I know, Laura goes out on maternity leave, and never returns to work, leaving me in charge of commissions at Palm for the next 5 years.

It’s been all luck up to this point.

But here’s where a little design enters the picture.

I knew a laughable amount of Excel at the time Laura went out on maternity.

Terrified, I got permission from Laura’s boss Scott (who was my boss after she went out on maternity leave) to buy 5 Excel books and expense them.

Why 5 you may ask?

Well, I checked the internet for “best books to learn Excel” and these 5 different books came up, so I thought it might be nice to have all of them at hand.

And then, every night after I had put Tanita to sleep, I would sit with these Excel books and learn Excel.

And now, I will make a surprising admission…

I fell hook line and sinker for Excel.

Once I found out how much it had to offer, I couldn't get enough, and I just kept going and going and going.

As a result, I was one of the earliest of Scott’s reports to learn vlookups and pivot tables – as I remember it.

So becoming a Commissions Analyst was a beautiful interplay of luck and design.

But let’s not forget, it started with luck.

The luck of having two kind people decide to change my life.

I have never forgotten Laura and Andy's kindness.  I wrote a post about my apprenticeship with Laura. 

Nevertheless, it doesn't hurt to say thank you to her and Andy again.

Thank you Laura.  Thank you Andy.

Working on Xactly Implementations

Mostly luck, but some design!

In 2010, I walked out of a Commissions Administration job I had held for 5 years.

Was that wise of me?

I can hear you go “Nooooooooo. Not wise at all. Not in 2010.  Unemployment was running so high.”

It was a crazy, “unplanned” move. Not a shred of design about it.

But sometimes crazy, unplanned moves clear your mind and clear the way for new possibilities (like nothing else can).

It is when you make lemonade out of lemons.

It is when you see the solutions hidden in plain sight.

It is when you become resourceful.

This is how it went:

Less than a month after I had walked out of my Commission Analyst job, my sister Rosie and I were having this phone conversation.  She told me she had attended an EDD job workshop which was really good.  She said the gal who gave the workshop, a national job coach, had some excellent tips.  One of the things she advised her audience, all of whom were unemployed, was that they should apply for continuing education courses or classes in sought-after skills.  The job coach said “Even if you haven’t secured admission in the course as of yet, you could write on your resume that you had applied for admission.  This will help you resume get picked up by recruiters' screens."

As my sister Rosie was telling me this, a light bulb went over my head.

That’s it, I thought!

I should apply to Xactly or Callidus (both of which were relatively new in the commission software space) to do their commission admin training.

Next thing I knew, I was talking to the Xactly trainer and requesting to be enrolled in the next admin training session.

Next thing I knew, she had secured approval to enroll me.

Next thing I knew, I was attending Xactly's 3 day commission admin training course.

Next thing I knew, I got a call from Don Gootee of Solution Partners to join his implementations team on a contracting basis. The Xactly trainer had given him my number.

And so that’s how I got to join an Xactly implementations team, and work on portfolio implementations such as Splunk, FusioIo and Lynda.com.

And that’s how I also got to do Xactly unit testing for Salesforce.com.

It was a beautiful interplay of luck and design.

But it all started with that conversation between me and my sister Rosie - which was a sheer stroke of luck.

Let’s not forget that!

Becoming a Commissions Consultant

Design, not luck!

You can't be a Commissions Consultant by accident, it has to be “by design”.

After I walked out of my permanent job, did Xactly training, and worked on Xactly implementations as a contractor, I decided I liked contracting.

It was cool.

There was so much variety, so much exposure, and you were your own boss.

To be frank, companies have tried to lure me into accepting a permanent position several times since 2010.

Each time it has happened, I have been on the horns of a dilemma - Should I stay or should I go? (I know - I sound like The Clash).

But each time, a little voice in my head (a really, really little voice, quite soft) says to me, “Minoo, don't get tempted.  Go”.

And so far, I have heeded this voice.

And so here am I, in 2017, still consulting, after a whole 7 years.

It was by design!

Going to Toronto, Canada for Varicent training

Luck!

I have discovered when your fortunes are not tied to a single company; and you are willing to go where the need is high and your skills are in demand, the luck channel really opens up.  I mean really, really opens up.

Starting mid 2012, I began consulting through several different companies.

I discovered some companies would recognize my worth and value more than others, and give me chances and opportunities beyond my wildest dreams.

One company went so far as to sponsor me to do Varicent training at IBM in Toronto, Canada, and then put my freshly minted Varicent skills to work by assigning me to several portfolio Varicent assignments – Varian Medical, Paypal and Cyberonics.

This break was pure luck.

And I am very grateful to this day for such an incredible break.

Writing This Blog

Luck or design? This one is hard to call.  I know that after I came to America and switched careers, there was a long time when I didn’t write.  And it looked like I couldn’t write.  The words seemed to have gone out of me.

And then in December 2010, December 27, 2010, to be precise, I started writing this blog.

