Week 76 - You Don't Know What You Don't Know 🤷‍♂️

Author

Yurii Lazaruk
September 06, 2026

Hey my friend, there are myriad new thoughts, ideas, connections, and opportunities you don’t know about because you haven’t met the right person to help you unlock them (just like in a game).

And you will never predict where another human connection might lead you unless you make this connection.

So let some serendipity enter your life without any expectations! And, of course, share with me your stories and feedback :)

Part 1 Chapter 1 Section 2: You Don't Know What You Don't Know

During my freelancing journey, I noticed that when you connect with one freelancer, you're rarely connecting with just one person, because people always know other people.

A marketer knows a designer, a designer knows a front-end developer, a front-end developer knows a back-end developer, the back-end developer knows someone else, and suddenly, through a chain of humans, you can assemble almost the whole team you need to build an online business.

But the same thing happens far beyond freelancing. Every person you meet is connected to their own little universe of people, knowledge, experiences, ideas, and opportunities.

When you genuinely connect with one human, you don't automatically get access to all of that (they don't hand you their phone and say, “Here, enjoy my contact list”), but you create a bridge to a world you couldn't reach on your own.

And that's probably the most exciting and underestimated part of human connections: you don't know what you don't know.

You don't know who someone else knows, what they know, what they might teach you, where they might invite you, or which random idea they'll put into your head. And you definitely don't know what all of that might lead to five years from now.

Sometimes the chain becomes so long that you can't even remember where it started.

That's exactly what happened with another huge part of my professional journey. Years ago, somebody (I can't even remember who that person was anymore) told me to check out a business guy named David Braun.

I watched some of David's YouTube videos and podcasts and connected with him on Facebook. Later, he started the Sales Hero channel and then a chat (it wasn't even a community yet).

At some point, I discovered that David would be speaking at a conference. I got a free ticket to that conference because of (you guessed it) human connections and the SEO Club community.

So I found an opportunity to meet David before his speech and proposed moderating his chat and turning it into an actual community. That led me to host dozens of Sales Hero meetups, where I met even more amazing humans and learned a ton about sales and human connections.

Eventually, all of this led to something I couldn't possibly have imagined when somebody casually told me, “Go listen to that guy.”

I created Sales Hero Conference, the first-ever conference for sales professionals in Ukraine, with around 700 participants from Ukraine and even neighbouring countries (so it was even an international conference).

Imagine trying to put that into a three-year business plan:

Step 1: A random person recommends some YouTube videos.

…

Step N: Create an international conference for 700 attendees.

Easy 😅

There was no way I could have planned it because when the first thing happened, most of the later steps didn't even exist in my reality.

I didn't know what I didn't know.

That's basically how my whole professional life has been built. And it's still happening today.

I can't point to one person who shaped me or one piece of advice that changed everything. I've been shaped by thousands of humans I've met, talked to, worked with, listened to on podcasts, interviewed myself, or learned from by reading their books.

Some stayed in my life, some disappeared, some became friends or clients, and others introduced me to somebody else or taught me one tiny thing they probably don't even remember teaching me. And that's okay.

So maybe the first step toward becoming great at Friendworking isn't sending a LinkedIn message, learning how to approach someone at a conference, or finding the perfect follow-up.

Maybe it's understanding that you can never predict where one human connection might eventually lead.

And one of the easiest ways to understand that is to look backwards. Before you intentionally start bringing more amazing humans into your life, notice how much other humans have already brought into yours.

Some people helped enormously. Others simply said one sentence, introduced you to someone, gave you uncomfortable feedback, or opened a door you didn't even know existed. 

Some probably don't know they changed anything for you, and some (like the mysterious person who told me to check out David Braun) you might not even remember anymore.

But almost every big achievement in my life can be traced back to someone who helped me somehow. And yours probably can too.

Actionable Step 🤓

Maybe all of this is just me. Maybe I'm unusually lucky, or maybe I've cherry-picked a few stories that make human connections sound more important than they really are.

So don't trust me. Check it yourself.

Think about three achievements you're genuinely proud of. 

For each one, start with what you achieved, identify who helped you get there, and then go one step further: how did that human get into your life in the first place?

Don't stop with the obvious person. Follow the chain backwards and think about who introduced you, taught you, hired you, recommended you, gave you a chance, told you about an opportunity, challenged your thinking, or simply said, “You should talk to this person.”

You might end up with something like:

Achievement → Human → Human → Human

Now start removing those humans from the story.

Would you still have achieved the same thing? Maybe. But would you have achieved it at the same time, through the same path, with the same knowledge and opportunities?

I bet at least one of your individual achievements suddenly looks much less individual than it did five minutes ago 😉

And once you've looked backwards, look forward and ask yourself one more question:

If the humans I've already met helped me discover things I didn't know existed, what might I be missing right now simply because I haven't met the right human yet?

tl;dr: Every human you meet is connected to knowledge, people, ideas, and opportunities you can't see yet. You can't plan where every connection will lead, because you don't know what you don't know. The more meaningful connections you create, the more chances you give yourself to discover people, ideas, and opportunities you couldn't possibly have planned for.

And what’s your experience? 🤓

Share your story with me on LinkedIn or just answer this email 🤗

💡 What influenced me this week 💡

Thoughts of the week:

  • “Growth often feels like destruction. Because it requires you to tear things down before they can be rebuilt to reach new heights.” - Sahil Bloom’s newsletter

  • “Most success is achieved through the daily execution of a simple, boring set of principles that have persisted across time.” - Sahil Bloom’s newsletter

  • “You are not responsible for the way your growth journey makes other people feel.” - Sahil Bloom’s newsletter

  • “Everything is harder and more chaotic than you think when you're making plans before the start. You don't get better at planning. You get better at adapting.” - Sahil Bloom’s newsletter

Song of the week:

Book and quotes of the week:

“No matter how dedicated a community member is, it’s important to recognize that they do not work for your company, and that not every member has the same level of time or energy to contribute.”

“It’s important to note that not every member will want to be in the spotlight. Always be sure to check in with them before featuring their story or work publicly.”

“We’re asking people to spend their time with us, so you have to ensure the event is worth their most valuable asset—their time.”

Tools that I use with referrals:

  • Descript - for anything around podcasting and video editing

  • Beehiiv - for a newsletter (that’s what you receive 😅)

  • Text Blaze - to access message templates with shortcuts (like “/ty”)

  • Exali - promo “FROMYURII” - indemnity insurance for independent experts in Europe

  • Manus - for building complex systems and projects

Daily actions:

  • tell 1 person what I’m thankful to them for

  • read a self-development book/listen to a professional podcast for 15 minutes

  • make a valuable post/comment on LinkedIn

  • tag 10 people in my connections database

  • connect with 30 interesting people on LinkedIn

Weekly actions:

If you have any thoughts, ideas, or questions, please 👇

And if you’d like to have more 👋 Friendworking in your life 👇

See you next week! 👋