you hear how people say “one conversation can change your entire life.” this is one of those times.
before vegas
i was in a rough chapter. things i’d been doing to make money had stopped working, and i’d burned through most of my savings figuring that out. it was one of those stretches where nothing lines up and you’re just trying to stay above water.
the one opportunity that came through was door-to-door sales. i made the effort to get it and it fit — i could be myself sorta, no typical boss breathing down my neck or set schedule…it was purely commission too (which i now know is a pretty bad arrangement) but it was eat what u kill—which i was already familiar with from my trapstar days. i was maybe a month in and i was decent at it. but in the back of my mind i knew this wasn’t scalable. setting appointments through cold door knocking was a real skill and i respected it. but that’s really the extent of my admiration for it. honestly i could probably say more bad things about it than good things, but i’m not going to. the point is i kept feeling like i could transition this into something that could actually grow.
then i went to this conference in Vegas.
mitch
i’d heard a lot about mitch through the organization i was a part of. he was well known. a successful amazon seller with a very niche product, but more than that, he was really gamed up on e-com hustle and spirituality. this man was always dropping gems. i don’t recall if we’d ever talked one-on-one before, but i met him in person at this conference.
we ended up talking for hours. & not like networking-hours where you’re scanning the room for the next person but the kind of conversation where you forget other people are in the building and really just vibing.
so we got into me sharing my bud part of the thorn, rose, and bud conversation. for context, a thorn is something you’re struggling with, a rose is something you’re grateful for, and a bud is something you’re looking forward to. and my bud was the idea of starting an agency for scalable potential. and after a few questions, mitch literally just said why haven’t you? you’d be good at it.
and i know that sounds simple. like an obvious tell that people say that kind of stuff all the time. but when it comes from someone who’s built something, sat in the discomfort and come out the other side winning, it feels igniting. and for once i actually felt something other than the “yea ur right bro, ima do this”. it was more like “shit…he’s right”.
another thing he shared was something that was dead on the nail and extremely prevalent. i see it all the time, especially now as an active agency owner for over a year. he said that in business.. maybe 50% of it is the actual results. the other 50% is the relationship. the white-glove touch. making people feel like they want to work with you, not just that they need to. if people don’t like you, it doesn’t matter how good your service is.
i knew this to be true because i’ve always been good with people. i’ve always known that about myself. but it was extra validating coming from a successful person like mitch, telling me it’s my competitive edge in the white market.
(mitch is in none of these photos by the way)
after vegas
i didn’t wait. i got home and binged all the resources mitch shared with me at the conference. within a couple of days i had something tangible. the first version was called web guac, a marketing agency for local businesses. it didn’t last long under that name, and came with its own new eye opening challenges like all new things and people who are going through a chapter in a bigger story, which i am very grateful for. everyday, i was doing the work which felt like forever to see progress from, but coming from door to door, it was exponentially easier because it wasn’t so grueling and so i was able to keep going.
what i run today is a completely different name, different offer, different audience — everything has pivoted since then. but web guac was the first step, at least for digital services, and the first step is the one that matters.
the point
i think about that conversation often. not because mitch gave me some secret playbook — he didn’t. it was more of a wake-up call to take control of the present. because it’s likely you may never feel as inspired or as motivated as you do in that first moment. that first instinct. and if you don’t move on it, it fades along with the past.
there wasn’t ever doubt in myself. but maybe subconsciously there was, because i hadn’t started yet. and that’s the thing, not starting is its own kind of doubt, even when you don’t feel it.
i moved fast after that conversation because i knew if i didn’t, i’d think myself into waiting. and waiting has a way of working against you by opportunity cost, or worse, becoming permanent.
i’m forever grateful for that conversation with mitch. not because he believed in me — but because he made me stop waiting to believe in the timing.
