People often say that if it's meant for you, it'll be yours. Does that mean that even if you don't work for it, you'll still get it? How will you know when something is not for you when some people say with hard work, nothing is impossible?
So you are applying for a job. You have the experience, the skills, the chops. If the job is meant for you, it will be yours. Sometimes, you may not have the experience, the skills, the chops. Still, if the job is meant for you, it will be yours. I often say this to people looking for a job - “Be patient. The right job will have your name on it.” Lots of things in life will have your name on it. Because luck is as much a factor in life, as design. In fact, I did an analysis of the events in my life to determine what I thought happened because of luck, and what by design. After that, I wrote a post about it on my Minoo Jha Life Strategies blog. Reprinting it below… 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 20th 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, as a significantly underworked Admin Assistant at Palm Inc. I spent a lot of my time chatting over the cube wall with other Admins, who were as idle as me. P.S. Being idle is fun in the short term, but makes you miserable and leads nowhere in the long term. So luckily for me, my boss Andy summoned me to his office one day and said, “I can tell you are not really not comfortable being an Admin Assistant. Why don’t you apply to one of the many open positions in the company that may be more challenging and rewarding for you.” I was sorry my being ill at ease as an Admin Assistant was something he could perceive. “I knew what this job was, going into it. So don't feel pressured to solve it,” I told him. “Nevertheless, you should take up something more challenging in the company” he advised. It was not his job to tell me what, but it just came out of my mouth. “Like what?” And being aware that the Sales Commission Manager Laura needed an analyst, he said “Go check with Laura….she needs a Commissions Analyst”. He pointed down the hall at the cube where Laura sat. If I did not know what advertising copy was when I started my first career, I certainly did not know what a Commissions Analyst was, and what a Commissions Analyst did. Whatever it was, it was terrifyingly unfamiliar. But I went to Laura……nevertheless, more to appease my boss than anything else. What do you think she said to me? She said “No” But of course! This was after she asked me what my background was and found out that I was an Advertising Copywriter turned Commission Analyst. “Sorry to turn you away, Minoo, but unfortunately, I need someone with Commissions Analyst experience". So back to Andy I went, “Laura says she needs someone with Commissions Analyst experience” I said. 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 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 decides to give me work she thinks I can do with my basic knowledge of Excel. Then Laura finds out some things about me. I think I got her at “I am a single mom.” So the next thing, I know, I am “seriously” assisting Laura. And the 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 the next thing I know, Laura goes out on maternity leave, and when she decides not to return, I am left in charge of commissions at Palm. 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 my daughter 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 powerful a tool it was, 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 caring people decide to change my life. I have never forgotten Laura and Andy's kindness. I have written about how valuable the opportunity (and training) from Laura was for me in my post The Element of Apprenticeship. Nevertheless, it doesn't hurt to say thank you to both 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 extremely 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 and I were having this phone conversation. She told me she had attended an EDD job workshop. 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 and classes in sought-after skills. The job coach said “Even if you haven’t secured admission in these clases 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 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 Solution Partners to join their implementations team on a contracting basis. The Xactly trainer had given them 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, now part of Linkedin. And that’s how I also got to do Xactly unit testing for the company Salesforce. It was a beautiful interplay of luck and design. But it all started with that conversation between me and my sister - which was a sheer stroke of luck. 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 Commissions Analyst job, 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 2020, still consulting, after a whole 10 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 of date, I have been at it for 9 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.
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