Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities doc

Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities Key Steps To Find Success By Matt Kinsella (Author of How To Be Lucky) www.mattkinsella.com Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities Matt Kinsella Copyright © Matthew Kinsella 2011 Smashwords Edition All rights reserved Matthew Kinsella has asserted the moral right to be identified as the author of this work First published in Great Britain by Matthew Kinsella 2011 A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-1-4477-7532-4 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired, out or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser. Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities About Matt Matt Kinsella is a British entrepreneur who decided to write his book How To Be Lucky after witnessing many people around him passing up life changing opportunities on a regular basis. He saw people did not recognise these potential chances and if they did they nearly always dismissed them quite quickly. Matt started his adult life in a hostel for homeless teenagers and carved a successful career as an entrepreneur from nothing; no qualifications, no financial backing and no family connections. He wanted everyone to see the potential that exists around us but specifically he wanted to help people that were unhappy with their lives and wanted to make a change. Matt soon realised he could not help people with a five minute conversation and a few pointers so decided to write his book How To Be Lucky and hold seminars to really inspire, encourage and show people how to create some luck and make things happen. 1 Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities Introduction I first came to be in the homeless hostel at around 17 (I think just before my 18th birthday) in 1996 after a short time living in my car and on friend’s sofas. At the beginning it was tough and it took a while to adjust but the turning point came when I had a few harsh reality checks, one of which was when I visited a friend in a maximum security prison. This experience along with other things I was going through at the time were real eye openers and after a while I decided I need to make some dramatic changes in my life if I was going to get out of the mess I was in. I initially worked hard to obtain an IT trainee job which came about by accidentally going to the wrong interview and I exaggerated a bit about what I could do because I was desperate to secure the job. While the company was moving offices before I could start I talked my way into some work experience in an IT department for a private hospital in London for a month so I could learn what I said I could do in the interview. After working hard for 12 hours a day and weekends for free for 6 weeks at my work experience in London (surviving on my jobseekers allowance from social services and staying on an acquaintance's sofa bed) the hospital offered me double the money to work for them instead. After 1 year working on some new corporate networking technologies I was able to become a self-employed contractor working at some of the biggest companies in the city including WPP, Citibank and Goldman Sachs. I then branched out to setup IT companies that helped SMEs use the same technologies larger companies used but for less money as well as still doing consultancy and project management myself day to day. I also ventured into property development and today I am still doing some IT consultancy but 2 Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities mostly I am concentrating on overseas property investments including my vineyard in Hungary. I have also spent the last 6 months or so trying to make time to write my book “How To Be Lucky” which explains my story but more importantly it's a guide to show people how they can make things happen in the same way I did. I never told anyone in my new circle of what I had been through or where I had come from. I spent 5 - 10 years listening to people who didn't know me tell me I was so lucky. It really started to bug me considering how hard it had been so I decided if this is what people perceived to be "luck" then I could teach them how to be lucky, hence the title of my book. See mattkinsella.com for more info on How To Be Lucky. This mini guide is an introduction to the concepts discussed in my book and summarises some of the key aspects. 3 Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities 1. Right Time, Right Place I love the saying “Right time, right place!” It’s a very true and apt saying for how most wealthy people came about their fortune. There is a huge BUT though; they recognised and took the opportunities presented to them. “Right time, right place” situations happen all the time but the person or persons present don’t recognise them so they walk away from their chance of good fortune. Frighteningly this happens every day. Don’t let yourself be one of those that walked away from a life changing opportunity. Every new situation and every new person you meet is a potentially life changing moment or opportunity. Every big project, venture or business started with some small, events like two people meeting or an idea discussed in the street. Recognise this and look at every new experience or chance meeting as potential new opportunity. I got my first big break by going to the wrong interview and a few steps later this ended up being an event that changed my life. If I had not recognised it as an opportunity, admitted I was in the wrong interview and gone home with my tail between my legs 14 years ago I would not be writing this now. Not every opportunity is worth taking but recognise the ones open to you, you can always discard them after trying them, not seeing them or not using them at all is a crime. 