Luck, Marketing, and Serendipity: How a Broken Key and Deviled Eggs Led to Business Success

Sunday was St. Patrick's Day, that annual push to wear green, drink too much, and make quips about the “Luck o' the Irish.”

It has me thinking about a time I felt very UN-lucky:

I was serving as “support crew” for a boyfriend who was running the Shut-In Race, a 17-mile uphill race (!) along a mountain trail that parallels the Blue Ridge Parkway here in Asheville, NC.

My job was to drive his car along the Parkway and stop at key locations to hand him water/energy-gel along the trail.

The trouble started right away.

The runners took off, I got in his car to drive to the first stop, and his key promptly broke off in the ignition. Nooooooo!

There was no time to wonder how a metal key could just break in half.

All the other support-cars were driving away to the next stop, so I grabbed my gear, jumped out of the car, and flagged down the last car I saw as it drove by.

It was the family of one of the runners, and they were kind enough to give me a ride to the next trail stop.

They even offered me a snack. As they handed me the tray of deviled eggs, my hand slipped and flipped the little egg-tray over, sending egg-sludge down into the crevices between their car seats and console.

I wasn't feeling very lucky.

But then we got to talking. They were asking the usual questions: Who are you, what do you do for a living, etc.

I had just started my private therapy practice, and I'd been working on articulating my niche and my “elevator pitch.” It was the first big test.

“I'm a therapist. I specialize in helping stressed-out people-pleasers and perfectionists have more ease and joy in their lives."

“Oh wow, our daughter needs you! She struggles with people-pleasing, and she's been thinking about going to therapy!”

I couldn't believe they'd want to refer anyone to me, even as the deviled-egg smell was still lingering on their car-seats, but I was thrilled when they asked for my card.

I got the call the next week. This is how I got one of my first ideal clients, who then went on to refer several other future clients.

I felt so lucky, even after the key-break and egg-smearage.

But was it luck?

This incident reminds me of one of the key concepts in good marketing:


Marketing is who you are, everywhere you show up.

More specifically, just living your life can be part of marketing when you:

*Know your message: be ready to describe your work, your ideal client, and the transformation you make happen. You never know who you'll run into that needs you.

*Have your business card/contact info on you.

*Be your delightful self. I think my elevator-pitch worked, but I also think they referred their loved one because I wasn't in “business-mode”, and they found me warm and approachable (eggs and all).

I hope you'll have lucky moments in your business, Ashley, but I also hope you're prepared to pounce when that lucky moment presents itself.

You've got more power to “create” your luck than you realize.

To your luck success,

p.s. Want to set the stage for more "luck” in your business? I'll have three spots opening for new clients soon. Schedule a Clarity Call here.