From Zero to a Million : When we tell the fucking truth, something magical happens
Something extraordinary happened when I began to say exactly what I was thinking, what I wanted and where I was going. In other words, when I shared the fucking truth.
It doesn’t mean that I didn’t speak the truth before. When I was a reporter, I had a fairly accurate bullshit detector. In fact, I’ve always tried to describe things as they are rather than as others would like them to be.
Despite everything, I’ve always been very protective of my personal life, and I rarely revealed my ambitions and values. Perhaps this was due to modesty or because I’m an introvert, but also because I was afraid to look ridiculous or strange. In short, I didn’t want to be judged.
But over the past few months I’ve gradually abandoned any hope to project an image of relative normality.
When I revealed that I wanted to build an empire despite my precarious financial situation, I expected to receive a flurry of scathing feedback.
I expected to receive a ton of comments pointing out the irony of my situation. After all, the goal of my start-up, Hardbacon, is to help people invest, which is something I cannot presently do myself.
[Some background: Even though I have a credit card with a reduced interest rate, I’m paying 11.9% annual interest on my debt, while the Canadian stock market has had historical annual returns of 5.6% between 1900 and 2015.]
Sorry for going off on a tangent. It was just to illustrate that I didn’t receive scathing emails after I began to tell the fucking truth. These would be emails from people tired of the half-truths and half-lies we’ve decided to call “normality”.
Instead I got emails from people wanting to help me, from people wanting to work with me and from people who simply took the time to send me words of encouragement.
To my great surprise, many people responded to the unpaid intern positions I posted last week. Three of them, who I consider as co-founders today, have already started working for Hardbacon with an energy rarely seen in the working world. Dear co-founders, thank you so much for your generosity!
But that’s not all. Other interviews will take place this week.
Believe it or not, I even received an anonymous check for $1000. A guy emailed me asking me for my bank account number because he wanted to transfer $1000 to me for an hour of consultation. I’ve never believed that money grew on trees, so I didn’t take him seriously.
I waited a few days before replying to him, but I finally did in case it was true. I told him that I was ready to offer him 10 hours of consultation for $1000, and I gave him my home address. I didn’t believe it, but I couldn’t afford to snub my nose at $1000 considering the circumstances.
Surprisingly, a few days later I received a cheque for $1000 at my office. My benefactor hadn’t even waited for my reply. He had sent his cheque to the address indicated on Hardbacon’s website before my response. It’s far from being the largest cheque I’ve ever deposited in the bank in my life, but it’s without a doubt the most important one so far. Dear benefactor, thank you so much!
All that to say that in this world where everyone seems to be more concerned with living an imaginary life on the social media, all you have to do is tell the truth in order for people to remove their disillusioned cynics’ hats to contribute to something positive and real.
You must still have the humility to accept help from others. It’s difficult, but it’s something that can be learned. It’s also easier to do when you are convinced that what you’re working on will have a positive impact on the world.
Main Accomplishments:
- Conducted six interviews with candidates for the intern positions
- Recruited two interns/co-founders
- 60% of information gathered for the first comparison
- Began web development
- Sent the first newsletter (in both official languages) to Hardbacon’s email list
- Creates a small campaign for participants of this week’s Startupfest (not yet revealed)
- Contacted 5 people potentially interested in writing about money and investing
Growth Metrics:
- Revenues: 0$
- New Newsletter subscribers: 149 (total: 883, weekly growth: 20%)
- New Snapchat subscribers: 7 (total 49, weekly growth: 17%)
- New Instagram subscribers: 31 (total: 140, weekly growth: 28%)
- New Facebook Likes: 105 (total: 892, weekly growth: 13%)
My previous “From Zero to a Million” posts, in which I reveal every week how I’m building and growing Hardbacon with no money :
From Zero to a Million: Why I Launched My Startup At the Worst Possible Time
From Zero to a Million : Building an Organization Rather than an App
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