Starting a business feels overwhelming, doesn’t it? I get it. When I first thought about launching my own venture, I kept waiting for the “perfect moment”—more money, better skills, the right connections.
Spoiler alert: that moment never came.
My first real “business move” wasn’t a grand launch or a brilliant pitch. It was a single, poorly designed flyer I created on a borrowed, slow laptop. This all happened back in 2010, while I was still working at the print shop, dreaming of one day starting Wardoh Books.
This is the story of that flyer.
The Decision: Starting Where I Was
I was living in my hometown, a place most people would say was “too small” for big ideas. Every day on my way to work, I’d walk past a small, family-run cafe. The owner, a woman named Loo Yi Ling, made the best coffee in town, but her shop was almost always empty. She had a handwritten sign taped to the window, and that was it.
The “perfect” plan would have been to wait until I had a marketing degree or moved to a bigger city. But the itch to do something was too strong. I saw a problem right in front of me. I was standing on the first step of the staircase.
That day, I decided to stop dreaming about the top of the stairs and just take that first step. I decided to help Loo Yi Ling.
The Process: Using What I Had
My resources were a joke. I didn’t have a fancy computer or expensive design software. What I had was:
- A borrowed laptop that took five minutes to boot up.
- A clunky, free design program I found online.
- About one hour of free time after my day job.
I sat down at my kitchen table, and for a solid ten minutes, I just stared at the blank screen. The cursor blinked mockingly. I felt like a total fraud. Who was I to design anything?
But then I remembered the lesson: use what you have. I had a little bit of design sense from my old print shop days. I had the words to describe Loo Yi Ling’s delicious coffee. And I had one hour. It wasn’t perfect, but it was enough.
I cobbled together a flyer. I used a cheesy-looking font, a blurry photo of a coffee cup I found online, and way too many words. Was it good? No. It was a mess. But it was real. It was something I had made.
The Action: Doing What I Could
The next day, I walked into Loo Yi Ling’s Cafe with the flyer printed on a flimsy piece of paper. My hands were literally sweating. This was the moment of truth. This was where I had to do what I could, even if it meant facing rejection.
I handed it to her and mumbled something about wanting to help. She looked at the flyer, her head tilted. I braced myself for her to laugh.
She was quiet for a long moment, and then she looked up at me and said, “It’s… not bad. A little busy. But I like the idea.”
She didn’t offer me money. She didn’t sign a contract. She just offered me a free coffee and said, “Let’s try putting a few of these up and see what happens.”
That was it. That was my first “business transaction.” It wasn’t a million-dollar deal; it was an exchange of a messy flyer for a cup of coffee and a tiny bit of hope.
The Real Lessons I Learned from a Single Flyer
That one imperfect action taught me everything.
- Start Where You Are: Your immediate surroundings are a goldmine of opportunities. The problem you are meant to solve is probably right in front of you, not in some distant, “perfect” location.
- Use What You Have: Your current skills, limited resources, and small network are not weaknesses; they are your starting point. The most successful entrepreneurs in history didn’t start with everything. They started with just enough to take the first step.
- Do What You Can: Imperfect action is a million times more powerful than perfect inaction. The goal isn’t to launch a flawless masterpiece. The goal is to get the ball rolling. That one messy flyer taught me more than a year of “planning” ever could have.
Your First Step Starts Now
Everyone who ever built something incredible started with a first step that was probably just as awkward and messy as my flyer. The people at the top of the staircase aren’t smarter than you; they just started climbing while others were still waiting for the perfect shoes.
So here’s my challenge to you: What is your messy flyer? What is the one small, imperfect thing you can do today to move your dream forward?
Don’t wait. You have enough. You are ready.
Now go prove it to yourself.