4 Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities 2. Enthusiasm and Attitude is Worth More than Money When I stated out I had nothing, I was surviving on toast and cigarettes (thankfully I gave up the cigarettes a few years ago), I did not have any money at all. Finding “investment” in one way or another for the right opportunities and projects is easy enough if you have all the key elements required. I found the two main attributes you need to get what you want (or need) are attitude and enthusiasm. A lot of people have said to me more than once “I will invest in this because your enthusiasm for this project is infectious”. Another statement I have heard over and over is “I wish everyone I dealt with had your attitude and enthusiasm; if they did I would buy into them as much as I do with you”. If you don’t ask, you don’t get. Don’t be afraid to go out there and get what you want, ask the right people in the right way for some help along the way and you will get far. My first few breaks in business came from asking the right people for a few favours. It was my attitude and enthusiasm that got me those favours, it took a lot of hard work on my part too but I could not have got those chances without asking. 5 Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities 3. Don’t Push Luck Away This one is simple but so many people don’t follow it. If I find some cash on the pavement (e.g. $50 bill or £20 note) and nobody is around I will put that money in my pocket without thinking twice. Why question it? Why offer it to someone else? It’s a small bit of luck, you deserve it, take it. Too many people question things too much when good fortune comes their way. Don’t think about it, don’t push it away or hesitate because someone else will take it instead. If you find a wallet or purse you should definitely hand it in to the police. But all those thinking you should hand in plain cash to a police station or report it, you are naïve if you don’t think a cop won’t quietly pocket that cash. With no wallet, ID or any way of tracing the owner and the owner unlikely to go to the police; if you don’t put that money in your pocket someone else will. Don’t feel guilty about it either, be thankful and enjoy it. We see new things, meet new people and get presented with new possibilities all the time but people don’t see, won’t see it, are too afraid/embarrassed to ask or question things for too long so the opportunity (luck) gets snapped up by someone else. See it, take it, use it; before anyone else does. 6 Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities 4. What Have You Got To Lose? If someone told me that tomorrow I had to bet all I have on one new project I was working on or give it all up and take a job in a bank instead I would (and regularly do) gamble everything on one of my new projects. Life is too short for me to sit bored behind a desk in a bank, going to the same place and doing the same crap day in, day out for the rest of my life. I am happy to lose everything and start again if I have to, I have been at rock bottom and I know anyone with the right tools is capable of getting back to the top again. I would rather work my back up and go down again than stay half way up, bored out of my skull, wasting my life. Stop thinking your basic house in an average neighbourhood and nice car is important. You need to take some risks or you risk staying there forever. I have had many times in my life when I have sold my house, my car, my big TV and anything else I could to get some capital together for another project. It amused me at times to drive around in a beat up, 20 year old car while others sneered at me from their Mercedes (probably on a loan from the bank) knowing that I didn’t have to go to the same boring desk job every day like they did and I was about to cash in one of my property investments so I could go on a world tour, buy a brand new car for cash then go and relax at my own vineyard. Other than your family the rest of what you think is important is probably not. Let it go so you can find the freedom to do what you really want to do. Don’t do what everyone else is doing, don’t be a sheep, be a shepherd. 7 Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities 5. The Alternative Formula There are a certain type of people I like to call “formula followers” these are the people who believed what they were told when teachers and parents said “do well in school, go to university, become a lawyer/dentist/architect and your life will be good”. These youngsters set about following the formula and now they are the lawyer, dentist or architect that their parents dreamed they would be. These people tend to dislike people like me because they see me with no qualifications and I didn’t follow the formula, I did it the “easy way” and I have a nicer car, nicer house and I work less than they do. I am the person doing what they were told was impossible and it does not compute in their heads. They think I must have cheated or stolen something or I was just very lucky. When I tell them there is nothing lucky about living in a homeless hostel then you can almost see the steam coming from their ears as they struggle to make sense of my situation. What really makes me feel sorry for the vast majority of formula followers is that eventually the truth dawns on them, after years of studying and doing what they were told, getting their university degrees and landing a reasonable first rung job and working their way up a bit they are no further forward than most other people. They earn just over average salaries, that nice big house is still not within reach, they are still flying economy class on their vacation/holidays along with everyone else, they are still struggling to pay off the credit card and so on. Where is the life they were promised? OK they are not sweeping streets but neither am I or quite a few other people who didn’t follow the formula. Some like me are doing even better than the formula followers, how was that allowed to happen? 