A brand new venture – but will it be my last?

‘We make plans and God laughs’, according to the old Yiddish proverb.

I don’t interpret this in a religious sense but as a statement about the power of serendipity and the pointlessness of detailed planning in the face of life’s chaotic unpredictability.

My own career of 50-plus years offers a perfect example.

This month, at the advanced age of 72, I launched Colour for Confidence, a business dedicated to helping women identify the clothing colours that make them look healthy and vibrant, feel confident and attract compliments.

This will be my third start-up in 30 years. In my forties, following a first career in journalism, I co-founded the health charity Action on Pre-eclampsia (APEC), along with my husband Andy and an expert – I should say the world expert – on this treacherous condition.

In my fifties I set up Clearsay Communications to train executives from a range of industries in spoken communication skills.

And now in my 70s, this new venture, which I am confident will be my last - although based on my previous experience I can’t be sure!

The singular feature of all three of these ventures is that they arose almost entirely through serendipity, not as a result of any planning.

Take the charity first: I was perfectly happy with my career as a health journalist until fate intervened in the form of a near-fatal encounter with pre-eclampsia in my first pregnancy, and the subsequent loss of my very premature baby at two days old.

Nothing would have changed in career terms had I not, at eight weeks into my second pregnancy, seen a newspaper article about this world expert, wangled an appointment to see him, put myself under his expert care for that pregnancy and the next and developed a friendship that blossomed into a working partnership.

He and I went on to write two books on pre-eclampsia together and to set up the charity, which continues to raise awareness about this much-misunderstood condition, provide support and information for families and improve management by health professionals.

Serendipity next came calling when, having served my term as Director of the charity, I found myself sitting next to a fellow journalist who ran his own communication skills training agency at a mutual friend’s birthday party.

The conversation flowed – along with the wine – and by the end of the evening he had suggested I should come and work for his agency. Within a month of that meeting, I had changed careers again, ultimately leading to setting up my own agency a few years later.

But fate had not yet finished toying with me. Six months ago, I helped my daughter celebrate her birthday by accompanying her to a colour analysis session in London.

The appointment was a revelation to her – and she has totally embraced her new identity as a ‘deep autumn’.

But its impact was far more seismic for me. The exuberantly engaging analyst –Addie Bryant of Colour Conviction – welcomed my involvement with the process. And when it was finished, she turned to me and said: ‘You should be doing this work’.

I laughed it off with ‘I’m far too old’, but she wouldn’t hear of it. And, to cut a long story short, a few months later I started training with the equally delightful Lucy Putney of the Lulu Boutique School of Colour Analysis.

And now here I am – a fully-fledged and wildly enthusiastic colour analyst, embarking on my fourth career in my eighth decade.

What’s the lesson from all this? Well, I think it boils down to nothing more complicated than being open to opportunity and recognising it when it knocks at your door.

And my advice to youngsters whenever they ask – and they sometimes do – is this: don’t plan out your whole career in detail as soon as you have left school, college, or uni.

Get your first job – and I know that’s not as easy as it used to be – and use it to gain experience and transferable skills. Do the same with the next one and the one after that, always keeping your options open, making contacts and being open to opportunities that might not necessarily seem like the logical next steps.

Eventually you will have a career – although it might be completely different from the one you originally envisaged.

Has your career path featured unpredictable twists and turns? Have you ended up in a very different place from where you started? I would love to hear from you. Please post a comment in the box below and click on ‘subscribe’ if you would like to receive these posts automatically in future.