How I Attract Career Opportunities

Can you create your own luck?

For the past few years, I’ve been fascinated with the concept of luck (which I’ve written about before).

In the age of the internet, it’s never been easier to create your own luck and accelerate your career.

Since learning about the 4 types of luck—which I’m about to share with you today—I’ve worked at 3 tech startups, grown my content agency to $13k/mo, and become Head of Content to Noah Kagan while being a full-time high school student.

As Harvey Spector, from my new favorite show Suits said, “I don’t get lucky, I create my own luck.” (Great show btw, if you haven’t watched it already).

Here’s how to create your own luck and attract career opportunities:

The 4 Types of Luck

In 1978, Dr. James Austin, an American neurologist wrote a book called Chase, Chance, and Creativity. In it, he proposes that there are 4 types of luck:

1. Blind Luck

Blind Luck is luck you can’t control. Where you’re born, who your parents are, your genetics. This is the luck most people think of.

Example: You win the lottery.

2. Luck from Motion

Luck from Motion is when you create collisions through your hustle and energy. The more you do, the luckier you get. The cool thing about this type of luck is you don’t need any experience to create it. It’s accessible to everyone.

Example: You start a new job and take on everything that comes your way. You work super hard to overdeliver in all that you do. You help people with no expectations, put yourself out there, and create value for everyone you meet.

When I first started writing online, I said “yes” to every opportunity.

I bought courses on writing, joined digital communities, wrote 5-10 tweets a day, and hopped on calls with at least one new person every week. What you lack in experience, makeup with hustle and energy.

All the effort I put out led me to receive several job offers from ghostwriting agencies. Luck from Motion.

3. Luck from Awareness

Luck from Awareness is when your unique knowledge from years of experience in your field helps you spot opportunities most people would miss.

Example: You spend your nights and weekends tinkering and learning all about AI. When OpenAI open sources some of its technology, you create an AI app that helps people do their homework. You charge students a subscription fee and make millions.

Over time, my knowledge and network of my little corner of Twitter added up. I saw opportunities that I was uniquely capable of seizing. When I saw how quickly beehiiv was growing, I used my experience creating a digital product to help create one for them. Luck from Awareness.

4. Luck from Uniqueness

Luck from Uniqueness is when your personal brand attracts opportunities for you. You make a name for yourself and develop a reputation. The closer you get to becoming the “best” at your craft, the more opportunities you attract.

Example: You’ve spent years developing mobile app games and launching them in the app store. You know everything there is to bring an app to market. When app founders want to launch their app, they go to you first.

The skills I learned at beehiiv about newsletter growth helped me set up a newsletter consulting business helping other newsletters leverage the beehiiv platform. When someone needed help setting up their newsletter using beehiiv, people referred them to me. Luck from Uniqueness.

When most people think of luck they think of Type I luck. But the other three types of luck are far more powerful—and they can be influenced.

Put yourself out there. Create content online. Help people with no expectations. The goodwill you insert into the ecosystem will come back to you.

Stay in the game. Stack skills. Live at the edge of your field. You’ll be able to spot opportunities that most miss.

Become a student of your craft. Take courses. Read books. Practice daily. Your skill and reputation will precede itself. Opportunities will come to you instead of you searching for them.

This is how you attract opportunities. This is how you accelerate your career. This is how you get “lucky”. Not by chance, but by design.

See you next Sunday,

Jay Yang

PS — Brutally honest career advice

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