"All human beings are entrepreneurs. When we were in the caves, we were all self-employed... finding food, feeding ourselves. That’s where human history began. As civilisation came, we suppressed it. We became “labour” because they stamped us, “You are labour”. We forgot that we are entrepreneurs."

— Muhammad Yunus, Nobel Peace Prize winner and
microfinance pioneer

That's how one of my favourite books starts.

It's a quote from the best-selling book; "The Start-up of You: Adapt to the Future, Invest in Yourself, and Transform Your Career", by LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman.

Most people are terrified of being seen starting.

Because once you start, people can judge you.

They can see the messy first version.

The awkward offer.

The small audience.

The first post.

The product that isn't perfect yet.

The business that doesn't look impressive from the outside.

But the truth is:

You were not born to wait for permission.

You were born to build.

As a kid, you had ideas all the time:

Then life trained it out of you.

School taught you to wait for instructions.

Work taught you to ask for approval.

Corporate taught you to fit inside a box someone else designed.

And suddenly, you started calling your ambition “unrealistic.”

It was never unrealistic.

It was just inconvenient for the system you were in.

Entrepreneurs are the people who can no longer ignore the feeling that they are meant to build something of their own:

You don't need to quit everything tomorrow.

But you need to stop lying to yourself.

If you keep thinking about it, there’s probably something there.

If you keep coming back to the same idea, write it down.

If you keep feeling trapped by your job, build an exit path.

If you keep waiting for confidence, start without it.

Because confidence comes after proof.

And proof comes after action.

(never before)

You were born an entrepreneur.

But the adult version of you needs to make a decision.

Keep waiting, or start building?

Here is one thing you can do today:

Write down the thing you would build if nobody could judge you.

Hit reply and share it with me? I read all replies I get and try to respond to as many as I can.

Until next time,
Hanna

PS. If you’re tired of getting nowhere on LinkedIn, and want a fresh start with a strategy that works so you can grow your business, reply to this email.