Page 41 - The Magic of Tiny Business

Part I  Choose Your Limitations

my bills on a regular basis. I had no backup plan and only
a teensy bit of savings. Nevertheless, I called my supervi-
sor back and told him I quit. He told me I couldn’t. I did
anyway.

“ If you are passionate about solving a problem, you
will learn any skill necessary to get the job done.”

— Onyeka Obiocha, Director of Innovation,
Yale University, Center for Public Service and
Social Justice

I couldn’t get another job-job (i.e., one that kills your
soul to make a buck). Now was the time to make my tiny
idea a real business. I had to make it work. That’s the day
Eco-Bags Products got started for real.

When asked how I started my business, I used to be
very quick to say, “I started with nothing and made some-
thing.” It sounded bold, and it placed me in the “rags to
riches” myth category. But it was a lie. Not only was it not
my truth, it perpetuated larger cultural myths around
being an entrepreneur. I wasn’t honest with myself, and I
was misleading others.

What Do You Have? Something vs. Nothing

Over the years, I dug a little deeper into what I was call-
ing “nothing” and discovered that I did, in fact, start with
quite a few “somethings.” When I added these insights to
my conversations and public talks, my origin story became

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