Just Start: The Successful Entrepreneur’s Secret

There are certain phrases I find myself repeating like a broken record, simply because they’re so important and so widely applicable. Someday I’ll make a list of all these phrases, feed them into ChatGPT and ask for a psychoanalysis. That would be fun.

Anyway, one of those phrases is “Just Start.”

JUST. START.

I’ve spent nearly two decades working in branding/design/marketing, primarily with startups and soloproneurs. People who are new to this whole “self-promotion” thing.

Designing a logo is an emotional exercise. Accurately communicating your services is hard. Writing your bio? Exceedingly difficult. And after you’ve done all that work, the website is done, and it’s time to push the launch button, you are faced with The Cliff of Indecision.

It’s fear, it’s perfectionism, it’s imposter syndrome, and it’s a distraction.

You know you’re supposed to jump off the cliff and build the plane on the way down, but… what if it’s the wrong cliff?

I’m going to let you in on a little secret; there’s no way to know before you jump.

You cannot wait until you have all the answers, have done all the research, have defined all the goals. Plan enough to launch, then see what happens. Because businesses (and people) evolve, and you’ll never discover where you’re going if you never start at all.

• Maybe you don’t feel like your skills are there yet. You know how to uplevel your skills? By doing the work.
• Maybe you’re not sure you picked the right niche. The best way to find out is by actually working in it.
• Maybe you’re uncertain about the idea itself or the field you’re in… only one way to find out.
  

I’m not advocating you blindly charge into something, but at some point you have to make a decision and see where it leads. You’ll never feel totally ready, and that’s totally ok.

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From the printing press to WordPress.

The origin story of my business is very simple. I had skills people wanted, so they asked me to do things, I did them, and they paid me for it.

Congratulations, you have an MBA now.

For real though, I started out as a freelance designer and print broker. I did everything for everyone. After a few years I learned what type of clients I liked (small businesses) and what work I excelled at (branding). A few years later clients began asking if I could do websites, because their web providers were terrible. Thus I discovered a painful problem I was uniquely positioned to solve, which only became more clear after actually doing it.

The only reason that I’m running a website agency today is because I said yes to a freelance design project 18 years ago.

Did you know that when Lee Byung-Chull started Samsung in 1938, it was a grocery trading store?

Yes, that Samsung.

Last month that Samsung debuted an 8K QLED TV at CES (the biggest consumer electronics trade show in the world). From selling fish to China to selling smart home appliances to rich nerds. Talk about a pivot.

This is every successful entrepreneurs story.

No, not fish to electronics… starting with one thing and ending up with another. No one has it figured out on day one.

You say yes to something, you learn some things, you make some mistakes and say yes to more things, but no to others… When you find your sweet spot it seems obvious in hindsight, but that’s only because you’ve been developing new skills and insights the whole time. In my first newsletter I talked about how entrepreneurship is about the intersection of what people need and what you’re good at… it takes experimentation to find your unique skills.

Entrepreneurs don’t actually know how to build planes.

It’s not about building it on the way down, it’s about learning how to build it at all.

You know what, I’m under my word limit, let’s do another story.

If you’re reading this on smschumacher.com, this is the second iteration of my personal website.

My friend Mike Meyer asked me to create artwork for the Band of Angels fundraiser, Art That Blows. I said yes, and created a series of three paintings.

I needed somewhere to write about what the paintings represented (and share progress photos). For years I’d wanted to build a website for my art, and now I had a reason to prioritize it.

• I built my personal website in a month.
• I added all my paintings.
• I started painting more.
• I started writing more.
  

A couple years ago I completely rebuilt the site to be everything I wanted, and I only knew what I wanted because of what I liked/didn’t like about my previous website.

I started writing this newsletter because I wanted to write more frequently, and on different topics, which meant I had to get away from long-form essays. But I only knew that because I’d already been writing long-form essays. And I had only been writing long-form essays because I built a website to talk about 3 paintings I donated because a friend asked in 2019.

Everything you do is built on top of everything you did before that. You have to start somewhere.

Think of that person you know who does all the things, is incredibly successful, or has a large following, and ask them how it started. Because it started with one yes, the courage to ignore the self-doubt and just start.

What’s stopping you?

If you’ve been musing on a new project or holding back on launching something… why? If it’s fear, what’s the worst that could happen? Mitigate any potential issues, then feel confident you did what you could. If it’s perfectionism, remember that you are harder on yourself than anyone else will be (and all opinions are not equal). If it’s uncertainty or missing pieces, find a mentor and ask for feedback. You’d be surprised how willing people are to help.

Just start and see what happens. It won’t be easy, but it will always be worth it.