Some people seem to be lucky.
They hear about an opportunity before everyone else.
They meet the right person at exactly the right moment.
A casual conversation leads to a new role, a client, or an unexpected project.
From the outside, it looks random.
But psychologist Richard Wiseman, who researched luck for years at the University of Hertfordshire, found something interesting:
People who consider themselves lucky often behave differently from those who consider themselves unlucky.
They tend to notice more opportunities.
They are more open to unexpected possibilities.
They speak to more people.
They act more quickly when something interesting appears.
And when something goes wrong, they are more likely to recover and keep moving.
This is not manifestation.
It is not magic.
It is not about “thinking something into reality.”
It is about increasing the probability that something useful can happen.
Imagine two professionals in exactly the same market.
One thinks:
“There are hardly any jobs. Companies are not hiring. I just have to wait.”
The other thinks:
“The market is difficult. Where else could an opportunity come from?”
The second person starts looking differently.
They reconnect with former colleagues.
They speak to people outside their immediate network.
They look at companies before jobs are advertised.
They notice new business problems.
They test an idea.
They offer their expertise in a different way.
And then something happens.
A former colleague introduces them to someone.
A company needs exactly their expertise.
A small project becomes paid work.
Later, we call it luck.
But the opportunity did not appear from nowhere.
It became more likely because this person created more chances for something to happen.
Most professionals think about their career in only one direction:
salary.
If they want to earn more, they look for:
a promotion,
a better employer,
a higher-paying role.
There is nothing wrong with that.
But it is only one option.
A much more interesting question is:
What do I already know that someone else would pay me for?
If you work in IT, data, finance, engineering, project management, procurement, operations, marketing, or another professional field, you may already have expertise that has commercial value.
Maybe you know how to:
solve a technical problem,
improve a process,
build a dashboard,
automate reporting,
manage a complex project,
reduce costs,
implement a system,
train a team,
or make better decisions in a specialist area.
You may be using this expertise every day for your employer.
But have you ever asked whether somebody else would pay for it?
This is where many people stop themselves.
They hear “business” and imagine:
employees,
large investments,
complex accounting,
a full website,
social media every day,
or quitting their job.
But a one-person business can be much simpler.
You can start with one thing.
One problem.
One type of customer.
One offer.
For example:
a consulting service,
a diagnostic,
a workshop,
a specialist review,
a template,
a training,
a research service,
a digital product,
or an implementation package.
You do not need to build a company with 20 employees.
You need to find a problem you can solve and a person willing to pay for that solution.
This is the part I find particularly interesting.
In the past, many small businesses needed outside support for things like research, marketing, content, administration, design, customer communication, and process documentation.
Today, AI can support one person with many of these activities.
It can help you research a market.
Structure an offer.
Draft marketing content.
Prepare client materials.
Create processes.
Analyze information.
Turn meetings into action plans.
Create templates.
Support customer communication.
That does not mean AI replaces your expertise.
Your expertise is the product. AI gives you leverage.
And that makes it much easier to test a business idea without building a large organization first.
The job market can change quickly.
Companies restructure.
Teams disappear.
Technology changes roles.
Hiring slows down.
And even highly experienced professionals can suddenly find themselves depending entirely on one employer.
That is why I increasingly believe that career security is not only about having a good job.
It is also about having options.
A second source of income does not have to replace your salary.
It can start with €200.
Then €500.
Then perhaps €1,000 or more.
More important than the first amount is what it changes:
You are no longer dependent on only one source of income.
And you begin building something that belongs to you.
Wiseman’s work on luck points to a simple principle:
The more opportunities you create and notice, the more likely it is that something valuable happens.
You cannot control the job market.
You cannot control restructuring.
You cannot control whether a recruiter replies.
But you can control how many options you create for yourself.
And perhaps one of those options is turning your existing expertise into a second income.
That is exactly what we will work on in my upcoming webinar:
We will look at how to:
identify expertise people may actually pay for
turn it into a simple, sellable offer
choose a realistic one-person business model
use AI to operate without needing a team
find your first potential customers
create a practical starting point without quitting your job
You do not need a perfect business idea before joining.
That is part of what we will work out.
Early Bird: €49 instead of €99
The Early Bird price expires tonight at midnight.
If you have been thinking that you should create an additional source of income, but you are unsure what you could sell or where to begin, this is exactly the problem the webinar is designed to solve.
Join us on Thursday, 20 August 2026, 6:30 PM CET
Sometimes creating your own luck starts with creating one more option for yourself.
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