Author: Henry Murphy

I love ambitious entrepreneurs. I am one myself.

I’m also a very optimistic person, and so when I’m talking to clothing brand founders, I try to set expectations.

I don’t set them because I don’t believe in what they’re doing.

I set them because I know there’s a learning curve to everything.

No matter what business you’re trying to build, systems are required. Infrastructure is required. Mindset is required. And selling is required.

Depending on where you are in life and how you’re built, some of these things you might breeze through pretty fast.

But that’s not the case for everybody.

For instance, mindset might take you six months just to get a grip on it and start believing in yourself.

And that doesn’t take away from who you are.

You might be amazing at what you do, but if you don’t believe it, then none of it matters.

Most of the time when we first start a business, we have to load up our skill set so we have different things in our toolset.

We don’t always have the money upfront to hire people to do everything for us.

So we might have to learn enough to get some understanding, get the needle moving, and then eventually bring someone in to do that job and take it off our plate.

All of these things are part of the learning curve.

And depending on the person, that learning curve might take longer for some and shorter for others.

So don’t compare your journey.

Approach entrepreneurship with enthusiasm, optimism, and humility.

Because entrepreneurship takes before it gives.

Our ultimate purpose is to love God and serve people.

But if you actually have an idea of what you’re supposed to do in life and how you’re supposed to serve people, you’re gonna ask God sometimes:

“What are You doing?”

“Where are You?”

When I was young in the faith, I used to get excited about hearing what God was going to do in my life.

That changed as I grew in the faith.

Not because I wasn’t excited about what was next, but because I realized there was going to be a time when I had to become the person who could actually do the thing.

A time of discipline.

A time of disappointment.

I love the Bible because it gives us patterns.

Look at David.

God told David he was going to be king.

But look at what David had to go through before he actually became king.

That’s a pattern.

Look at Joseph.

God revealed to Joseph what He was going to do through him.

Then Joseph got sold into slavery.

Then he got thrown into prison.

It took a while before he became Prime Minister of Egypt.

He had to go through some hard seasons to become the person who could actually do the thing.

You and I are no different.

So if you’re working on a business and it doesn’t seem like anything is happening right now, please don’t think you can skip becoming.

This is the time to lean in.

Depend on God more.

Spend time in His Word.

Get help with what you’re building.

Educate yourself.

Invest in yourself.

Because whatever God called you to, He will give you the grace to accomplish that very thing.

Don’t skip becoming.

I’ve been here before.

Assigning the level of difficulty to something before I ever do it.

And I have a feeling it’s not just me.

I think a lot of people never get started because, somewhere in their mind, they’ve already started asking:

“What could go wrong?”

If we’re being honest, that’s a scarcity mindset.

Instead of looking at the possibilities and thinking, “What could go right?”

We usually approach it from the opposite direction.

I had one item on my to-do list for probably almost a year:

Get comfortable doing short-form video.

And I did that.

Almost 500 videos later, I’m actually proud of myself.

Not because every video was great.

Some of them were probably terrible. 😂

But I kept showing up.

I gave myself permission to practice.

And that practice finally gave me the confidence to take the next step.

I went and did a YouTube LIVE the other day, and it was actually pretty amazing.

So now that I’ve finally put long-form YouTube videos on the schedule, guess what happened?

I started overthinking everything.

😂

It’s easy to get in your head.

It’s easy to talk yourself out of things.

And Jim Rohn was right on the money when he said:

“What is easy to do is also easy not to do.”

I could have easily started a year ago.

And think about that.

If I had started a year ago, I would have had a full year of practice under my belt by now.

Have you ever looked back at something in your life and thought:

“I should have started that a year ago.”

Or maybe two years ago?

Because if you had started then, you’d be so much better at it right now.

I wrote this blog because I don’t want to forget this feeling.

I don’t want to forget how easy it is to make something bigger in my mind than it actually is.

And I don’t want to let overthinking hinder something I plan to do in the future.

But I also wrote it for you.

Because there’s a good chance you’re overthinking something right now.

You already know what you need to do.

You’ve already thought about it.

You’ve already imagined it.

Maybe you’ve even been putting it off for months or years.

Stop assigning the difficulty before you do the work.

You don’t know how hard it’s going to be.

