Secrets of Six-Figure Women by Barbara Stanny

Author:Barbara Stanny
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780061843006
Publisher: HarperCollins

RULE FOUR: GRAB OPPORTUNITIES

You begin the game To Win by jumping in. You play it by persevering. And you triumph by grabbing opportunities, or, even better, by creating opportunities yourself. Every woman I spoke to was a classic example of this rule in action.

Patricia Cloherty, the highest earner I interviewed, was a Peace Corps volunteer who happened to meet someone forming a venture capital company. “I had no idea what that was,” she said, laughing, “But I liked the idea of starting companies.” They’ve been partners now for years.

Ruth Vitale, a former advertising executive, was at the ‘21’ Club when a business associate introduced her to the second in command at Time Warner. “He called the next day and offered me a job,” she said. She jumped at the chance, kept seizing opportunities, and is now copresident of Paramount Classics.

Many people confuse the opportunity rule with luck or fate, and then bemoan the lack of it in their lives. But really, luck itself has little bearing. It was their determination, not destiny, that made all the difference.

“I never looked for a job, things just fell into place. I’ve been very fortunate,” said Sharon Whiteley, a sort of renaissance woman who has managed a number of businesses, from real estate to consumer products. But in the next breath, she clarified for me, “‘Good fortune’ is different than luck. Good fortune is being blessed with smarts that when something beneficial crosses my path I take advantage of it, whatever it is.”

As often happens in the game To Win, Sharon’s initial opportunity came from out of the blue. “I was working as an account executive in advertising and one of our clients who developed shopping centers thought I’d be right for his company. I said, ‘Why not?’ It was an exciting challenge and they offered me a lot more money. This opened the door to a whole new career.”

I can’t tell you how many of these women’s success stories started out with a lucky break. The truth is, everyone’s life is full of happenstance. The “lucky” ones realize that in every synchronicity lies potential opportunity and are quick to capitalize on chance occurrences. Of course, it’s one thing to spot an auspicious event, quite another to follow through. Luck takes courage. High earners are willing to go where underearners fear to tread.

“People say I’m lucky,” makeup artist Kris Evans told me. “You can be lucky once, but you have to be prepared to grab on to an opportunity and run with it.” Her opportunity came when Barbara Walters’s makeup artist called in sick and Kris was asked to sub. “I wasn’t a fabulous makeup artist when I started with Barbara. I was so nervous, I left my keys in the cab so I couldn’t get in my house that night. But they liked me. I stayed with her for two years.”

This opportunity rule puts success within reach of all of us, even when all the odds are stacked against us. It explains why

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