If I Can Build Something, So Can You

This article isn’t a sales pitch. It’s a reminder for you to take your idea for whatever you’ve got and go do something with it.

I’m going to take a minute to write about something you’ve seen me talk about if you follow me on Instagram and in my daily content.

A little over two months ago, I was driving to Vancouver for work. It’s about a three-and-a-half-hour drive, which gives you a lot of time to think, overthink, think some more, and process. I was thinking about all the content I’ve written over the last few years and how I could use it to add value for my subscribers and others who discover my brand in the future.

You see, my articles are like my little pieces of art. They’re my keepsakes of a moment in time. Each one represents a thought I had at a given point, or an interaction that inspired me, or some words I put on paper to inspire others. It sounds sort of fluffy, I know, but if you hand me one of my articles, chances are I can tell you exactly what inspired it.

Anyways, somewhere along the highway, I had a lightbulb go off.

“What if I could create something that texts people back at all times of the day when they need support for their career?”

So I went to work, inside a hotel room, talking to Claude, trying to figure out how I could make it happen. By the time the evening was over, I had submitted the initial plans to Twilio to secure a toll-free number, and then I waited.

I waited, I kept waiting, and then a week later, I got rejected by Twilio.

In case you’re not familiar with Twilio, it’s the industry-standard communications platform used by businesses to power phone calls, text messaging, customer notifications, and other customer engagement workflows. If a business is texting you, chances are it ran through a Twilio phone program.

So then I did some work and resubmitted to Twilio again. One week later, they rejected me again. Apparently, my terms and conditions and my opt-in weren’t set up properly, so I did it again. Another week, another rejection.

By this point, a month or so had passed, and I was frustrated. I thought I had a decent idea for a product, but if I couldn’t get the approval for the phone number, then how could I actually set this thing up?

Now, most people would lose interest, give up, stop trying, and move on. They would chalk it up to bad timing or an idea that just wasn’t worth pursuing. But I couldn’t sleep thinking about the idea of putting 24/7 coaching support in everyone’s hands.

Eventually, after working through a version on Telegram and then Simple Texting, I finally got Twilio approval. My product was ready to go.

I named it Signal, which in hindsight was a bad idea since Signal is the name of a messaging app that about 100 million people use each month globally, but names can be changed.

For now, it’s Signal until I change it to something else, and this last week, it processed 876 text messages from multiple users. It’s all coming to life, and I smile when I talk about it.

Sure, I built a product that costs you $19 a month to use, and is free for my coaching clients, but that’s not the point. The point is, I built a product. I vibe-coded my way to building a commercial product that anyone can sign up for and use, and get real value from.

I’m not an engineer, I’m not a software guy, I’m a guy who got a 2.3 GPA at a state college, and that same guy spent over 100 hours in the last two months figuring out how to leverage the millions of characters I’ve written in career content, and give real answers to people in real time about their career-related needs and questions.

And if I can do this, you can do anything you want to.

I get people texting, calling, or emailing me all the time about their big idea. They say, “Scott, I was thinking about something last night. Do you think this is a good idea?”

Frankly, it doesn’t matter what I say: if I tell them their idea sucks, they won’t do it; if I tell them it’s awesome, there is a greater than 99% chance they still won’t do it. Which is dumb. We live in a time where you can create and build just about anything, with limited resources and tools at your fingertips, but we choose not to pursue big ideas because it feels scary, it’s risky to put yourself out there, and it takes time.

And speaking of risky, “I would feel dumb to tell people about my idea” is usually right up there on the list of reasons people don’t go forward.

Want to hear about feeling dumb? Let me share some vulnerability with you for a moment.

On Monday, June 8th, I went to the Amazon campus in downtown Seattle around 2pm with business cards I had printed through Canva, with the intention of handing them out to Amazonians walking from building to building. This is how much I believe in my little product, and how much I want to see it succeed. I stood around the Amazon campus with real engineers and technical people surrounding me while I held tight onto my little stack of cards.

“Hi, I’m Scott. I built a career coaching product that lives in your text messages, and I’d like to give you a free trial,” I rehearsed my little speech over and over.

I handed out zero cards. I froze. I got nervous as hell. Thought I was going to look dumb, sound dumb, and get made fun of. I figured security would throw me off campus for soliciting. I’d end up on a viral TikTok while two large security guards escorted me back to the parking garage and then lit my business cards on fire while laughing ceremoniously.

I was actually saved by a phone call that came in late. “Scott here,” I answered as if I were sitting at my desk working on a cold case. I walked back to my car and went home, feeling empty at the fact that I didn’t get to hand anyone my cards, and that I would have to wait another day to see what product feedback I could get in real time.

I share all of this for two reasons.

For one, if you want to do something, then do it. You have the tools, you have the resources, you have access, and you have time, regardless of what you say. You have all of it. If you want something, go after it.

Second, I share this with you because I assume you have dreams and a vision and a goal of something different, something bigger in your career, and you continue to sit on the sidelines waiting for something to happen as a result of doing nothing. Nothing will change until you decide to go for it. Whatever your version of going for it is, go for it. You only get one life, and a few opportunities to make a big impact in your life and career. If you continue to say next month, next year, when I have time, when the kids are out of school, when the kids are in school, when the kids graduate, when I have more money, when I have more resources, when I have a stable job, when I have a better business partner, the list goes on.

There are always a million reasons not to do something, but there is always one massively powerful reason why you should. All you need to do is find that one reason.

A non-technical guy with a vision and a dream to put a career coach in the hands of every individual figured out how to make it happen this past month. If I can figure it out, you can figure your dream out too.

So start today.