Half Year Reflection: Scaling Down Gave Me Room to Build
Half-yearly review from a freelance media buyer.
I started the year prioritising simplicity over scale. So, was that the right move?
Well, this has definitely improved my quality of life.
But what’s more, I found I had more time and headspace to focus on the bigger picture. So since I’ve stepped away from building an agency, I’ve had more space to work on longer-term vision:
Creating a time leveraged lifestyle business.
Last year I launched Lulara (which I’d still like to test another 1–2 times before letting go), but I didn’t really know where I wanted to take things.
Then in March, I learned to code and built Growl, which opened up the SaaS path, something I hadn’t seriously considered before.
While it started as a learning project, I put it out to the media buyer community to see if it could be sold following the ideas of The Minimalist Entrepreneur, by Sahil Lavingia the founder of Gumroad, that suggested trying to build for your own community.
That’s when I ran into the same issue most indiehackers face:
Making a good product isn’t enough. The real test is making things people actually want. 😏
To solve this, the usual advice is to make a landing page and collect payment to validate your idea. But Growl wasn’t finished yet - so no social proof, no reviews. Just features. I was honestly a bit stumped on what to put on there, even being a marketer myself.
That led me to a new idea.
What if this could be as easy as making a Linktree but created something like an app store page - where users could give feedback on the idea itself before being created?
So I made HypeDeck, which helps makers easily create social feedback pages for product ideas to easily validate ideas (or features) before building them.
I got started with gusto building the MVP in Cursor, hosting it on Cloudflare Pages for free, and then shared it with the indie maker community on Reddit, Discord, and Twitter.
But after ~400 visitors and zero sales 🍩, I nearly gave up.
By chance I spoke to a friend about it and they LOVED the idea but wanted a few changes. So I added them and they ended up buying. Woop, woop! Then to avoid getting fully over my head, I partnered with my mate Zak to build, letting me focus on promotions.
Now I just need to promote it more from here and get a better beta version going.
Both of us are keen to see how far something this simple can go.
YouTube Stagnation
I’ve tried not to neglect my main business. So I revamped the business webiste, furthered my network, and worked toward the goal of posting 100 videos on YouTube.
However, earlier this year I saw a solid video on monetising your agency with DIY, DWY, and DFY products, plus up/cross/down-sells, thought it was brilliant and started building that out. And given that a few folks had asked for a course, I started making one.
But during the course creation process, I didn’t have the mental space to also keep up YouTube.
I just managed to squeeze out the course without going insane, and while the course sales were OK, this totally killed my YouTube momentum.
Thankfully, my mate Sean started a YT coaching business and has been a good motivator to put more chips in. So I came back, posted a few Shorts, and am back in action.
Considering this year’s goal ( hitting 100 videos ) it looks pretty unlikely for the year.
So I’m considering changing tactics: Focus on Shorts + a few quality, trust-building long-form videos.
That seems sustainable and more effective for now. Let’s see how it goes.
Newsletter Update
Thankfully I’ve been pretty consistent here. It’s easy to maintain.
The process is to I collect ideas, links, and thoughts I find interesting during the week, then stitch them into a weekly roundup. It takes maybe 30 minutes to and hour to write and send.
But ironically, it hasn’t generated any direct leads so far. Ha.
Ultimately I’m okay with that. I see it more as a networking and staying-in-touch tool. And since it plugs my stuff (and my friend’s work) occasionally, it’s still a worthwhile part of my marketing, at least for the rest of the year.
I might change up the format soon, mixing curation with a bit more writing, partly to scratch the writing itch.
Kinda, maybe getting disrupted by AI?
While I still enjoy doing Facebook Ads, I’m starting to think our time is limited. Not because AI will do everything, but more like how SquareSpace reshaped web design by taking what used to be $5,000 - $20,000 into a $50 monthly subscription. Perhaps eventually, only the top operators will survive.
So I’ve been investing in:
Video skills
Storytelling
AI content generation
I’m also diversifying.
As you’ve probably noticed from this newsletter, I have a hunch that people who can use their work and life naturally as personal brand content will do well. So that’s the next skill I’m working on, and luckily I don’t need to launch anything new to do that. I’m just documenting what I’m doing now, like HypeDeck and building Hungry Bear, practicing creating content that reliably generates leads and sales without feeling like a total tosser.
I’ve made some progress, but it’s nowhere near where my ad skills are yet. Still, I’m curious to see how far I can take it.
Wish me luck for the rest of 2025. Wishing you luck, too.
P.S. Want to build something together?
Here are a few ways we could collaborate:
Validate your product idea: Use HypeDeck.io to get early feedback before building anything. Great if you're still testing the waters.
Work with me on Facebook Ads: If you want help running ads or want to bounce around strategy ideas, reach out here.
DIY your own ads: If you're more hands-on, I made this short course to help friends get started with Meta ads. Take a look.