guinness_st_patricks_day1

I had nowhere to go but up in March of 2010.

Pac.Web.Co., our little web design company, was drowning in tax bills, salaries and office expenses.

I had just bought out my partner, Macully, and was having a heck of a time getting used to his end of the workload, which I had previously taken for granted. On top of everything, my girlfriend at the time dumped me for being a head case.

On Saint Patrick's Day Eve, 2010, our top designer, Gary, and I were at the office late into the evening working on a big proposal I would deliver the next day in Calgary.

We had been introduced to two financiers there who had an idea for a startup.

They wanted a workable version of their idea fast and were willing to pay generously for it: $100,000 for delivery in two months and $800 for each day delivered early. More than sufficient incentive for us to know we should put a little something extra into our proposal.

I didn't get a lot of sleep the night before my flight to Calgary; I wasn't sleeping a lot those days.

A Lincoln Towncar drove me from the airport to Calgary and I remember it reeked of cheap, women's perfume. This was when I sensed my luck was turning.

At the downtown office suite of my potential client, a female executive assistant showed me to a boardroom which had a four pack of Guinness beers sitting on its table.

"Are those for me!?" I wondered excitedly.

My two guys walked in with their arms in the air to shake hands right and say the job was ours.

We got to work on those beers within sixty seconds of my arrival.

I was really happy as I boarded the 70 minute flight from Calgary to Vancouver that Saint Patrick's Day evening.

Up in the air I wrote a pretty confident blog post about sales skills.

In hindsight I had confused my own smarts for luck.

The fact remains that sometimes, when we need it the most, good luck comes our way, and we only increase our odds, by putting in a little extra effort.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day.