Start from Zero: The Mindset That Changes Everything
When I stepped off a plane in the United States in 2013, I had nothing in my pockets but hope. I was a Haitian immigrant arriving in a new land with no money, no connections, and barely a word of English. It felt like starting at zero in every sense. Yet, looking back now, I realize that starting from zero was not a weakness at all—it was my greatest advantage. With the right mindset, beginning with nothing set the stage for an incredible journey of growth.
In this post, I want to share that journey and the mindset that made it possible. I'll talk about the habits and attitudes—humility, grit, consistency, self-belief, and patience—that helped me go from pushing grocery carts to owning a truck and running online businesses. My story is just one example, but the lessons are universal. Starting from nothing can lead to success if you embrace the right mindset. Here’s how.
Humility: Embrace Your Small Beginnings
In 2013, just days after arriving from Haiti, I landed my first job in America: collecting shopping carts in a parking lot. It wasn't glamorous. In fact, some people might overlook the man pushing a long row of carts in the rain or snow. But I didn't see it as an insult or a dead-end—I saw it as a starting point. This took humility. I had a college education from back home, yet here I was doing manual labor for minimum wage. Instead of letting pride or ego get in the way, I embraced the role with gratitude.
Humility is about being willing to start small and learn. By pushing carts, I learned the value of hard work and dependability. I showed up on time every day, treated the job with respect, and learned from every task. Humility meant I didn't consider any honest work “beneath” me. That attitude opened the door for me to get better opportunities later. When you start from zero, no honest work is too small. Every experience can teach you something and move you forward. Staying humble also means you're open to learning from others. I watched how store managers handled customers, how the stocking crew organized products—always absorbing lessons.
Ultimately, humility builds a strong foundation. Many of the most successful people began in humble positions and never forgot where they came from. It keeps you grounded. When you’re humble, you’re ready to listen, learn, and grow—exactly what you need when starting from nothing. Remember, a tree that wants to reach the sky must have strong roots in the ground. Humble beginnings give you those roots.
Grit: Persevere Through the Challenges
After some time pushing carts, I moved on to work for a moving company. This was even tougher: long hours of lifting heavy furniture, driving from town to town, and collapsing into bed exhausted each night. There were days my body ached so much I wondered if I could keep going. But this is where I learned the power of grit—the stubborn perseverance to keep moving forward even when it's hard. In those years of hauling boxes and sofas, I never lost sight of why I was doing it. I worked to save money, to improve my english, and to build a future beyond the moving truck. That clear goal kept me going on even the hardest days.
Psychologists describe grit as the mix of passion and perseverance over the long term. In fact, research has found that grit is a significant predictor of success , even more than talent or intelligence. It’s the quality that allows someone to work hard and stay focused for years, not just weeks or months . I didn’t know that research at the time, but I was living proof of it. Every early morning wake-up, every muscle I strained lifting a refrigerator up a flight of stairs, was building my grit. I was training myself to not give up when life gets tough.
Grit is what kept me going to night classes after work to study for my Commercial Driver’s License (CDL) in 2019. I was often exhausted from the moving job, but I forced myself to stay consistent with studying (more on consistency in the next section). When I finally passed the CDL test, it wasn’t because I was the smartest or strongest—it was because I refused to quit. That’s grit.
For anyone starting at zero, expect obstacles. There will be failures, rejections, and days you want to quit. Cultivating grit means deciding that no matter what, you will persevere. Treat each challenge as a step toward your goal rather than a reason to turn back. If you get knocked down, grit is what pulls you back up, every time. With grit, zero doesn’t stay zero for long—you keep adding to your journey one difficult but rewarding step at a time.
Consistency: Small Steps Every Day
Success isn’t a sudden leap; it’s a series of small steps taken day in and day out. During my journey from zero, I learned the importance of consistency. This meant showing up to work every single day and giving my best, even when progress felt slow. It meant putting a bit of money into savings each week from those paychecks, no matter how tempted I was to spend it. And it meant continuously learning—practicing english words every night, watching YouTube videos about trucking, and later, reading every article I could find about starting a business. These little actions repeated consistently over time created a compound effect that was life-changing.
There is a Haitian Creole proverb I grew up with: “Piti piti, zwazo fè nich li,” which translates to “Little by little, the bird builds its nest.” The meaning is simple: small tasks done consistently are the surest way to accomplish big goals . I kept this proverb in mind on the days when it felt like I was not making any progress. Every cart I pushed, every box I moved, every chapter I studied for my CDL—each one was like a small twig or piece of straw. By itself, a single day’s work didn’t seem like much. But little by little, I was building my nest. Over time, those twigs formed a solid foundation.
