Steve Chun

Building an AI agency from zero. Writing from inside the cave: avoidance, shame, and the cost of asking. Pulling threads from psychology, business, and culture.

[Steve Chun @aSteveChun]

I still have to try. The send is still hard. Knowing what to do and doing it are two different things. I know the mechanics of being stuck. I am still stuck. That is the honest version.

[Steve Chun @aSteveChun]

I am starting a business that sells outreach and automation. I am afraid of talking to strangers.

[Steve Chun @aSteveChun]

I can tell you what SMBs need. Busywork. Manual reminders. Retyping orders across systems. I can't tell you why I am the one to fix it. Giving advice is easy. Applying it to myself is hard.

[Steve Chun @aSteveChun]

Saying you are starting a business is easy. Everything else is hard. The value proposition. The outreach. The send. The part where you have to tell someone what you do and why they should pay you. That part is hard.

[Steve Chun @aSteveChun]

If I don't do this, I will idle a while longer and then return to being a wage slave. Sooner or later the bill comes. Choose your poison.

[Steve Chun @aSteveChun]

There is always a cost. You can choose it or wait for it to choose you.

[Steve Chun @aSteveChun]

So I do not know if I will regret this. But I know the cost of idling. I have been paying that bill for two years.

[Steve Chun @aSteveChun]

I was unemployed for two years. I enjoyed the time off. I also had no income. Both things are true. I did not hate being idle. I hated what idling cost me. That distinction matters.

[Steve Chun @aSteveChun]

I sent three messages with shaking hands. Zero polish. The bar dropped from "be brave" to "be messy and go." The unfired shot can't miss. The fired one can. That's the point.

[Steve Chun @aSteveChun]

Three messages. AI script. Two sentences tweaked. Sent with shaking hands. Zero polish. That was my outreach last week.

[Steve Chun @aSteveChun]

I didn't send more that week. But the freeze had loosened. Knowing the worst case was survivable made the next ask feel slightly less impossible.