Everyone likes an underdog story. It’s why these stories of humble tech startups, turned multi-billion dollar industry-changers are so fascinating. A team of scrapy, driven individuals, build something small but mighty and that in turn creates belief. Belief that if they just had a little more _______, everything would be perfect.
They have a great idea and a dedicated team, but eventually, the demands start to add up. If they want to grow the right way, they need more. More help. More space. More ads.
So they get millions, or even billions of dollars and a lot of them really do change the world. We look at the scrappy founder, turned mogul and it inspires us to work harder to get to a point where we too inspire belief; but not from ourselves.
Belief from others, that we are worth investing in, whatever that means to you.
Building Value
Jake and Becca Berg, a freelance web designer and photographer respectively, knew they could build something special. The knew that their experience, along with the experiences of other freelancers, small business owners and creatives they knew, gave them a strong understanding of what solutions were truly needed.
So they launched, working night after night on their own to get things off the ground and keep them moving forward. Eventually, their hard work paid off and people started to sign up. They were able to bring on a couple of talented programmers and some driven team members to start building their dream with them.
Sure enough, investors began to call; at last, they had done it. They had reached the point where everything changes for those scrappy founders turned tech industry titans. Someone believed in them and their product, enough to give them the money they would surely need to reach their goals.
Except, Jake and Becca responded “no thanks.”
They were committed to building things their way. To not wait for others to validate them, to start believing in their worth.
You can do more with less
Here’s the secret: you can do more than you ever imaged, with less than you thought you needed.
At Dubsado, a lot of people ask us, how do you guys get so much done, with so little? Sometimes we’ll get asked about our non-existent team of programmers working remotely, because it just seems impossible to do all of this with 2. Dubsado has always operated from a mindset of believing you can do more than enough with what you’re given, if you work hard, efficiently and intelligently.
On one of our podcast episodes, Promise Tangeman said:
“It’s not about how much you have, but what you do with where you’re planted. You can choose to bloom exactly where you are.”
We couldn’t agree more.
Slow and steady, isn’t glamorous
When a lot of us envision “big picture” success, we think of entrepreneurs and companies that inspire us. We see the massive silicon valley campuses or the influencer with a huge team around them helping to expand their reach. It seems like all of that just kinda shows up at some point, rather than it being built slowly over time. A few things:
Early Dubsado users have gotten to watch us from our earliest stages, bloom where we were planted. Deliver the same consistency in service they received when we had one customer, as when we got thousands.
Tough work, done by tough people. That has been the vehicle of growth. Not any investors or miracle overnight booms. Steady, focused work. So when months later, those same 3 programmers are STILL cranking out features left and right, as the community grows and grows, people start to scratch their heads in disbelief.
There is no secret formula
There are no secret formulas. No magic potions. No cheat codes (terrible pun intended). Just people doing what they can with what they have; the same formula that’s available to any of you.
The next time you’re thinking about your goals or your dreams and it all seems so daunting, just remember that: remember how you work is entirely in your hands.
Jake will say his three tenants are strength, resourcefulness, and intelligence. This doesn’t mean being able to bench press hundreds of pounds, or spend thousands of dollars, or be in the Mensa society. You don’t need anything more than what you have to start actualizing those goals.
That camera lens you think you need even though it’s way out of your budget, isn't the only way to get the job done. What are ways to use the other resources available to you to get the job done? Is it a new editing technique? Is it software? Is it a DIY solution to create an effect?
When you are getting flooded with requests for design work that you can no longer meet, are there ways you can ease the load before starting a team? Can you introduce a new tiered service list? Creative pricing? Can you bring on and invest time into interns and see how it relieves the pressure?
Whatever it is, remember that no secret formula; no investment; no addition of strength or resources, can replace your commitment to doing EVERYTHING you can, with what you’re given. Approach growth from this perspective, and I promise you’ll be doing more than you ever thought possible, with less than you ever imagined.
The time will come when you know you can grow in the ways you need to. For us, we hired two new programmers only a month ago, giving us 5 including Jake. That was almost 2 full years with only 2 and Jake.
If you thought we got a lot done before, just wait till you see what we can do now.
