Starter Story - Why not now?

It’s Fall 2017.

I’ve just started a new job.

 I’m a software engineer at a startup that’s revolutionizing… women’s clothing.

This is my 4th job in 5 years.

I ask myself:

“Pat, why do you switch jobs so much?”

The answer? Because after about 2 months at a job, I start to get bored.

Not because I’m smart or talented (I’m neither), but because I struggle with motivation.

Specifically, I struggle to get motivated to build things for someone else’s vision…

So… here I am again…

2 months into this new job, and it’s happening again.

The novelty is wearing off.

And I’m spending 8 hours of my day working on ways to get women to buy more blouses…

(specifically, I’m building an CSV upload feature for internal employees to use)

I say to myself:

“Pat, wtf are you doing?”

I know this feature will be used by, at most, 5 people...

Then, I ask myself:

“Pat, why did you learn to code in the first place?”

My answer?

Because I wanted to turn my own ideas into reality.

Because I wanted to build things that people actually used.

Because I wanted to build things that changed the world. 

And if I’m being honest, because I just wanted to build cool sh*t!

I realize that if I keep building for someone else’s vision, I’ll never do any of these.

I’ll just keep building stuff that persuades women to buy more blouses.

(there is nothing wrong with women buying blouses btw)

It was just someone else’s vision.

 Not my own.

And that was the fundamental problem for me.

I realized I’d be on my 20th job in 20 years if I kept doing this.

And that was the moment I asked myself:

“Why not now?”

It’s November 2017, and all year, I’d been thinking about a side project.

 Why not finally get started on it?

My initial answer:

Meh… it’s not the right timing.

The holidays are coming up.

It gets dark at like 4PM. It’s freezing outside.

 Plus, over the next couple months I’ll be traveling home for the holidays and spending time with family.

I rationalized with myself:

 “I’ll get started in January. It will be my 2018 New Years Resolution.”

Wait…

I said this last year! And the year before. And the year before. Etc.

Excuses, excuses.

So I asked myself again:

“Why not now?”

What if I actually got started today?

This job I have right now is pretty chill. 

I make six figures. I go to work at 9am and I leave at 5pm.

There are 16 more hours in the day. I can certainly find an hour (or two) for a side project, right?

And with the holidays coming up, work is gonna get even more chill.

There are going to be a lot more “WFH days” (where nobody does sh*t).

Plus, Thanksgiving is pretty much like a free week off. 

And Christmas & New Years? That’s like 2 weeks off

I asked myself again:

“Why not now?”

And that was the moment I actually decided to start.

I put on my warmest jacket (NYC in November is cold af).

I walked my ass over to the coffee shop, ordered myself a latte, cozied up with my laptop, and got to work.

I wish I could tell you I made a million in 30 days (I made $0).

But… I started making progress.

I went into that coffee shop every day in November 2017.

A couple hours before work. A couple hours after work. 

Whenever I could fit it in.

And it was fun!

Why? Because I wasn’t building blouse-selling software. 

I was building something I thought was cool.

And that motivated me unlike anything before.

By the end of November, I had built the first version of Starter Story.

That month, just 703 people visited my tiny little website.

 Most people might see that as a failure. Just 700 people? Pffff.

But for me, 700 people using my product felt like the f*ing greatest achievement of my life.

Why?

Because it was 698 more people than would use my blouse-selling CSV upload feature.

And that got me pumped as f*ck.

So I just kept building.

Every day I was making progress, and in December 2017, over 1,000 people visited Starter Story.

Progress.

By January, I had a validated startup idea, and the rest was history.

A few months after that, the business had its first $1,000 revenue month.

A few months after that, I quit my full time job at the blouse-selling company, to go all in on Starter Story.

All because I said: 

“Why not now?”

Instead of pushing it off to the new year, I simply got started now.

Instead of making excuses that the timing was off, I found reasons that the timing was perfect.

Instead of letting work, schedules, and other people determine my path, I took it all into my own hands.

"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."

Today is November 6...

There are 55 days left until the new year.

55 days to get a head start on that new business.

55 days to get ahead of the 99% of people that “just wait til the new year”.

55 days to make progress on that one little side project idea that’s been nagging at you all year.

Maybe it’s worth asking:

“Why not now?”

–

Best,

Pat Walls
Founder, StarterStory.com