• pic path Kathy Sierra, Gary Vaynerchuk, + Rich Schefren
    Have you ever noticed that when you’re following the path you were meant to travel down… the universe has a weird way of helping you along the way?

    Here’s an amazing but true story about what happens when you find your life’s work and the synchronicity, good fortune, and weird circumstances that seem to come out of nowhere.

    It all started nine months ago while conducting research for The Attention Age Doctrine 1. I was at a sticking point, struggling with too many competing concepts, and no clear way to distill them down. I had been fraught for days trying to “crack the code” that would crystallize everything swimming inside my mind.

    I couldn’t sleep, couldn’t write, and didn’t know what to do with myself. Finally, I sat down checked some emails, and then surfed the web looking for inspiration and clarity.

    Then WHAMO! I stumbled onto a blog that changed everything. In fact, reading this blog shifted the direction of my professional life.

    This blog was written and then eventually abandoned by a genius who had gone into hiding. But as I read one post after another (I read the entire site) my views about marketing, blogging and life were altered forever. The author had struggled with the same concepts I was then struggling with, but had come out on the other side with a clear, coherent message that was simple yet profound.

    After letting the ideas and concepts from this genius’s writing mentally-marinate for a few days… writing the first Attention Age Doctrine became effortless. When it was released it caused quite a stir in online marketing circles and sold out our live event in sunny Delray Beach, Florida in just three days.

    After the success of the Doctrine I, I had a little downtime so I started investigating why this amazing blog had been abandoned, and why this genius had gone into hiding. What I found disgusted me, this amazing luminary had been the target of death threats and other malicious acts that I don’t care to repeat here.

    I sent this genius emails, but none were ever answered. I tried calling every phone number associated with the site – but had no success. I asked a staff member to spend a whole week to try to find her, and he couldn’t track her down either.

    But I wouldn’t stop trying – it was too important. So when legendary blogger Andy Beard asked if there was anything he could do for me (in return for a favor) I asked for just one… Help me find this genius. But Andy came up short just like we did.

    We kept trying other means to contact her – but my focus returned to finishing what I had started with the Doctrine I, so my research continued and a few months later I released the Doctrine II.

    The Doctrine II’s success put me in touch with social media superstar Gary Vaynerchuck. And in our interview together we immediately connected and found a friend in each other whose ideas complimented our own.

    Gary and I stayed in touch, and I continued on with my research. The next report I released was The Maven Matrix Manifesto. In it I broke down the steps to transforming yourself into the supreme and dominant maven in your market.

    And since Gary is one of the best examples of being a maven in a niche, I invited Gary to come speak at our seminar to share his unique perspective with my clients.

    The crowd instantly connected with Gary, and when he got off stage he was mobbed with new fans surrounding him for over 6 hours… They hit him with question after question until we literally had to clear the room at 11pm.

    Gary and I spent a few hours together that night, and he convinced me that I needed to attend the event I am at right now SXSW. He also convinced me to start using Twitter. He was right on both counts, the event was amazing, Twitter is fantastic…and where everything took me is the topic of this post.

    I started using Twitter just a few days ago (before leaving to come to SXSW)… you can read all about it and sign up to get the inside scoop here:

    www.twitter.com/richschefren

    Thank God I was twittering about the event, because Andy Beard saw my tweets and sent me a tweet back congratulating me for finally tracking down the genius I had been searching for.

    I had been so swept up in the event that I hadn’t even realized she was here since I was just only looking at the names of the presentations not the names of the presenters.

    But there she was, the genius who authored that abandoned blog, Kathy Sierra, presenting at 3:30pm on Sunday. Wow! I was finally going to get my chance. I was so psyched.

    All day I was so excited. But my heart sank when I arrived at Kathy’s session, because apparently I wasn’t her only fan. The room held approximately 2,000 people and it was packed! By the time Kathy got underway, hundreds were standing with every single seat filled.

    With so many fans I realized getting to Kathy was going to be close to impossible. But I hoped for the best and listened intently.(I’ll post a summary of her presentation sometime this week).

    At the outset, Kathy mentioned she was going to bring a special guest up at the end of her presentation, someone she had just recently met, who was doing everything that she was going to cover during her presentation. Then she tore it up and dove right into some incredible content.

    It was 55 minutes of great distinctions about how to thrive in today’s world.

    It was now time to bring on her special guest… and lo and behold it was none other than my good friend Gary Vaynerchuck. I couldn’t believe it. Immediately all my fears and concerns about getting to Kathy dissipated.

    As soon as the presentation was over, I ran over to Gary and literally forced him to introduce me. He did, and thank god he did, because she gave me her personal email address and told me she was going to start blogging again. I told her I’d love to interview her and introduce all my readers to someone I have massive respect for.

    So why did I tell you all this? It’s simple really. I’ve found both in my own life and those of my clients that when you are on the right path in your business and life, magical things can and do happen. It’s like the universe’s way of confirming you are on the right path.

    Q Now for the big question: What about you?

    Have you had an experience like mine, where the universe decides to jump in and lend a helping hand when you least expect it?

    Have you had any runs ins with the power of synchronicity while you were dilligently following your path?

    Have you almost given up on searching for something when all of a sudden-plop! There it is in front of you?

    If you have, please share your story below with the rest of us. I’d love to read them, and who knows? Maybe you’ll inspire another reader to pick themselves up and keep moving forward.

    Because that’s what it’s all about, really.

    So let’s hear your stories!

    Rich

    Tags: , , , , , ,