You don’t know what you’re capable of until you actually start.

There’s no time like the present.

So whatever it is…

Start.

Introvert or extrovert…

It doesn’t matter.

Showing up on social media is a necessity.

Just like having a business bank account.

Just like having a business license.

Just like protecting your trademark.

It’s not something extra you do when you feel like it.

It’s part of the business.

Now, I’ll give you an exception.

If your business falls into a category where being away from your phone is actually part of the experience you sell, that may look different.

For example, if your brand promotes relaxation and wants people sitting in a tub full of bubbles instead of scrolling on their phone…

I get it. 😂

But even then, you still need to be findable.

Because social media is changing.

It’s becoming more interest-based.

That means there is room for whatever type of brand you have.

There is somebody somewhere in the world interested in what you do.

Somebody is searching.

Somebody is looking for answers.

Somebody is looking for a product like yours.

And there are currently more than 5.8 billion unique mobile users around the world, with billions of smartphones in use. 

Your job as the owner is to be findable.

And when you show up on social media…

Show up to serve.

Show up and let people know the heart behind your message.

As the founder, communicate your mission and values in an authentic way.

Take people behind the scenes.

Let them know what’s happening inside your business.

Let them see the people behind the product.

Let them connect with the reason you do what you do.

I get it.

Some people aren’t comfortable putting themselves out there.

But at the end of the day, everything boils down to this:

Do you care about your business?

Do you really want to serve people?

Because if the people you’re called to serve are online…

You need to be there too.

Social media isn’t extra.

It’s part of the business.

When I got my legally blind diagnosis in 2021, it shook my life up.

Everything changed.

I never imagined that disability would become a part of my story, but it taught me a few things.

If you know me, then you know I’ve always been a person who takes risks.

I would rather use my energy to do something bold, daring, and exciting than stay the same just because staying the same feels safe.

Life is too short for that.

I got into entrepreneurship because I wanted freedom.

And honestly, since 2011, I’ve been free.

Lately, though, I’ve been thinking about moving to another country.

I love America.

I’ve lived here all my life.

But I want to experience new cultures.

I want to learn new languages.

I want different experiences.

I want to live somewhere where the fruit actually has seeds in it. 😂

I want to be somewhere where I’m not constantly wondering if the food is going to kill me.

I want to spend the rest of my life…

Living.

And going back to that legally blind diagnosis, one of the biggest things it taught me was that life is short.

Things can change at any time.

Life is meant to be enjoyed.

Don’t get me wrong, life already comes with its share of pain and suffering.

That’s just part of it.

But how many moments can we create?

What are we going to do with the time we have?

What are we going to do in that little hyphen between the date we were born and the date we inevitably leave here?

That hyphen represents an entire life.

And lately…

I’ve really been thinking about selling everything and moving to another country.

If the Lord wills it…

It’ll happen sooner rather than later.

Because I don’t want to spend the rest of my life wondering what it would have been like.

I want to go see.

I want to experience.

I want to live.

And maybe that’s the whole point.

Life isn’t just about making a living.

It’s about making sure you actually live.

I was going through my notifications on TikTok today and saw a video that I recently released.

It didn’t have many views yet, but honestly, I wasn’t worried about that.

I understand that every Reel is an asset.

Basically, once it’s on the platform, anything I said that’s searchable can be found at any time.

So the reason I said, “That sucked,” wasn’t because the video was terrible.

It was because as soon as I watched it again, I knew…

It could be better.

And this type of thinking can be good or bad.

If it stops you from doing anything because you’re constantly picking yourself apart and trying to make everything perfect, then it’s bad.

Because you’re not giving yourself room to actually get better.

But if you can look at your work and say:

“I can see exactly where I could have kept people’s attention longer.”

“I can see the trigger word I could have used at the beginning.”

“I can see what I need to do differently next time.”

That’s the mindset you want to have.

Especially when you’re building content around proof of concept or building content around your brand.

You might be one of those people who feel like everything has to be perfect before you get started.

And if that’s you, it’s probably safe to say you either never really got started…

Or you didn’t stay with it long enough to get better.

Because the only way to get better…

Is to do the work.

I agree with Seth Godin.

It’s about the practice.

