You Don’t Need the Map to Begin

I published Anya Ciecierski’s Coffey Talk episode back in September. At the time, it felt grounding. Wise. Steady.

Then I sat down with Molly Fuchsel and Liz Hallen.

Their conversation stayed with me in a different way. Not louder. Not flashier. Just deeply human. Two women who didn’t wait for permission. Who didn’t have a roadmap. Who looked at each other and said, “If this doesn’t exist, maybe we build it.”

And suddenly, Anya’s story came rushing back into focus.

Building a Business Without a Roadmap

Anya calls herself an “accidental entrepreneur.” She never set out to start a business. She followed curiosity. She asked questions. She invited people in. What began as a side idea turned into something real because she kept acting on what was in front of her.

Molly and Liz didn’t start accidentally. They started intentionally. But they started the same way. Without guarantees. Without certainty. With trust in each other and in the power of community.

What connects all three of these women isn’t just entrepreneurship. It’s how they build.

Why Community Matters More Than Certainty

Anya talked about an early mentor who asked everyone for ideas. Every voice mattered. Titles didn’t. That experience shaped her entire leadership style. It’s why collaboration sits at the center of everything she creates. Why competition never felt like the right model. Why her instinct is always to widen the circle.

Collaboration Over Competition in Entrepreneurship

Molly and Liz live that same instinct out loud. They didn’t leave stable roles because they were bored. They left because they saw a gap. Partners in the Microsoft Dynamics ecosystem needed a place to talk to each other. To learn from each other. To be honest about what worked and what didn’t. And instead of waiting for someone else to fix it, they stepped forward together.

One of my favorite moments from their episode was how clearly they named the tension so many people feel. Stability versus possibility. Safety versus something more. That quiet, persistent nudge that says, “There’s something here,” even when you don’t yet know what it is.

Acting Before You Feel Ready

All three stories point to the same truth.
You don’t need to feel ready.
You don’t need the perfect plan.
You don’t need permission.

You need people.
You need curiosity.
You need the courage to take the first step.

Community doesn’t get built by accident. It’s built by people willing to go first. People willing to ask, “How can I make this easier for someone else?” People willing to share instead of gatekeep. People willing to act while still figuring it out.

Revisiting these episodes together reminded me that bravery isn’t always loud. Sometimes it looks like a side project. A conversation. A partnership. A leap taken with no map and a lot of trust.

And sometimes, that’s exactly how the most meaningful things begin.

The stories people share with me stay with me. They shape how I see the world, how I make decisions, and how I think about what’s possible. Conversations like these don’t end when the recording stops. They linger. They influence how I lead, how I show up for others, and how I encourage people standing at the edge of something new. That’s why I created Coffey Talk. Not as a podcast for sound bites, but as a vehicle for stories. A place to share lived experience, surface courage, and help people find connections they didn’t know they needed yet.