Consistency isn’t about being perfect; it’s about being persistent. You don’t have to make huge strides in a single day. Just focus on steady progress. For example, if you’re trying to improve your skills or start a project, commit to doing a bit of it every day. It could be as simple as learning one new English phrase daily (something I did), or setting aside 30 minutes each day to work on your business idea. These small efforts add up. People around me eventually noticed my reliable work ethic. I got offered a promotion at the moving company because I was always the guy who showed up and did the job right. That happened not due to any extraordinary talent, but because of consistency and reliability.
When you start from zero, you might be looking up a very tall mountain of goals. Consistency is the act of putting one foot in front of the other repeatedly until, before you know it, you’ve climbed higher than you imagined. Trust the process of incremental growth. It’s like building a nest twig by twig—eventually you’ll have something to be proud of.
Self-Belief: Bet on Yourself
One of the hardest but most crucial mindset shifts when starting from zero is learning to believe in yourself even when few others do. When I told people I was studying for a CDL to become a truck driver, some were supportive, but others were skeptical. Self-belief was what pushed me through the doubt—both the external doubts and my own inner fears. In 2020, just a year after getting my CDL, I made a bold move: I bought my first truck. It was a used semi-truck, nothing fancy, but it was mine. This was a huge risk and a big investment for someone with my background. But I believed that I could use that truck to earn a better living as an independent driver. I trusted that all my preparation—years of work and saving, and the skills I had learned—were enough to make this leap.
That decision to bet on myself paid off. Owning my truck meant I could take on higher-paying contracts and have more control over my work. It was the start of me transitioning from just an employee to an entrepreneur. And it happened because I had the self-confidence to say, “I can do this.” Even when things got tough (and they did, like when expensive repairs hit or when I had slow business weeks), I held onto the belief that I would find a way to make it work. Self-belief doesn’t mean ignoring reality or thinking success will be easy; it means believing you have the inner resources to overcome the hurdles that reality will throw at you.
A famous quote by Henry Ford comes to mind: “Whether you think you can, or you think you can't – you're right.” In other words, if you believe in your ability to succeed, you’ve won half the battle already; if you convince yourself you’ll fail, then you’ve sealed your fate . I carried this truth with me from the grocery parking lot to the driver’s seat of my own truck. I constantly visualized a better future and told myself I deserved a shot at it. This kind of positive self-talk was critical. As an immigrant with an accent and no family network here, it would have been easy to develop a inferiority complex. Instead, I chose to see myself as an underdog with something to prove—in a good way. Every small victory, from a customer compliment to a good payday, reinforced my confidence.
If you’re starting from zero, practice believing in yourself. Even if your dream seems far off, confidence is the fuel that keeps you taking the next step. Surround yourself with people who believe in you, too, if you can. But even if you’re on your own, keep that inner voice encouraging. It’s not about arrogance; it’s about knowing your own potential. You have to be your own biggest cheerleader at times. With self-belief, you turn “starting with nothing” into “starting with the one thing you truly need” – the conviction that you can and will reach your goals.
Patience: Trust the Process and the Time it Takes
From the outside, success stories often look like they happened overnight. But as someone who truly started from zero, let me assure you: success takes time. In our fast-paced world, patience is a rare virtue, but it’s absolutely essential when you’re building something from nothing. I spent years working lowpaying jobs, years saving up and slowly improving my situation before I saw any major payoff. It was over a decade from the day I arrived in the U.S. to the day I launched my first online business in 2023. That entire time was a lesson in patience and persistence. There were moments I felt frustrated—why was everything taking so long? Why was I still struggling while I saw others my age buying homes or getting advanced degrees? During those moments, I reminded myself of how far I’d come and of the big picture. Good things were happening, just not all at once.
Remember that Haitian proverb: “Little by little, the bird builds its nest.” It’s also a reminder that we cannot get discouraged when progress is slow. Great things take time to build; nothing of value is instantaneous . A nest isn’t built in a day, and neither is a career, a business, or any worthwhile achievement. I often thought of my journey like building a house brick by brick. If I tried to rush it, I’d risk building a shaky foundation. So I learned to trust the process. Each phase of my journey had a purpose: pushing carts taught me work ethic and humility; moving furniture built my strength and grit; driving a truck taught me independence and responsibility; starting an online business taught me creativity and risk-taking. Each phase built on the previous one, like layers of a strong structure. “The longer it takes to build something, the longer it lasts,” a Haitian elder once told me. In other words, taking your time can create a more durable success.
