Make Luck Find You
A Framework for Success From Naval
Two weeks ago, a Swiss woman invited me to spend the night in her guest room. Just three hours before, I was wandering alone when I saw "Zürich 21:09" flash outside the train station. My gut told me to go, so I went.
After I arrived, I rode my bike past the new Google campus before heading south towards lake Zurich. I almost went to McDonald's out of boredom when deep house music pulled me into a semi-empty coffee shop.
After an hour of dancing with Rebeca, the Dj's girlfriend, and two very close siblings, I went outside to introduce myself to a conspicuous group of women.
They were looking for a bartender who wasn't in, but I got them laughing anyways. I mastered group dynamics with my friend Rory during high school and college, so it was a pleasure to break out an old skill.
After explaining my whimsical journey to Zurich, one of the women, the blonde one, invited me to stay in her guest room for the night (probably out of sympathy).
Lucky Opportunities
Before continuing with that story, let's visit a second lucky opportunity. In 2020, I decided to pursue a career on the internet.
I loved the freedom of my digital nomad year, plus, I stumbled upon the work of Naval, who claims the opportunities for making money on the internet are basically infinite with the right mindset and tools.
Naval: A lot of people think making money is about luck. It's not. It's about becoming the kind of person that makes money.
After finding out one of my favorite YouTubers created his channel—and “retired” at age 22—because of Naval’s teachings, I decided to start a YouTube channel too. That is the second lucky opportunity I am talking about.
American in Germany
Recently, my American in Germany videos have gained some traction, nothing major, but some of the videos have received over ten thousand views. Also, I am over halfway to YouTube monetization well before I imagined. There is obviously a market for these videos.
How did we get here?
Luck from Your Unique Character
These opportunities are not luck. Let's revisit Naval's quote:
A lot of people think making money is about luck. It's not. It's about becoming the kind of person that makes money.
This quote is expandable to all forms of success— financial, social, academic, etc.
Sure, it was luck that those women were outside the cafe, but my ability to entertain strangers and make them feel comfortable to invite me to their home was not luck.
Sure, it's lucky that Germans want to hear American perspectives, but that I learned to speak excellent German and won a Fulbright grant to Germany was not luck.
I had built my character in a certain way that those opportunities became available to me but not necessarily other people.
Specific Knowledge
If you develop what Naval calls specific knowledge, luck will find you. Specific knowledge is the trickiest point of his teachings, but there are three main points to understand.
Specific knowledge can't be trained
If you can be trained for something, someone with more up-to-date knowledge can come along and replace you. Eventually, you can even be replaced by robots. Of course, you need your schooling and basic education, but that is merely the foundation for specific knowledge to be built upon.
For example, Rory, who I spent much of my teenage years with, has the best social skills of anyone I know. From being around him and going on adventures with him, I (unintentionally) developed my social skills in a way that simply cannot be taught.
The same is true for my knowledge of Germany. I have been interested in Germany since my childhood, I learned fluent German, and have now lived in all four corners of the country.
Specific knowledge is found by pursuing your curiosity
Our curiosity is often connected to our innate talents. For example, I am not interested in computers and would have a tough time writing code.
But I am a natural extrovert, so expanding my social skills by joining a fraternity, and studying persuasion and body language have all had a compounding effect on increasing my specific knowledge.
My curiosity and passion for Germany are self-explanatory.
Building specific knowledge will feel like play to you (but look like work)
I love people. Approaching a group of strangers, teaching in the classroom, these things all feel like play to me. Learning German was the same. An easy way to notice what feels like play is when the time slips away, and you enter a flow state.
Further, specific knowledge is often identified by the people who know us best. For example, my mom told me I would become a writer as a kid. I rejected her idea because I wanted to be an investment banker, yet here I am writing this blog.
Embrace Accountability
There is a reason my YouTube channel is named Connor Widmaier. It is not about stroking my ego. It is about signaling accountability.
Embracing accountability is signaling to the public that your reputation is on the line and you believe in your work.
Clear accountability is important. Without accountability, you don't have incentives. Without accountability, you can't build credibility. But you take risk. You take risk of failure. You take risk of humiliation. You take risk of failure under your own name.
Accept Small Public Failures
We have to accept small public failures as a stepping stone towards success. For example, a Chinese company was paying me to make videos for English learners, so I decided to make similar Tik-Tok videos under my own name.
I quickly lost motivation in the project, and now there are videos of me wearing a Santa hat on the internet. But during that time, I gained valuable insight that makes me a better YouTuber.
For example, I learned the idea behind a video is more important than fine-tuned editing and that compulsively spending time on the app after posting content will destroy productivity.
Learn Stoicism
Stoicism helps with accepting small public failures. Accepting that you have no control over other people's opinions of you and that you will all die within a few decades is incredibly liberating.
Leverage
The next thing you need to do is add leverage. For example, I can give a lecture to twenty German high school students, or I can record myself, post it on the internet and reach twenty thousand people.
Code and Media are the most egalitarian forms of leverage. You don't need anyone's permission to upload a video to YouTube.
"If you can't code, write books and blogs, record videos and podcasts."
Pursue a Monopoly
The American in Germany YouTube segment is somewhat saturated. However, most channels are run by high school girls on exchange or families. There is a prominent male American in Germany YouTuber. See Nalf:
However, we are completely different people. He grew up on the west coast, I, east coast. He is an American football player; I am an assistant teacher at high school.
With self-help content, my initial content, I was entering a bigger market, but I could only grab a minuscule piece of the pie. With American in Germany content, I am entering a smaller niche but can grab a much larger section of the pie.
Also, if you didn't notice, I was the only man talking to the Swiss women.
You can escape competition through authenticity, when you realize that no one can compete with you on being you.
That would have been useless advice pre-internet. Post-internet, you can turn that into a career.
Back to Zurich
After the woman invited me to stay in her home, I said thanks, gave her my number and went dancing some more. Ten minutes later, the party was over, and without her number myself, I had no one to call.
I rode my bike around Lake Zurich, ate overpriced burger king, and walked around with three drunk Americans before searching for a bed at an overnight homeless shelter. When I found out it was closed, I took the 4 am train back to Constance and finally stumbled into my bed just before 6 am. I had failed to take the opportunity.
Take Opportunities
This inspired me not to miss any other lucky opportunities. Before, I was still hesitant to pursue the American in Germany niche further, but it would be silly not to. There is obviously a market for the videos, and it is something I can do while remaining authentic to myself.
I know the road ahead is anything but certain, and this YouTube channel is not the end all be all that will propel me to financial freedom, but it is a decent start.
If you are thinking of creating a career on the internet, read Naval's tweetstorm:
If these ideas inspire you but also make you feel intimidated, like they made me, start by considering what specific knowledge and curiosities you have. Then work on building them further. That’s what I have been doing the past year and a half.
Onwards and upwards.
I felt like I was reading recollections from a sage. You are wise beyond your years and it is inspiring to hear your words. Thank you for adding such positivity to the world. ❤️