Yesterday in White Rock in BC, I checked out the local market. I spotted a guy with nothing more than a sketchpad and a pencil.
He wasn’t pitching.
He wasn’t overthinking.
He wasn’t building a funnel or tinkering with AI tools.
He was sketching people for $70.
I walked past him once. He had a client.
I walked past him again. He was on his third.
That’s $210 in less than an hour. With almost 100% margins.
Not scalable. Not perfect. Not automated.
But it worked.
And it reminded me of something I’ve learned again and again:
Action absorbs anxiety.
Most of us spend weeks stressing, planning, and worrying.
“What if it fails?”
“What if it doesn’t scale?”
“What if AI takes my job?”
Meanwhile, a guy with a pencil is already cashing in.
The Objection Olympics
Whenever you share stories like this, you hear the same pushback:
“That’s not scalable.”
Cool. But he’s got three paying customers today. You’ve got zero.
“It’s too simple.”
Exactly. Simple works. Most people overcomplicate themselves into paralysis.
“That’s not a real business.”
Neither is sitting around planning.
What This Really Means
We’ve been conditioned to think we need:
- Venture capital
- Perfect branding
- A growth hack or viral loop
But businesses don’t start that way.
They start with one person solving one problem for one customer.
That sketch artist isn’t building the “Uber of portraits.”
He’s just drawing and collecting $70 at a time.
Your Move
If you’re stuck, don’t build the 10-year plan.
Don’t debate TAM (total addressable market).
Don’t wait until you feel ready.
Do something unscalable.
- Knock on a door.
- Cold call a prospect.
- Offer a tiny service for a real human being.
Then repeat.
Momentum > perfection.
Anxiety thrives in planning mode.
Action kills it.
The White Rock artist gets paid because he picked up his pencil and started.
You have your own version of a pencil.
Use it.