8 [...]... make them happen Whenever I refer to wealth in this book I am not just talking about money Money is not as important as people believe; it comes and goes and is a 14 Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities requirement for some of life's essentials and luxuries but is not the be all and end all 15 Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities 10 Let Things Go You have to be able to let things go Friends, jobs,... lessons we need to get to where we want to be Looking back now I don’t regret a thing, every mistake and every failure has taught me so much and helped me succeed in the end You can do the same, 17 Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities don’t let life grind you down or stop you being the person you dreamt of being when you were 17 You can still do anything you want to do 12 Read How To Be Lucky If you.. .Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities Formula, structure and routine are like death and poison to creativity, happiness, enjoyment and ultimately success Void your life of structure and routine, enjoy yourself, take in the world around you, spend time with the people that mean the most to you and you will find whatever it is you are looking for More on this in my book “How To Be Lucky” Good luck to. .. sometimes Go out there and sell whatever you need to achieve your dreams, life’s too short not to 11 Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities 8 Recognise Your Strengths and Weaknesses I am so critical of myself it’s crazy and I have always been that way I studied photography for a while and I created some great artwork that I should have been proud of but I was way too critical of it, constantly looking for... issues to deal with so get over yourself I fully expect at least half the people reading this to have stopped by now and left this page because they will never admit what I am saying is true and they are not intelligent enough to become a better and wealthier person If you are still reading this you are at least half way there 13 Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities 9 Don’t Save, SPEND When it comes to. .. alternative formula 9 Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities 6 Networking I have already mentioned how important it is to ask the right people when you need something or how attitude and enthusiasm can help you with others Networking and gaining the right contacts is imperative, without them we have nobody to ask for the favours and investment and in turn we have nobody to help so we can give back too Seek new... something for myself Thank You P.S I think you’re book could be the best £7 spent, because where you refereed to people needing a nudge or SHOVE refers to me a treat! ~ Just like to give a big thank you to Matthew Kinsella who has given me some helpful advice A true inspiration 19 Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities http://mattkinsella.com 20 ... give back too Seek new situations, travel to new places (even places close by just new to you), put yourself out there even if it means being in uncomfortable or unfamiliar territory for you Remember if it was easy then everyone would be doing it but also remember you will probably meet some new, interesting and rewarding contacts 10 Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities 7 The Salesman in all of us... much I read it cover to cover in one sitting! It really grabs your attention! =] Loved it!! 5* ~ Great book Inspirational Gave me a whole new way of looking at things! Enjoyable read and a bit of a kick in the right direction Definitely recommend reading this book to lift your spirits Well done Matt! ~ 18 Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities Your Tweets are a daily inspiration to me as I recently... quite obviously true To clarify; in most of these cases it has not been me offering the advice I have just been observing People just do not want to admit their faults or mistakes and even when they do they will not analyse where they went wrong and why, they just briefly admit something under protest and then try to forget about it By doing this they do 12 Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities not recognise . Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities Key Steps To Find Success By Matt Kinsella (Author of How To Be Lucky) www.mattkinsella.com Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities Matt. and is a 14 Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities requirement for some of life's essentials and luxuries but is not the be all and end all. 15 Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities 10 decided to write his book How To Be Lucky and hold seminars to really inspire, encourage and show people how to create some luck and make things happen. 1 Guide to Creating Luck & Opportunities Introduction I