Happy Wednesday, I hope you’re having a wonder-full week.
The plan was to have a plan. That’s what I tell anyone who asks me how I made the leap from ‘employee’ to ‘self-employed’ back in September. But as I’m sure you can relate, sometimes you need to jump with the faith that a landing pad will appear.
Fortunately, for me—it did.
Butterflies are my symbol of growth. So (as I shared in a past edition), it was synchronistic to stumble upon this doorway-turned-mural at that pivotal time in my life.
Three opportunities gave me a smooth landing—and became launchpads for everything that has followed:
A freelance project with the company I had been working for
A scholarship for Write of Passage—the top online writing course
A coaching gig with Maven’s accelerator on how to build a course
All three presented themselves after I’d given my notice—go figure. And all three can be traced back to a person who encouraged me to apply (apart from the first, where I was asked to continue working with the company).
The point is, the opportunities we get in life can be traced back to people. Be it peers, mentors, friends, family members—you name it. So my question to you is, how can you be a better “connector”?
Keep reading for a story guaranteed to help you think intuitively about this.
🔮 How to change lives (by being a connector)
Ship 30 for 30 is a month-long writing course turned global movement that has helped over 3,000 people start writing online. They have only been in business for 18 months—but that’s not the wildest part.
Their origin story traces back to a mutual friend who introduced the co-founders in an email that read:
“Not sure why but I feel like you two should know each other. You’re just gonna have to trust me and this unsolicited, cold intro. Please find a time to connect!”
Remarkable, right? As one of the 3,000 people who started consistently publishing on Twitter through Ship 30 for 30, I’m grateful Craig trusted his intuition on this one. Because Twitter is how I found out about Write of Passage and Maven.
I also made several overseas friends in the course. In December, I got to hang out with one in New York, when we happened to be visiting at the same time. It was awesome.
One of many epic views from NYC’s SUMMIT One Vanderbilt (which my Ship 30 pal introduced me to)
CHALLENGE: Connect two people this week. They could be students, peers, friends—you name it.Who knows…The next big success story might be traced back to you.
🎨 Bonus: Montreal meet-up (Friday in the Mile End)
Are you a creator or entrepreneur based in Montreal? If so, a bunch of us are meeting on Friday to explore how we can build a local community to support each other. We’ll be at Café Olimpico - Mile End at 9 AM.
GET INVOLVED:Join the meet-up event or just show up.
Thanks for reading, and don’t forget to connect two people this week. If all 172 of us make an introduction, at least one is bound to be life-changing.
Keep me updated, and I’ll share highlights in future editions.
I'm loving the serendipity of this edition!