How To Find Your Life’s Purpose (2)

The REAL first step to building a business

Welcome to DreamMail, a newsletter where you can keep up to date with the dreamers you see in my content, as well as actionable advice to help you build your own dream.

If you’re enjoying these updates, you can also grab my latest book to teach kids business.

The Two Generals

There were once two generals who despised each other.

They constantly traded insults and rubbed each other the wrong way.

Until one day, suddenly, they were at war.

“I’ll build the greatest army in history,” the first general declared.

“Give me six months and I’ll crush you.”

“You’re on,” the second replied.

The first general set off immediately, hunting perfection.

He scoured the kingdom for the strongest soldiers he could find, ignoring the weak.

He found 20 of the very best. Men who had won countless battles. Men who could defeat ten each.

He then travelled across three nations to find the best blacksmith alive.

“I can craft the finest swords the world has ever seen,” the blacksmith said,

“but they take time. I can only make ten in six months.”

The general agreed.
“Perfection takes time.”

Next, he searched for the fastest horses in all the land. But speed had a price.

“Ten gold coins each,” the stablemaster said.

After buying weapons, armour, and supplies… the general had only thirty gold left.

He gritted his teeth. “Fine. I’ll take three horses.”

Six months later, the first general stood proudly on the battlefield.

Behind him:

• twenty elite soldiers

• ten master-crafted swords

• and three magnificent war horses

Everything was perfect. Flawless. The ultimate fighting unit.

Then he looked across the field.

The second general had brought… chaos.

Thousands of soldiers. Most were farmers. Some were teenagers.

Some carried pitchforks, clubs, or bent spears. Many rode donkeys. Some even walked barefoot.

It didn’t matter.

The first general’s perfect soldiers were swallowed whole in minutes.

He could only watch in horror as his “masterpiece” was crushed by sheer momentum.

And in that moment, he understood:

While he’d been chasing perfection… the other general had been building an army.

Lesson:
Perfection looks powerful, but momentum is powerful.

You don’t need the perfect product, perfect tools, or perfect timing. You need people, proof, and a plan that actually moves.

Waiting to be perfect is how you lose to someone who simply starts.

How to Launch Before You Build Anything

Most people have a dream. But most people also think that dream is impossible for them to achieve.

They run through endless cycles in their head.

"I need a product to launch a business, but I need money for a product, and I need a job to get money, and my job pays for my house and food to survive."

99% of people think like this. And that's why 99% of dreams die.

Last week I met Anton, the founder of the fastest growing tech start-up in Europe.

Anton built Lovable (Code SIMON20NL for 20% off), a platform that helps people create websites and apps without needing coding knowledge or more than $25.

It’s changed the game for entrepreneurship. No longer is entrepreneurship exclusive to those with technical skills or money. Now anyone can build their dream site or app.

But if Anton had thought like the 99%…

Lovable wouldn’t exist.

He wouldn’t now own a billion dollar company. And millions wouldn’t be building their dream ideas today.

Here’s how Anton started with the EXACT same resources you have.

⸻

1. Lovable Started With a Snake Game

Anton didn’t have a coding platform. He didn’t have a team of developers. He didn’t have a ton of funding.

He had:

• A waitlist

• A simple snake game

• One question: “Do you want this?”

The snake game wasn’t the product. It was the demo. A proof mechanism.

It told the market: "This is what will be possible."

Tens of thousands joined the waitlist. That waitlist was the proof. And proof is what builds businesses.

With a waitlist of thousands, it’s EASY to raise money, find great people, and get started.

⸻

2. Airbnb: They Sold Cereal Boxes.

Before Airbnb was Airbnb…

They needed $30k to keep the idea alive.

They didn’t crowdfund. They didn’t raise from VCs.

They printed Obama O’s and Cap’n McCain cereal boxes and sold them during election season.

$40 a box.

They sold out. Raised the money. And proved they could create demand from nothing.

⸻

3. The Secret Almost All Successful Businesses Have in Common

They follow the same sequence:

Idea → Proof → Product → Scale

But most people think they need:

Idea → Money → Knowledge → Product → Website → Perfectionism

This is why 99% stay stuck.

⸻

4. Here’s EXACTLY How You Can Launch the Same Way Today

This works for ANY business. SaaS, clothing, agency, app, coaching, physical products.

Step 1: Sell the vision

Find a simple, cheap way to display your idea. This can be product designs, a short concept video, a basic prototype, a free trial.

If nobody joins → you’re not ready to launch anyway. You’ve just identified the real problem before wasting money.

Step 2: Build the waitlist

Your first “product” is a Google Form.

Ask everyone interested to sign up.
Each name is proof, and proof is extremely valuable.

Step 3: Monetising

Now you have proof. You can raise money. Still without having built anything.

You can approach investors with:
“I have X people excited about this already.”

You can email your waitlist and ask them to pay a small deposit for first access.

If they say no → ask why. No’s have value too.

You can also sell something related to your mission, just like Airbnb sold cereal to fund their app. Or promote an affiliate product, as long as it genuinely helps your audience.

Step 4: Share the Journey Publicly

This is a constant stream of proof building.

Post:

• Your waitlist numbers

• Your mockups

• Your first 5 signups

• Your first demo

• Your first rejection

• Your first win

Proof creates momentum and momentum attracts community.

⸻

The big lesson is - You need to treat proof as a currency.

Chasing money won’t get you far. Chasing proof will.

Remember Kem?

He’s now pursuing his dream and has started his own business.

Kem launched his own social media marketing agency and is already helping brands grow online.

He said that ever since starting, he’s felt the most alive and focused he’s ever been.

Another dream being pursued thanks to the belief from this amazing community.

If you’d like to book Kem to help with your social media, shoot him a DM on Instagram at @kemisnotcool.

See you next week!

- Simon Squibb