Mark McGuinness - Resilience: Facing Down Rejection by Mark McGuinness
Authors: Mark McGuinness
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classes. Maybe you want to write a book, or record a film or album, or make a piece of software as your calling card. And opportunity magnets are not just for the self-employed. You could build one to help your career, by establishing yourself as a thought leader in your industry.
A great example of an event-based opportunity magnet is Speaking Out, started by Laura North in London:
“Speaking Out helps people, particularly women, get more comfortable and confident with public speaking. I started it because I was terrified of public speaking and avoided it for many years. But I realized that I was missing out on opportunities and saw that there were a lot of other people in the same boat. I also noticed that there were far more men than women speaking at the conferences that I was going to.
“Running Speaking Out has illustrated my theory that if you speak in public then you attract opportunities. A woman who worked for the Mayor’s Office was in the audience at my first event. She really enjoyed it and invited me to put on my second event at City Hall. On another occasion, I did a presentation about Speaking Out and was offered funding to develop a new project, even though I wasn’t pitching for any funding.
“I keep getting requests to do public speaking - ironic as it’s the one thing I was avoiding for so long!”
Laura North, Speaking Out, http://speakingoutevents.com
Whatever format you choose for your opportunity magnet, make sure it has these three essential qualities:
Sustainability —you are passionate about it, and can see yourself doing it for a long time.
Visibility —it will get you on the radar of the right people.
Significance —it will make a positive difference to your field, over and above the opportunities that come to you personally.
When you start building your opportunity magnet, you stop waiting to be invited, accepted or rejected, and take the initiative. You throw your hat in the ring, announce your presence to the world, and ask it to pay attention. You lift your head above the parapet. And when you do that, of course, you expose yourself to criticism…
Your next steps:
1. Are you up for the challenge?
Consider the facts that there are no guarantees, you will have to invest a lot of time and effort up front, and you will probably have to go up a few blind alleys before you find a way to make it work.
Do you still want to build an opportunity magnet?
2. Take the lead
This is the most important step. When you start building something of your own instead of applying to others, you stop being an applicant and start becoming a leader. Like all the best things in life, it’s both exciting and scary.
Becoming a leader is partly an attitude of mind—instead of waiting for others, start thinking what needs to be done. It’s also a habit of action—once you have an idea you are passionate about, start planning and doing to make it happen.
3. Bring something new to the table
Ask yourself:
Who do I want to reach?
What difference do I want to make to them?
What’s in it for them to join me on the journey?
Once you’ve identified the ‘tribe’ of people you want to help, do some research about the kind of publications they subscribe to (magazines, newsletters, blogs etc.) and the kind of events they attend (gigs, exhibitions, conferences etc.).
As well as noting what is already popular with this group of people, ask yourself what’s missing : is there an obvious gap in the market that you could fill by offering something new?
4. Pick a platform that suits you—and your audience
I’m a writer. I also have a young family and want to spend as much time as possible with them. So blogging is a natural fit for me. My audience love to read, it’s a great way to rise up the search engine rankings, and it allows me to reach a worldwide audience of tens of thousands a week from my home office.
But maybe you’re a better speaker, musician, or artist than a writer. Maybe you
A great example of an event-based opportunity magnet is Speaking Out, started by Laura North in London:
“Speaking Out helps people, particularly women, get more comfortable and confident with public speaking. I started it because I was terrified of public speaking and avoided it for many years. But I realized that I was missing out on opportunities and saw that there were a lot of other people in the same boat. I also noticed that there were far more men than women speaking at the conferences that I was going to.
“Running Speaking Out has illustrated my theory that if you speak in public then you attract opportunities. A woman who worked for the Mayor’s Office was in the audience at my first event. She really enjoyed it and invited me to put on my second event at City Hall. On another occasion, I did a presentation about Speaking Out and was offered funding to develop a new project, even though I wasn’t pitching for any funding.
“I keep getting requests to do public speaking - ironic as it’s the one thing I was avoiding for so long!”
Laura North, Speaking Out, http://speakingoutevents.com
Whatever format you choose for your opportunity magnet, make sure it has these three essential qualities:
Sustainability —you are passionate about it, and can see yourself doing it for a long time.
Visibility —it will get you on the radar of the right people.
Significance —it will make a positive difference to your field, over and above the opportunities that come to you personally.
When you start building your opportunity magnet, you stop waiting to be invited, accepted or rejected, and take the initiative. You throw your hat in the ring, announce your presence to the world, and ask it to pay attention. You lift your head above the parapet. And when you do that, of course, you expose yourself to criticism…
Your next steps:
1. Are you up for the challenge?
Consider the facts that there are no guarantees, you will have to invest a lot of time and effort up front, and you will probably have to go up a few blind alleys before you find a way to make it work.
Do you still want to build an opportunity magnet?
2. Take the lead
This is the most important step. When you start building something of your own instead of applying to others, you stop being an applicant and start becoming a leader. Like all the best things in life, it’s both exciting and scary.
Becoming a leader is partly an attitude of mind—instead of waiting for others, start thinking what needs to be done. It’s also a habit of action—once you have an idea you are passionate about, start planning and doing to make it happen.
3. Bring something new to the table
Ask yourself:
Who do I want to reach?
What difference do I want to make to them?
What’s in it for them to join me on the journey?
Once you’ve identified the ‘tribe’ of people you want to help, do some research about the kind of publications they subscribe to (magazines, newsletters, blogs etc.) and the kind of events they attend (gigs, exhibitions, conferences etc.).
As well as noting what is already popular with this group of people, ask yourself what’s missing : is there an obvious gap in the market that you could fill by offering something new?
4. Pick a platform that suits you—and your audience
I’m a writer. I also have a young family and want to spend as much time as possible with them. So blogging is a natural fit for me. My audience love to read, it’s a great way to rise up the search engine rankings, and it allows me to reach a worldwide audience of tens of thousands a week from my home office.
But maybe you’re a better speaker, musician, or artist than a writer. Maybe you
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