I used to think everything was about fate.
For years, I waited around for my “big break.” I genuinely believed the universe would just hand me some lucky opportunity if I was patient enough.
Spoiler alert: it never came.
And when I finally stopped waiting and actually tried something? My first business completely flopped.
This is just my story—not advice, not a how-to guide. Just what happened to me and what I figured out along the way.
The Failure That Changed Everything
Let me take you back to 2012.
My co-founder and I opened a bookstore. We were excited, hopeful—all the things you feel when you’re starting something new. But 15 months later, we had to close it down. Our savings were gone. I felt like an idiot.
At that point, I honestly thought I’d used up whatever small amount of “luck” I might’ve had.
A Strange Workshop Exercise
The real shift happened in late 2014. I attended a workshop in Singapore (to be honest, I don’t even remember why I signed up).
The instructor gave us what seemed like a silly challenge: make the longest line you can using only what you have on you right now. Pens, notebooks, shoelaces, belts, whatever.
People started connecting their stuff together. Someone tied their belt to their bag strap. Another person unraveled a notebook’s spiral binding. We made this ridiculously long line stretching across the room.
That’s when it hit me.
I’d been sitting around waiting for new stuff—new opportunities, new luck, new resources. But I wasn’t even using what I already had.
Starting Over: Building Wardoh Books from Scratch
I went home and did something simple. I made a list of what I actually had:
- Parents who might help me get a loan
- A car (not fancy, but it worked)
- One guy I knew who worked at a printing shop.
That list became the start of Wardoh Books.
The Part Nobody Talks About
Here’s what “hard work” actually meant for me:
I sold my car. Not because I wanted to—I needed that car. But I needed startup money more.
Then I did something that still makes me uncomfortable to think about: I asked my parents to co-sign an $8,000 bank loan. If I screwed up again, they’d be on the hook for it. That fear kept me up at night.
The Gamble
I didn’t have the money to acquire books from other authors to sell. So I used that loan to print six manuscripts I’d written myself.
Were they amazing? No. Were they perfect? Definitely not. But they existed, and that was more than I’d had before.
I became the author, the publisher, and the guy boxing up orders. All at once.
The Fear Part
I was terrified pretty much constantly.
What if I failed again? What if I let my parents down? What if I wasn’t good enough?
I learned something, though: courage isn’t about not being scared. It’s about showing up even when you are scared. Every single morning, I had to choose to keep going, even when I had zero proof it would work out.
What I Actually Think About “Luck” Now
After years of building this business, I’ve noticed something interesting.
People who’ve worked really hard for what they have don’t usually talk about luck. They talk about what they tried, what failed, what they learned, and what finally worked.
Now, when someone looks at my publishing house and says, “Wow, you’re so lucky,” I just smile. Because I know what actually built it: selling my car, risking my parents’ credit, printing my own imperfect books, and showing up every day, even when it sucked.
That’s not luck. That’s just work.
What Helped Me Keep Going
These aren’t rules or professional advice. Just things I told myself when it got hard:
- You’re tougher than you think. You’ve already survived 100% of your worst days. Remember that when the next bad day shows up.
- Small steps count. Every tiny action adds up. Even the ones that feel pointless in the moment.
- Know what you’re good at (and what you’re not). Being honest about both made me feel more confident, not less.
- Hope is a choice. It doesn’t mean pretending everything’s fine. It means believing that today’s effort might create something better tomorrow.
The Bottom Line
These ideas still help me now, years later. They remind me that what shapes your life isn’t luck—it’s what you actually do.
Maybe luck plays a small role sometimes. But the foundation? That’s always built by showing up consistently, having faith in the process, and being patient when things move slowly.
If you’re at a crossroads right now, I hope this story reminds you of something: you already have what you need to start.
Change doesn’t begin when luck shows up at your door. It begins the second you decide to take one step forward, even if you’re not sure where you’re going.
That’s how it worked for me, anyway.