If you can fall in love with showing up…

If you can fall in love with being consistent…

If you can learn to focus on getting better instead of constantly worrying about the outcome…

You give yourself a chance to become great.

So yeah…

I watched that video again today.

And my first thought was:

That sucked!

But then I smiled.

Because I also knew exactly what I could do better next time.

And that’s the point.

Don’t let your imperfections stop you.

Let them teach you.

Then do it again.

It took me a long time to realize that the purpose of life is really pretty simple:

Please God.

Love God.

Serve people.

You would do well to imprint that on your mind.

There are a lot of ways I believe we please God.

By creating.

By serving.

By moving in faith.

By loving my wife.

By using the gifts He gave me.

But if you don’t get anything else from this blog, I want you to get this:

THERE IS NO ONE LIKE YOU.

God made you in His image.

And He put an aspect of His creativity inside of you.

There is nothing you do that someone else can do quite like you.

They might be in the same business as you.

They might serve the same audience you serve.

They might sell something similar.

None of that matters.

There is only one you.

And if you can truly embrace that…

If you can really believe that…

You can move through life with a freedom you may have never experienced before.

Because you’re not here to be a copy of somebody else.

You don’t have to sound like them.

Look like them.

Build like them.

Create like them.

Or live your life trying to become them.

God said that before you were born, He knew you.

He shaped you.

Have you ever really stopped to think about that?

Don’t just skip over it.

Think about it.

The Creator of everything looked at you and made an original.

Not a copy.

So stop worrying about what everybody else is doing.

Stop measuring your life against somebody else’s highlight reel.

And thank God that He made you…

YOU.

Do you want to go to the grave with everything God put inside of you still there?

The gifts.

The ideas.

The creativity.

The imagination.

The dreams that keep showing up in your heart.

I need you to think about that.

You were created with something.

Something only you can see the way you see it.

Something only you can do the way you can do it.

And maybe you’ve been waiting.

Waiting for the right time.

Waiting until you’re more confident.

Waiting until you have more money.

Waiting until you know exactly how it’s all going to work.

But what if you never get all the answers before you take the first step?

What if the purpose isn’t to have it all figured out?

What if the purpose is to use what you’ve been given?

I don’t want to die with my gifts still inside of me.

I don’t want to leave this earth carrying ideas I was supposed to create.

Love I was supposed to give.

People I was supposed to serve.

Or dreams I was too afraid to pursue.

So that’s what I want you to sit with today.

When it’s all said and done…

Will you have used what God gave you?

Don’t die with it still inside you.

When I first became an entrepreneur, I thought work meant grinding until I couldn’t go anymore.

And for years, that’s exactly what I did.

Just keep going.

Work harder.

Push longer.

I was part of Team No Sleep. 😂

And don’t get me wrong, I do believe there are seasons when you’re building where you have to work a little harder than you do in other seasons.

But as you grow as an entrepreneur, you start to realize that the goal isn’t to work yourself into the ground.

The goal is to buy back your time.

To find people who can do the things you no longer need to do—or the things you’re simply not that good at doing.

And let me help you with something on your entrepreneurial journey.

Most of your valuable time should be focused on thinking.

Thinking through the processes.

Thinking through the problems.

Thinking about what you want to implement in your business.

Then…

You execute.

But when I’m thinking through something, I don’t like to be disturbed.

The only person who has that kind of access to me is my wife.

Outside of that?

My phone is on DO NOT DISTURB.

I’m not talking to clients.

I’m not talking to my siblings.

I’m not even talking to my children.

Not because I don’t love them.

But because I understand the value of being intentional with my time.

And intentionality is one of your greatest superpowers as a founder.

Some people are busy, but they are not productive.

The goal is not to be busy for the sake of being busy.

The goal is to live intentionally.

Because busy work doesn’t automatically move the needle in your business.

Some people stay busy because being busy makes them feel important.

But activity and progress are not the same thing.

You can be exhausted and still not accomplish anything that actually matters.

People are not always going to understand what you’re building or what it takes to build it.

And that’s okay.

Some people are not going to like your boundaries.

That’s okay too.

You’re going to have to be unapologetic about protecting your time, your focus, and the work you’ve been called to do.

So don’t hesitate to tell anyone:

DON’T CALL ME WHEN I’M WORKING.

I’m not being rude.

I’m being intentional.