A few weeks ago, I built an entire website for a founder who did not know I existed.

Migrated their blog, built new pages, set up forms, the whole shebang.

No call. No contract. No “let’s circle back”. Just me, my laptop and a level of delusion my team now measures in units.

“Did they ask you to build this?”
No.

“Are they a customer? Will they pay?”
Not yet.

“You have to stop doing this!”
Please stop ruining the story.

I call these “Leaps of Faith”, a term I stole from Assassin’s Creed, where you climb a ridiculously tall tower, an eagle screeches (for dramatic effect), and you jump, and you somehow land safely on a haystack. Always. It’s in the code.

Unlike in reality, where 9 out of 10 times, my team is right. The email gets a polite “sorry, who is this?”

But that one time: I get on a call, share my screen and show someone something they never asked for, built around their company, their story, their product, and their problems.

There’s this tiny pause. Then:

“𝗪𝗔𝗜𝗧... 𝗬𝗢𝗨 𝗕𝗨𝗜𝗟𝗧 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗔𝗟𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗗𝗬?"

That moment is insanely addictive.

But it’s not even my favorite part. It’s the moment just before you do something slightly unreasonable. You’ve thought about it. There are perfectly good arguments against it.

The sensible part of your brain says:

“𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗯𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗽𝗶𝗱.”

And then another little voice shows up:

“𝗬𝗲𝘀. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗶𝗳 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀.”

That sentence has gotten me into more trouble than I’d like to admit.

It has also given me most of the interesting parts of my life.

Taking roles before I felt completely ready. Walking into unfamiliar territory. Building things nobody had asked for yet. Leaving a comfortable career. Becoming a founder. Writing this.

So here’s my ask (for all four of you reading this).

Find your tower. Build the thing before anyone asks for it. Send the message before you feel ready. Apply for the role you're 60% qualified for.

9 out of 10 times you will fail spectacularly. Develop a taste for it.

Because that one time? It might just change your life.

I’m off to build another website for someone who doesn’t know it yet.
(Neither does my team.)

𝘦𝘢𝘨𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘦𝘤𝘩 🦅