project_log: 003

Welcome back.

Last week was interesting.

I spent 95% of my time writing code for clients and It was rather draining. I have a few client project deadlines to hit before Christmas, which has been the focus.

Part of my plan for next year is to be more selective with the clients I take on so I have more time to ship ideas (more on that later).

Progress made last week:

For context, I have three client projects in active development: a modular CMS build for a credit union, a large AI company site, and a design agency site build.

Last week, the goal was to get the credit union site completely into QA. I'll miss this internal deadline by one day (again). This seems to be a recurring theme that I need to learn from. I should give more of a buffer to reduce stress and keep the quality of output high. Stoked to be wrapping this one up soon.

Earlier in November, I started a migration project for a large AI company. Their existing site was built on Webflow, and they wanted to move to a more scalable solution. Webflow serves a purpose, but when you're jumping through multiple hoops to get a simple task done, it's time to move to something better like Sanity + Next.JS

Last week, I built an integration that migrates job listings away from the Webflow site and into the new Sanity-powered site I've been working on. Happy with the progress made here, but there will be a few design changes I need to touch up early this week.

Content-wise, I stayed consistent this week, and the work is paying off. A few people reached out just to chat about ideas. I want to put more effort into connecting with people I think are doing interesting things, with the sole purpose of learning and building relationships.

It's funny to look back to three weeks ago when I was a ghost on social media. I'm actually excited to be posting again, which is a nice feeling. Progress fuels everything.

The one goal I didn't make progress on was the carousel build for the new site. I'm not going to put pressure on myself to get this out ASAP. It needs to be done right, and that will take time.

Let's talk about 2025

I wrote an essay a couple of weeks ago about the choice to stay independent (you can read that below if you're interested):

The main reason for the decision was flexibility. Being flexible allows me to explore ideas beyond purely building projects for clients.

So what's on the horizon?

I ran an interesting exercise one morning last week where I thought about which market I would like to serve if I were to build tools. I asked myself questions like: What community am I already in? Who do I want to help? Who do I enjoy talking to?

The recurring theme was other independent service providers and small studio owners. Probably because they're relatable. I understand their frustrations and problems because I face those same challenges every day.

So in 2025 I'm going to treat Over-Stimulated® as a case study. I'll share what's working (and what isn't) to grow the business, but I'll also focus a lot of my attention on building tools that solve the recurring challenges myself and many other service providers face.

The goal is simple: help other independents and small studio owners become more productive and make more money.

The execution, not so simple.

Goals for next week

This is where I write out the goals for the week ahead to keep myself accountable:

1. Credit union site — The goal is to have this ready to hand over to the client. It will take some time before this can go live because of the way the site is built. The site is constructed using a component system, allowing the client to create pages themselves. This provides ultimate flexibility (there's a theme here).

2. AI Company site — Theres a few small tasks like finishing the recruitment integration, new legal pages, a new lead capture form that I'd like to get done this week before taking some time off over Christmas.

3. Content — Same as last week. Keep consistent. Keep seeing progress. Keep building new relationships.

That's all for this week. Until next time. Keep crushing.

Will.

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