Photo by Austin Neill on Unsplash

I’m writing this at my local laundramat. Standing up. Bear with me. This does go somewhere. I Promise.

A few weeks ago I found myself gazing at my Twitter feed. I was frustrated. My latest batch of side projects had failed miserably. I needed inspiration.

I came across a tweet by London based entrepreneur and investor Mark Pearson:

These words inspired me. They gave me the strength and inspiration to pick up the pieces. To try again.

Below I’m going to break down what these words mean to me, how they inspired me to create my site Braand.co in just three weeks, and how you can use them as motivation.

Start where you are

This can mean many things. It can mean start where you are physically, like a laundramat. Or it can mean start where you are in life. Financially, age wise or career wise.

For me, it meant where I am in life. I have an incredible drive to create something great. To create something that will change my life. This may sound grand but I think deep down everyone feels this way at some point.

So I just started. I didn’t try to raise money. I didn’t wait until the ‘right time’.

I didn’t ask anyone for permission.

You can start by simply writing down ideas. Write down lots of ideas. If you can’t think of some ideas. Steal someone else’s ideas. I don’t care. Just start.

Wherever you are in life, old, young, broke. In a laundramat.

Start where you are.

Use what you have

Use what you have is about connecting the dots. It’s about taking stock of what unique skills and assets you have. Right now.

You will learn new skills along the way. But right now the key is to identify these things you have. Take these things and combine them to create something great.

Something you can execute with confidence. Something you can really own.

I am a designer. I also own a bunch of great domain names. I combined these skills as a designer, my catalogue of domains and my ability to put together a website with Wordpress and created Braand.co.

What you have may not come to you straight away. So take a moment. Think really hard and take stock of what unique skills you have. What assets you possess. And what things you have that give you an unfair advantage.

I know you’ve got something. Use what you have.

Do what you can

Do what you can, for me at least came down to time. I have a demanding full time job and a family.

But I made time. I did what I could at night and on weekends.

I set my self an insane deadline to launch by the 30th of November.

I spent whatever time I could spare bluntly bashing together Braand.co.

There were nights I was so tired. I felt like flipping on Netflix to watch Iron Man 2 for the 10th time. But I didn’t. And I made my deadline.

It became like an addiction. A lot can be said for doing a little bit every day. Once you get into the rythm it will drive you.

Don’t set yourself huge tasks. Just do something small everyday to advance what you’re working on. In the end you will have created something substantial.

Lastly set a deadline. It will motivate you and stop you fussing about with small trivial things. Work on the most basic, most important things you need to launch. The rest can be added and iterated on later.

In conclusion

Thank you for taking a moment to read my story.

The takeaway is pretty simple really.

Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.