The one thing that will make you luckier.
"Knock harder!" I told Paul.
It was 9pm in a dark alley somewhere on the Lower East Side.
We stood in front of a rusted steel door.
No number apparent.
Trash bags for the next morning's pickup scattered to our left and right.
I tried to pull the door open, but it was locked.
A streetlamp couldn't decide if it wanted to stay off or on.
Paul gave the door another knock, this time a bit more forcefully.
"Laura, this can't be it. It's probably gone out of business. I have a bad feeling about this."
Just as we were thinking of what to do next, there was a sound of the lock being turned.
The door cracked open and amber light escaped around its corners.
A beautiful young woman dressed in a flapper outfit stood at its entrance.
"Do you have a reservation?"
A luxurious mahogany bar stood behind her, bottles of liqueur sparkling on the mirrored shelves.
Shit. I didn't even think we'd need one.
"I'm so sorry, I didn't know. We're visiting from San Francisco. My colleague here is from Germany. I wanted to show him a great night out."
One moment, she said, and shut the door.
That’s when I realized you don’t just strut in to the most exclusive bar in Manhattan and expect to get a seat.
I learned only later that reservations were made months in advance.
Appearing a moment later, "we happen to have two spots available at the bar tonight. Would you follow me?"
We were in.
What happened once we got inside Milk and Honey, and who we met, is a story for another time (and believe me, it's a wild one).
But I felt like I’d hit the jackpot.
They say luck is preparation meets opportunity.
I'd say our evening at that bar was more dumb luck... but I'll take it.
So how can we, as consultants, get luckier?
I've been working with ambitious consultants for a few years now (and I've been in business myself for almost 9 years), and what I see is a lot of times is 90% thinking and planning with 10% consistent implementation.
We’ll spend ages working on a website and finally push it live, but become quickly demoralized when it doesn't magically turn into sales (been there, done that!).
So here's the deal.
Trust is built through consistency.
And people buy according to the amount of trust we have earned with them.
It’s not enough to just be prepared.
Luck takes more than just being preparation meeting opportunity.
The real formula?
Luck occurs when preparation and consistency meet opportunity.
Preparation is knowing what our clients need, how we help and having a system in place (figuring out where the bar is)
Consistency looks implementing our system every single day (knocking on the door until someone answers)
Opportunity is knowing where to show up, so your message can get heard by the right people, consistently (seizing the moment and being invited inside for a drink)
This is exactly what you pick up in the Elevate program, a small group coaching and mastermind dedicated to helping make your next quarter more profitable than your last. In only about 30 minutes a day.
Laura Khalil helps consultants and creatives work only with clients they love and double their revenue. See how easy it can be to double your revenue in the next five minutes.
She has consulted for some of the world’s most recognizable brands on marketing including GE, Intel and Twitter. She is host the Top 125 Apple Podcast, Brave by Design. She is a frequent speaker to audiences on personal branding, bravery and clear communication. She’s spoken at WeWork, Paylocity, Creative Mornings, Zingtrain and more.
