How I got a job with Ali Abdaal
”Follow the fun” is a solid career strategy
I almost didn’t make it.
There was an important work dinner. The kind I can’t duck out without raising eyebrows. I knew I’d miss the entire talk.
But something told me to show up anyway.
Five minutes after I arrived, I was pitching myself to Ali Abdaal. A few weeks later, he offered me a job.
He later said I had an “unfair advantage”. But to me, it didn’t feel like one. It felt like a chaotic breadcrumb trail I had been following for a few years, one curiosity-led decision after another.
This is the story of how I got a job with a dude on my vision board, and how “follow the fun” got me there kinda by accident, kinda serendipitously.
The event was hosted at a coworking space in Hong Kong. It was Ali’s first live event since moving here in late 2024. He was joined by Sahil Bloom, then upcoming-author of The 5 Types of Wealth. I’d seen the event teased on Ali’s Instagram stories: 100 free tickets, gone in ten minutes.
And your girl snagged one.
The only problem was I couldn’t make it to the actual talk. I had a work commitment I couldn’t reschedule. I arrived with just five minutes left to the talk.
Funnily enough, that worked in my favour.
The elevator doors opened right to the side of the “stage” area — two high chairs and a short table — which gave me proximity to speak to Ali. Once the talk was over, I knew Ali would be surrounded by a mix of fans, creators, and people wanting to take a selfie.
I didn’t need a selfie. I needed to pitch.
“Hi, I’m Becky. I heard you’re hiring for a writer? I worked for Write of Passage for two years.”
“The one that just shut down?” he asked.
“David Perell’s, yes. We just finished our last cohort two weeks ago. I was an editor for 3 cohorts and a scholarship student before that.”
“Video editor?”
“Writing editor.”
“And you’re based in Hong Kong?”
“Yes. Permanent resident and won’t need a visa. I’m currently a full-time writer for a bank. Before that, I was a financial journalist for five years.”
“…I need your number.”
Ali spun around, grabbed his phone, and handed it to me. “Name, phone, email, and like… 30-second life story.”
My hands were shaking, fingers grabbing the phone and the magsafe battery attached to it. I typed quickly on his notes app.
“How did you know about the position?” Ali asked.
Technically, the opening hadn’t been posted yet.
“I heard about it from Ines. I hope that’s okay.”
, at the time, was Ali’s head of content. She had helped to put together Ali’s first book, Feel Good Productivity. She was also going to be responsible for looking over the incoming applications for that writing position. (A few months later, she would be one of my good friends).“How did you know Ines?”
“She sent me a rejection email for the YouTube producer role,” A role I applied for too late. (In a funny twist, that’s now my current role. But that’s another story).
“I replied her to say thanks and she mentioned this role to me.”
I honestly don’t know if she would have if I didn’t follow up with Ines. I had replied her email, added her on LinkedIn, kept a close eye out for Ali’s social media accounts to see if he’d have any more postings or spontaneous events.
The morning of the talk, Ali posted that Ines and Angus were in town. I messaged Ines right away with an “omigosh am I going to see you tonight?”, to which she said no, but then flagged the writer role to me.
That was all the information I needed.
It was true that I wanted Ali to know of my profile before the opening got listed. This was exactly how I got my first job. I had a hunch this would be how I would get this job, too.
As I was typing in Ali’s Notes app, I overheard someone telling him, “Hey I applied for the producer role and got rejected.”
Ali replied, “We actually haven’t filled in that role so we will put it up again. If you applied more than 24 hours after the posting, there is a high chance you got crowded out. Next time apply faster and put in a better application.”
I took a mental note of that — to apply within 24 hours. No room for overthinking, just submit the application.
A few weeks later, I would refresh the aliabdaal.com/jobs page — my new daily habit — and saw the Ghostwriter application. I flung my laptop open and quickly filled in the application, completing the trial task (turning a Not Overthinking podcast episode into a newsletter), filmed a short Loom video, and submitted it in one sitting.
A few weeks later, Ines emailed me some options for coffee with Ali.
“Becky rocked up to me and said, ‘I worked for David Perell’,” Ali would say. “She had a complete unfair advantage.”
I found that phrase, “unfair advantage”, to be quite funny. I didn’t feel like I did anything that stacked up to an unfair advantage. Not consciously anyway. All I did was follow the fun - as
says.I found writing fun, so I started looking for writing circles online. (In fact, I probably found out about Write of Passage through Ali’s newsletter).
I found editing fun, so I joined the online writing school as an editor.
I found creating fun, so I kept publishing on Substack every week since then.
What resulted became my own unique stack of skills and interests, one that would form my own “unfair advantage”.
It’s only looking back that things made sense. Yes, I was “lucky” in a sense that Ali happened to move into a city that I’ve been living in for the past decade. But the stars aligned in a way that worked, even though it didn’t seem like anything at the time:
Following Ali in 2021 and then starting my own YouTube channel
Discovered Write of Passage through Ali’s newsletter
Joined WOP as a student, then editor
Started publishing weekly on Substack
Ali moving to Hong Kong
Getting rejected from the producer role
Ali hosting an event
Pitching myself for a writer role
Getting the role
I didn't map this out, but I used my curiosity as my compass. I don’t have the foresight to see what my next steps will compound into in the next three years, but I know that if I keep following the fun, it’ll take me towards a direction that still excites me and fuels me with curiosity.
If you’ve ever wondered what following the fun feels like, give it a go.
Who knows, maybe you’ll meet the person on your vision board, too.
This essay was edited with
’s Essay Architecture.Update log:
✌🏼 Passed probation!
🎧 Listening to He Who Drowned the World (4h 49min left). Love anything Natalie Naudus narrates. She does different voices for the different characters so that helps a lot.
🎨 Started painting and sketching again after 6 months! Now that I’m done (ish) with the book, I have the creative brain space to paint again.
📖 Reading Million Dollar Weekend by Noah Kagan (64% completed).
🧟♂️ Still reeling from “But I would like to try” from The Last of Us season 2 🥲
🌇 It’s been rainy here for a few weeks but the sun is back out for a few days. Best believe I grabbed my film camera, loaded some ColorPlus 200 and went out there.
Book a call: Have a bite-sized creative project? Let’s give you a starting line boost a la Mario Kart - https://www.beckyisj.com/consulting
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Yay and nice shoutout to Michelle!! ✨
Beautiful breakdown! I love the squiggly journey of your career 🙌 Michelle’s advice is a game changer. Also, I have to say following the fun… and curiosity.