I was just one painful failure away from the chain of events that ended with me posting this beside a pool in Bali.

I am sitting here in Bali at my hotel, by the pool, drinking coffee after an incredible first meeting with a collaboration partner for an upcoming series of training events in Indonesia.

My thoughts are wandering through a combination of “Wow! That was amazing” to “How the hell did I get here?” They land on one central theme. How I got here from being a freelancer struggling to scale from my first contra client, to now doing business internationally.

And it strikes me, that it all comes down to a series of connections that have their roots in the ashes of my previous career. Here’s the chain of events that led to this coffee, beside this pool, in this country.

If my employer of 13.5 years had not pushed me out of my job at the end of 2016, I would not have attempted my own start-up.

If my start-up had not failed, and a relationship not ended suddenly, I would not have been desperate enough to have taken a sales job in Darwin.

If I had not have been terrible at my sales job in Darwin, I would not have decided to concentrate on my own freelance work.

If I had not have concentrated on my freelance work, I would not have taken a contra social media management job with a hotel.

If I had not helped to grow the following of that hotel, and helped them win a tourism award for marketing in my first 6 months with them, I would not have been referred to several other tourism enterprises in Darwin.

If I had not have taken on those low-paying portfolio-building jobs I would not have made just enough extra money to make a TV ad to become the only dedicated digital agency in town to advertise across the wet season when everyone said it would be a waste of time and money.

If I had not have “wasted that time and money” I would not have been in a position to be noticed by the Business Enterprise Centre, and be asked to become a consultant.

I had not have been a consultant for the BEC and formed a friendship with one of their advisors, I would not have met the team from Treeti Business Consulting.

If I had not met the team at Treeti, and helped them to fill a need with their new digital program, I would not have become an ASBAS Digital Solutions Advisor.

If I had not become an ASBAS Digital Solutions Advisor I would not have met a semi-retired program liaison, who just so happened to have been in talks with Facebook Australia & New Zealand to find digital trainers in regional Australia… just two days before I went on holiday.

If I had not had such a fast and loose relationship the concept of work-life balance (or lack of work-life balance at all!) I would not have been able to be on a video call with Facebook Australia, or able to take time to make an introductory video while on holiday, to explain my relationship with social media and serving regional clients.

And if I had not been able to make a quick decision to book a flight to Sydney a few weeks later, I would not have been present to be trained as just one of 6 Facebook Community Trainers in Australia.

If had not become a Facebook Community Trainer, I would not be in a position to add credibility and value to a joint venture between a local entrepreneur in Bali, a consulting company in Darwin, a digital agency in Darwin and the Indonesian government.

Which led to me sitting here sipping on a rather good latte, in the breeze, beside a pool, writing an article about how one big, painful, life-shaking failure in my career had led to all this.

I won’t insult you with platitudes written in beautiful text over photos of skinny white people in yoga poses. I’ll just say that failure, like shit, is a great fertiliser for something new to grow it. You just might need to sit in that shit for a while first.

Dante St James is a digital marketing, social media and web professional who heads up his own digital agency, Clickstarter, is Head of Digital Solutions at Treeti Business Consulting, and a Community Trainer for Facebook Australia & New Zealand.

For a list of Dante’s credentials, visit his website.