project_log: 014

Yo.

This week I'm sharing a story on a project I just built: https://1x.tech

Here’s what happened:

The 1X team had just dropped their NEO gamma video, and it was going mega viral on Twitter ( around 5 million views or something crazy).

All that traffic started flooding to a website I'd built. A website that needed to handle the traffic and convert visitors into newsletter subscribers. No pressure. lol.

24 hours after launch, the site had 120,000 visitors, collected thousands of newsletter signups, and even got a shoutout from the Vercel CEO:

But the journey to get there was fucking hard.

I joined the 1X project as an independent developer brought in to build their website. The team was focused on building huge attention on social media for their upcoming reveal of NEO Gamma, a home humanoid.

The website needed to be both visually impressive and technically solid enough to handle crazy traffic while capturing user data through newsletter signups.

Timelines were a little crazy as well. Designs changed last minute, meaning I had roughly 5 days to design the interactions/motion, build the site, and test everything to ensure we were good for launch.

Everything was on target until 4:30 AM morning of the launch.

I woke up, checked Slack, and saw a message from the CRM partner saying I was sending data to the wrong place. FUCk. If this wasn't fixed, all those newsletter signups wouldn't have been captured correctly. In other words, the site would have been a failure.

I jumped out of bed, fixed everything, and tested it all. We were good again.

1.5 hours till launch.

Another problem hit: I still hadn't received the final assets. Without these, we weren't going live. Unfortunately, they arrived 15 minutes after our deadline. It took me another 15 to upload everything and then finally hit the deploy button.

I watched the deployment logs like a hawk hoping there wasn't an issue.

08:30:46.552 Deployment completed.

The project was live.

Users started flooding in by the thousands. The newsletter subscribe API I'd built was absolutely ripping without a single issue. People were loving the experience we'd built.

The project was a success. Felt like I could breath again..

Looking back, this project taught me a few valuable lessons:

1. Self-doubt gets shattered when you do something that impresses even yourself.

I wasn't 100% confident I could pull this off when we started. But seeing hundreds of thousands of people use something I built without issues gives you confidence you can't ignore.

Sometimes you need to see yourself succeed in a high pressure situation to shut down that annoying voice in your head that keeps doubting your abilities.

2. Take ownership. Don't be afraid to speak up.

This was something I was scared to do when I started freelancing. Accepting everything that is thrown at you to avoid conflict is shit way to operate. It leads to wasted time and poor results. Don’t be afraid to speak your mind and provide alternative solutions. That’s what you are paid for. Thats what clients value.

3. Throw yourself in the deep end.

When starting this project last year, I was scared shitless. It was huge project but as times gone on I've learned to love the challenge and high pressure situations. It's made me thrive and as a result I've met and worked with some incredible people.

This whole experience has reminded me that the projects that scare you are usually the ones worth taking.

If you're facing something that feels too big or too challenging right now, maybe that's exactly what you need. The temporary discomfort is 100% worth the confidence and capabilities you'll develop on the other side.

Ballpark progress update.

Lots of visual progress this week. I spent some time this weekend working on the interactions for the widget itself, aiming to make it feel clean and snappy. Not 100% sold on them just yet but this is something I can perfect over time.

I'm also actively working on colors, which will change how the widget feels:

The dashboard is starting to look and feel more like a real product. I've been going through each feature, designing how I want it to look, implementing the design, and then testing that feature.

I've completed the authentication process and am now moving on to the dashboard sidebar. I will tidy up the dashboard leads table and analytics section next.

Let's talk private beta:

I'm going to be releasing Ballpark to a select few people (thinking max 20 users) to help me test and provide feedback. Those who participate will receive six free months of the product.

The goal of this group is to iron out any bugs, identify what is working, what isn't, and get the product ready for users. Since I'll be a part of this beta, I'm thinking of setting up a Slack channel where we can share strategies on what's working, etc. It'll also be the place where I share the leads I can't take on (and hopefully others will share theirs too)

If you're reading this and interested in joining the private beta, please reply to this email, and I'll add you to the list as a way to say thank you for reading what I get up to every week.

I can't wait to get this out there and start helping others generate more demand for their businesses.

That's all for this week. Keep crushing.

Will