"Every first sparks the journey. The right community turns progress into reality."
I put that quote at the end of my 2025 recap post on LinkedIn. At the time I wasn't sure why it resonated so much. Now I do.
2025 was full of firsts. More than any year I can remember. Some of them I chose. A lot of them I didn't.
And somehow, out of all of that, The First 1% got built.
The year that forced the question.
I'm not going to sugarcoat it. 2025 was one of the hardest years of my life.
I had my first surgery. Years of long trade show days, late nights, and skipping warm-ups had caught up with me. I was waking up sore every day. I was stressed. And somewhere in the middle of all of it, I started questioning everything.
Am I in the right place? Am I actually growing? Is this it?
I felt stuck. And I didn't know what I was worth. That's a hard thing to sit with.
But that discomfort pushed me to move. And moving led to a lot of firsts.
A year of firsts.
I started learning to code. I started posting more consistently on LinkedIn. I started thinking seriously about building something of my own. I set goals publicly for the first time and asked my network to hold me accountable.
Some of those firsts were exciting. Some were uncomfortable. All of them taught me something.
The biggest thing I kept coming back to: growth doesn't happen alone. Someone in my network told me they enjoyed my content and to keep going. That one comment meant more than they probably knew. It kept me posting.
That's when I started thinking about community. About building something where people could do this together.
The idea that wouldn't go away.
I'm not a big reader. Never have been. I learn by doing things, messing them up, and figuring out what went wrong. Podcasts and short videos are how I absorb things best. But I kept running into the same problem.
The content was either too surface level or too deep. Nobody was just saying: here's step one, now do it. How do you actually start investing? How do you actually learn AI? How do you build something when you have no idea where to begin?
I wanted that content to exist. So I decided to build it.
The name came from a lunch table.
I was at lunch with some coworkers. Someone asked around the table: if you could start something, what would you start?
When it got to me I said I wanted to build a podcast. One that helped people get started with things. Not just inspired them, but actually showed them how.
We started throwing around names. Someone said something about being first. Someone else brought up the idea of being 1% better every day. I've always loved that concept. Small progress, every day, adds up to something real.
Then it clicked. Everyone talks about getting 1% better every day. But nobody talks about how you take that very first step toward it.
The First 1%. Not how to get to 100%. Not how to be the best. Just how do you go from zero to something. That first move. That first percent.
What this is really about.
I'm not building this from a place of having it all figured out. I'm building it because I'm still in it.
I said it publicly at the start of 2026. I want to build a community. Launch an app. Start a podcast. Get healthier. Post consistently. Those aren't goals I checked off. They're things I'm actively working on right now, in real time.
I'd rather make a decision, take the risk, fail, and learn from it than stand still because I'm afraid to get it wrong. That mindset is what this whole thing is built on.
If you're in that same spot right now — figuring out a career, a business, a skill, a next move — this is for you. No fluff. No theory. Just what actually works when you're starting from zero.
One more thing — the podcast is coming.
I don't have it all mapped out yet. But it's happening. And I'm already looking for guests.
Here's what I'm looking for: someone who can close their eyes and walk a complete beginner through how to go from zero to one in something. Not a theory. Not a framework. The actual steps. How do you start investing? How do you learn to code? How do you get your first client? How do you launch something when you have no idea what you're doing?
If that's you, email me. I'd love to connect, have a real conversation, and get you on the show. Let's build this thing together.
And if you want more posts like this, subscribe below. The First 1% drops practical content for people figuring it out in real time. No theory. Just what actually works. See you in the next one. 👋