And now as we near December 27, 2017, I have been at it for 7 years.

Wow!

If you had told me in mid-2010 when I was still in my permanent job, that by the end of 2010, I would have completed Xactly training, joined an Xactly implementations team, learned to meditate, and started a blog, I would have gone “Ha Ha. Bring on the fairy dust”.

But all those things happened – between June 5, 2010, when I gave up my permanent job, and Dec 27, 2010, when I started this blog.

So many changes in such a short period of time.

I think I had to make way for luck, and the muse, and the miracles in my life.

And now I realize emptying my time is how I made way.

By walking out of my job, my life became filled with nothing but time for the next 6 months.

It was the much needed pause that launched a new phase in my life - when my life would be reinvented on every front - professionally and personally.

If not for walking out of my job, this blog may not have existed today.

If not for walking out of my job, I may not have started meditating.

If not for walking out of my job, I may not have got to work on Xactly implementations.

If not for walking out of my job, I may not have gotten Varicent training and experience.

The events that led me to walk out is what started all those new things.

Events I had no control over.

So yes, I am inclined to say it was luck after all.

I could go on and on.   

This is a gratitude post.  I read that gratitude in itself opens up the luck channel further.

I will test this and let you know how it goes.

By doing the exercise I did in this post, I realize I have jumped into things and out of things in a haphazard way many times in my life, but 4 out of 5 times, luck has saved the day.

And I am very grateful for that. 

Acknowledgements:

Thanks for the feedback, (comments, likes, shares) on some of my recent posts 25 Things Which Have Made the Biggest  Difference to My Health, Wealth, Comfort and Happiness, Things I Learned I Could Live Without, and How I Went From a Girlie Girl to a Strong, Independent Woman.  I appreciate the affirmations that I am on the right track from old friends and new friends. You keep me going

NEXT, Thanks to all readers, current and future, for sharing my Journey to Wisdom, Meaning and a Better Life.  Like you, I am trying to find my way through this complex maze we call life, and I am honored to have you share my journey, as I continue to seek the wisdom hidden in plain sight.

FINALLY, A Happy Birthday shout-out:  to those with December birthdays.  Your birthday month is a time to count your blessings and marvel at all the miracles in your life.  Hope you have a truly blessed month.

P.S. Not sure if you have time, but if you do, you may enjoy these related posts:

Friendships

The United States of Friendship – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6,Part 7, Part 8, Part 9, Part 10, Part 11, Part 12

Family

Our Cake Boss Family, Family Songs, The Nightdress Brigade, Family Advice I Am Grateful For, The Porki And Bonkers Tradition, No Need for 23 and Me,Letters to Lucas, Flying Lessons

Pets

A Fresh Perspective on Pets, Secrets of The Super Models In Our Family, BowWow, Meoww, Why You Should Not Abandon Your Pet

Nature

Post on Trees, Reprising Joy Kilmer

Hobbies

Cricket, Glorious Cricket, Splendid Post, What!

Managing Your Money

Yoga for Investors, How to Turn Your Girl Scout or Cub Scout Into a Stock Scout, Financial Piece of Mind, Financial Piece of Mind – Part Deux, A Retirement Planning Formula You Won’t Find on Oprah

Simplifying Your Life

You know what Wesabi is, How About Wabi Sabi?  The Simple Life, The Element of Simplicity and Its Hope for Living a More Satisfying Life

Getting Over Your Self-Consciousness

The Element of Release From Inhibition, The Element of Being Less Self-Centered and Its Hope for Seeing Things in The Correct Light, The Element of Getting Out of Our Comfort Zone and Its Hope For Experiencing More of What Life Has to Offer

Learning to Laugh

How To Deal With The Sheldon Coopers in Your Life – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3,Part 4, The Nightdress Brigade, You Aced the SAT, How About the LAT?, How To Cause Atmost Confuzen at the Scripps Spelling Bee, How To Go From Madonna to Lilly to Myrtle in The Course of A Single Evening - And Even Have a Sex Change, A Facebook Face-Off, A Short Stint in Advertising

Learning to Relax

How To Become a Low Maintenance Person, Connected Minds, How To Become The Kind of Person People Want to Work with, How Many Times a Day Do You Visit Ireland? The Art of Carrying Things Lightly

Health

Raising the Bar, 4 Healthy Eating Ideas I Learned from My Friend Julia, The Element of Becoming More Focused and Precise In Our Goals and Its Hope for Achieving Powerful Results

Pursuing A Dream

What’s Next For You? The Element of The First Step and Its Hope for Getting Big Things Started In Our Lives, She Victories

 Changing in Good Ways

Maybe It’s Time To Become More Receptive, Maybe It’s Time To Live More Purposefully, Maybe It’s Time To Bust Some Myths, Maybe It’s Time to Walk In The Direction Of Your Fears, Maybe It’s Time To Understand What Freedom Is, Maybe It’s Time To Turn the Page, Maybe It’s Time To Rock The World, Maybe It’s Time For Freshness