Say yes

If there's one lesson I've learned over this past year, it is to say yes when your intuition speaks.

So many amazing things have come to me in the past year as a result of me following my hunches. Almost always against my so-called "better judgment".

But boy, has it paid off.

Let me give you one simple example.

A week ago, Matt Newbill started as the new COO of Simplero.

Here's how it happened.

It started with Kasim using Simplero and submitting a support ticket, which I helped him with. He was so impressed with our level of service that he offered to write us a review.

I checked out his company and saw that he's running an ad agency, Solutions8. I thought "we should talk, he could probably help some of our customers".

On the call, I thought, "we should hire you". And so we did.

Then we really liked working together, and I said: "I should hire you as my head of marketing". And so I did.

That didn't quite work out, because, you know, he still had an ad agency, but Kasim gave me and a couple of team mates tickets to go to the Traffic & Conversion conference last February. I didn't know why I should go, but I said sure, let's all go to San Diego. At least the team and I will get to spend some time together.

Then the conference sent an invitation to join a private reception with Richard Branson. They wanted money for it, quite a bit of money, but I had wanted to meet Richard for years, and my team encouraged me to go, so I ended up going.

At that reception, I met a bunch of really great people, including one who introduced me to Yanik, who organizes week-long trips to Necker. I'd been following Yanik since 2008, so I knew who he was. I said yes to go to Necker, even though that was even more expensive.

On Necker, I met Sheevaun. She ended up becoming a customer of Simplero, and at some point, she ran into some problems with email deliverability that we weren't able to solve on our own, despite trying. Thankfully, though, she wouldn't let up.

So I reached out to our friend and advisor Darrell and asked him if he knew anyone who's great at email deliverability. Darrell said "sure, you need to talk to Matt".

Darrell sends an intro email, Matt writes back, and there's a phone number in his email signature.

So I decided to just pick up the phone and call him. He picks up!

Five minutes into the call, I get a strong hunch that I should hire him as my COO. He sounded like exactly the guy I'd been dreaming of for years. Literally, since 2005.

He said "sure, I'm open to that. How about I come out to New York in the next few weeks, and we can talk about it?"

I say "yes!". And so he booked his flight & hotel.

And it so happened that the only time that worked in our schedules was the weekend leading up to our annual strategic planning meeting, where the leadership team and I would meet at my place to plan out 2020.

And then I got this other hunch. I had a strong feeling that Matt was going to be the right guy and that he should stay on for the strategic planning event with the team.

I always like to think of the possible downside... worst case we'd end up not working together, but it'd still be super valuable to have his input during the planning.

No need to worry, though. Matt and I hit it off, and he proceeded to hit it off with the team.

Game on!

We were able to quickly and effortlessly negotiate the terms, and he officially joined the company last week.

All of this because I took extra care to serve a customer well back in 2017.

And because I said yes to all those little hunches and invitations from the Universe along the way.

I also love how a frustrating problem with email deliverability turned into the greatest gift I could've asked for.

(And Matt, of course, diagnosed and solved the email issue right away.)

So put in the extra work and care in everything you do.

And say yes when you get the chance. 

Especially if your mind tells you it's stupid or frivolous or too expensive or too much or could never work.

Just trust in yourself, and trust in the Universe.

You have no way of predicting how it'll all work out.

And that's what makes it so much fun.

By the way, I will be forever grateful to Kasim, Sheevaun, and Darrell, for being incredible catalysts in my life.

Thank you!

With passion,
–Calvin