project_log: 010

Yo

Welcome back to project_log, a weekly series where I share what I'm building at over-stimulated.com and the lessons I learn along the way.

10th episode already. Crazy.

Let's talk equity deals (and what they mean for independent business owners like myself):

Kieran and I had a great conversation last week. We talked startups, mindset, products, etc. The highlight of the conversation was around equity deals and what they mean for independents. Once you solve the cashflow problem (as in consistent leads converting to projects), you start to question if project-based pricing is the key to long-term success. Personally, I don't think it is. Equity deals seem like a great alternative, especially as an independent. Let me explain:

The way I define an equity deal is: you get a share of the company as payment for the services you provide. This is attractive as an independent because my overheads are pretty much zero. Meaning I'm able to work for a month without getting any upfront payments and still survive. I can delay my earnings with the potential of earning far more as the company I now have shares in grows.

Yes, it adds risk. But it also adds huge potential upside to your long-term earnings. I'm going to be working on one of these deals with Kieran starting March, with the goal of adding more to the portfolio in 2025. I'll report back on learnings.

(A diagram from Kieran that sums up this idea super well)

I've started measuring results, not effort

Last year, I was notorious for using screen time as the indicator for how much work I got done. More hours = More work done. It's obvious to me now, but this calculation does not add up.

Rather than thinking: "I'm going to work on this newsletter for 2 hours," I rephrase it to "I'm going to write this newsletter in 2 hours." That way, I have a hard deadline and a yes/no answer on whether the goal was achieved. This is way more useful than "I worked on this for 2 hours." I can use that data for improving processes and time allocation.

Small mindset shifts like this have had a huge impact on productivity levels lately. Highly recommend.

Progress update on Ballpark (The first product I'm building under OS)

(I introduced Ballpark in last week's log. Get up to speed there if you like.)

I bought a domain…. ballpark.ing. As soon as I saw it was available, I knew it was the one. The tone and branding feel like they've written themselves. I'm stoked.

I spent some time working on the open interaction of the widget itself. I think it's good enough to move on and give me a base for how I want the interactions to feel.

I spent the rest of my allocated time building the flow builder. There's a bunch of complexities I didn't anticipate, like splitting the flow on multiple-choice questions, changing the order of the flow, deleting items, etc. The majority of the functionality is there, even though the frontend looks like shit. To be honest, the code also looks like shit. I'm going to need to spend some time refactoring next week.

Hopefully some more visual progress this week to share.

The importance of surfing (even though I'm pretty bad at it)

Every Saturday and Sunday, swell and weather permitting, I try to go surfing. Not only because I love surfing, but it enhances my life in so many ways:

1. Time away from the desk. I never have any good ideas at my desk. They always come when I'm out on the water, on a run, at the gym, on a walk, etc. Surfing simply helps generate more ideas.

2. A reason to keep pushing. Some people want a Lambo. I want a 2-week trip to the Maldives with a surf coach every year. Knowing this makes the hard days easier.

3. Resilience. Anyone who has battled to get out back on a big day knows the importance of resilience in surfing. You have to keep pushing; otherwise, you'll never make it past the breakers. This relates so much to independent business. You have to keep pushing to get to the calm of the established business.

I encourage you to think of your version of surfing and let it guide your decisions.

Keep crushing. Talk soon.

Will

P.S. This week I tried to share more lessons rather than client updates. I think I can provide more value by sharing what works for me rather than purely what I'm up to. Let me know if you prefer this.