Patience is not passive. It’s an active trust that your efforts will pay off in time. It means continuing to work hard and stay positive, even when you aren’t seeing immediate results. I kept a long-term vision in mind: I imagined a day when I could tell this very story of coming from nothing. That vision gave me patience on the difficult days. And eventually, the results did come—I was able to quit doing moves and focus solely on trucking. Later, I took another leap and launched two small e-commerce businesses in 2023. Those first months online were slow; sales trickled in at first. But again, patience played its part. I kept learning and tweaking my approach, and by staying patient and persistent, I saw growth month by month.
If you are at the start of your journey, give yourself the gift of time. Don’t be discouraged by an empty bank account or a lack of immediate results. All good things of value take time . Keep working your plan, and trust that as long as you keep improving, progress is happening, even if you can't see it yet. Patience combined with consistency is unstoppable. It turns the tiny acorn into the oak tree, the single step into a marathon. Trust the journey—you’re building something that will last.
Turning Zero into an Advantage
It might sound strange, but I genuinely believe that starting with nothing gave me a unique advantage. When you have nothing, you also have nothing to lose and everything to gain. In my case, coming from a tough background meant I was hungry to improve my life. I didn’t have a safety net or a Plan B, so I was fully committed to making Plan A work. That hunger fueled my hustle. Starting from zero also meant I had no preconceptions about how things “should” be done. I was free to try unconventional paths. For instance, I wasn’t following a set career ladder—every move I made, from odd jobs to buying a truck, was based on what I learned and where I saw opportunity, not on any preset script. That kind of freedom is a real advantage. It allows for bold experimentation and creativity in your life path that people with a more comfortable start might shy away from.
Moreover, beginning at zero teaches you to value every step. Nothing was handed to me, so every small win felt huge. I still remember the pride I felt when I got my first promotion, or when I made my first $100 in profit online. Those victories gave me confidence and motivation to go after the next goal. In a way, starting with nothing made me incredibly resourceful and resilient. I learned to solve problems because I had to. If the truck broke down, I figured out how to fix it or find someone who could, without breaking the bank. If I needed new skills, I found free resources or mentors because I couldn't afford fancy training. This resourcefulness is a direct result of the “advantage” of having scarce resources early on. It trained me to maximize the little I had, a skill that serves me well now that I have more.
Here are a few ways that starting from zero can be an advantage if you have the right mindset:
No Entitlement: When you start with nothing, you don’t feel the world owes you anything. You’re willing to work for every inch of progress. This attitude wins respect and opens doors.
Hunger to Learn: Knowing that you need to improve pushes you to learn constantly. You seek knowledge, mentors, and new skills aggressively, which speeds up your growth.
Nothing to Lose: With no cushy fallback, you can take smart risks. I wasn’t afraid to change jobs or start a business because I knew what surviving with little felt like. That made me bolder in pursuing opportunities.
Appreciation of Progress: Every improvement, no matter how small, feels like a victory. This builds positive momentum and resilience, because you learn to find encouragement in the journey itself.
Adaptability: Starting from zero often means you have to wear many hats and figure things out. This makes you highly adaptable and creative in overcoming challenges.
By recognizing these advantages, you can flip the script in your mind: having nothing can become your strength. It means you have a blank slate to create the life you want, and the growth you achieve will be truly yours.
Conclusion: Your Zero Can Become Your Everything
As I reflect on my journey—from arriving in the U.S. with nothing in 2013, to pushing carts, to sweating through moving jobs, to earning my CDL, to buying a truck, to starting online businesses—I am struck by how powerful a mindset shift can be. The external story is one of climbing from poverty to stability, but the internal story is what matters most. It’s about transforming fear into motivation and adopting a mindset that turns zero into an opportunity. I learned to be humble about what I didn’t know, gritty in the face of obstacles, consistent in my efforts, confident in myself, and patient with my progress. Those habits and attitudes changed everything.
If you are standing at your own “ground zero”, I hope my story inspires you to see it not as a limitation, but as a starting line with a world of possibilities in front of you. Starting from zero is not a setback; it’s a chance to build something from scratch, exactly the way you want. It’s an opportunity to discover how strong and capable you really are. With the right mindset, you can turn nothing into something amazing. Every expert was once a beginner. Every success story you’ve heard—whether it’s an immigrant who made it, an entrepreneur who built a company, or an individual who transformed their life—started with that first step. Now it’s your turn.
Believe in your ability to grow, embrace the hard work, and trust the process. Before long, you’ll look back and realize that starting from zero was the best thing that ever happened to you. Your journey from zero can indeed change everything—for the better. Go ahead, take that first step, and start building your nest, little by little. The sky is the limit.
