The Hand You Are Dealt

Life is not fair. That is just how it is - you must play the hand you’ve been dealt. But just because you have been dealt a bad hand doesn’t mean you can't play like the odds are in your favor.

Welcome to The Unconventional Trajectory.

I am your writer, M.

Now, you may ask yourself: "But M, why be anonymous if you have such great things to share with me?"

To that, I would say: I am not particularly interested in any perceived social value I might gain from writing about my experiences so far in life. I simply want to help the next person who could do with some advice.

To which you may ask next: "But M, what the hell could you possibly know?"

That is a completely reasonable question. So, let me give you an overview of my brief years of existence so far.

The Boat Yard

At 18, I was kicked out of my mother's house. It happened after I suggested she stop indulging in the heavy drinking she had taken up in the years after my parents divorced when I was 14. She was not pleased with my request, and I was promptly removed for suggesting such a foolish thing.

Next thing I knew, I found myself in a boatyard, working 6:00 AM to 5:00 PM throughout the week. Day-to-day fun included scraping living crustaceans off the bottom of ships, sanding down hulls ready for anti-fouling paint, and dealing with the brutal itch of fiberglass fibers. I worked in that yard surrounded by avid drug and alcohol consumers. After about 14 months, I figured I better find a way out.

One day, I saw a gentleman applying decals to the side of a boat. I asked him what he was doing, and he told me about sign writing. The very next month, I was working as a sign-writing apprentice earning a measly $14 per hour. I did this for two years until I was roughly 21, eventually bumping up to $16 per hour.

I was sick of living pay check to pay check, and had the unshakable belief that I could do better.

The Pivot

To provide some brief backstory, throughout my school life I had always tried to run online businesses. My original claim to fame was getting blacklisted from eBay at 15 for trying to sell drones internationally along with a myriad of about 8 other attempts to create an online revenue source. Safe to say that appetite still hadn't left me by 21.

With my online business dreams still intact, I borrowed $750 from a friend to buy a PC. I used a small TV I found as a monitor, and managed to find a keyboard and mouse for $35. Next, I used my friend's university details to get a free Adobe license so I could download Illustrator. By the end of that week, my new eCommerce product was made.

It was a t-shirt (very innovative).

Within the first two months of my 9th attempt at eCommerce, I was making my weekly signage pay check before Monday's lunch and by the time I turned 22, I had scaled that eCommerce store single-handedly with that very t-shirt to $60k per month in revenue. As you may rightly assume, that was the end of my short signage career.

And so continued my unshakable persistence to achieve as much as possible with the hand I had been dealt. I parlayed my eCommerce success into a "Digital Management" business, offering the exact same frameworks that won me my first real success.

The Boardroom

Shortly after the launch of my new business I hired a friend who did software development to work for me, and we began branching into the SaaS side of the digital world. This landed me my first enterprise client.

At 23, I sold my digital management business and some intellectual property for just a smidge over $100k. Part of the deal was that I found myself working full-time as their Chief Technology Officer (CTO), bringing across my friend to be my lead developer, and our new roles were to create scalable products for the business to go to market with.

At 24, I had been promoted to Chief Product and Technology Officer (CPTO). Given my own internal team to manage, with the sole goal of taking our new product to market and reaching an ARR of $10M, with the goal to position ourselves as a $100M acquisition target. A little more serious than making sure a sign is straight. This is where I currently reside, and the board haven't gotten rid of me yet - so I must be doing alright.

All of this happened because of a t-shirt I made on a Thursday night, and the simple fact that I never stopped trying until luck hit.

Why I Am Writing This

I created this publication to help others who want to shoot for massive goals and know they have something unshakable inside them.

In a very short amount of time, I have had to navigate a multitude of make-or-break moments:

• Managing deep imposter syndrome and constantly questioning if I even belong in the room.

• The joys of corporate politics.

• Protecting relationships and friendships outside of work.

• Hiring and managing close friends.

• Optimizing my energy, sleep, and stamina to avoid completely burning out.

• Learning how to use leverage in any given scenario.

And a multitude of other situations this path throws at you, that you couldn't possible predict.

I aim to explain exactly how I handled these situations, what I learned while doing so, and write this with the goal of helping someone else navigate their own ascent.

Welcome to the Unconventional Trajectory.