I’ve been frustrated with the bookkeeping process for my small business for 10+ years.

This has turned into a 3-part series (today is part 3…)

Week 1: I'm Building My Own Accounting Software 

Week 2: My AI bookkeeper caught something I missed 

Here’s where we are.

I officially ended my bookkeeper’s contract this morning.

I tried to keep them; I really did.

But I was just too impressed with what I was able to create on my own.

I didn't end it because I don't like them or they did a bad job - they're very nice and do fine work.

I ended it because there was way too much friction in the process, and it's been a thorn in my side for years.  And as you know, it’s my goal to erase friction.

A quick recap of our previous process...

• The bookkeeper had access to all transactions in WaveApps [a QuickBooks competitor]. But connections would often break, transactions were not categorized correctly, etc.

• I’d pull all bank and credit card statements for 2 different entities and add them to folders (some had accountant view access, but it was pretty antiquated). I’d also do this for loan statements, tax docs, etc. [doing this monthly was a time suck, so I’d batch it quarterly.]

• Then they would pull in transactions and send me back a spreadsheet with any transactions they had questions about.  I’d usually have to go back in and dig into my accounts to get clear answers.  

Which had me asking, “why am I having to do all this work if

ih have a bookkeeper?”

So I launched a new process over the last few weeks:

• I used Plaid’s free trial test account (it’s very new) to connect all of my banks and credit cards — you get 10 free connections.

• Using Claude Code, I pulled all the transactions from these accounts.  

• I added lots of historical data and statements so that it could verify amounts and balances (same as a bookkeeper would).  

And just a few days ago, I finally had financial statements done.  Both 2025 and YTD 2026.

What’s been amazing is seeing how Claude has the ability to see all of the data at once and us be able to discuss it via chat.

Chatting with your data is so much more fun (and efficient) than having to go dig through your data.

Over the last year, I asked my bookkeepers at least a handful of times, “do you know of tools or an adjustment to our process that can make this easier?”  There were no really good solutions.

I know that as a business owner, it’s not my responsibility to provide jobs, but I like providing hard workers with income.  It’s fulfilling.  And if I’m honest, it felt crummy to tell them I no longer needed their services.  

But, for the time being, it looks like Claude is my new bookkeeper.

Ok, I also sold a domain name this past week for $3k.

I got an email out of the blue from a GoDaddy negotiator.

I was offered $2,750.

I countered at $3k and told them I’d keep it open for 7 days.

They accepted!

I’ll write more about it (and another sale!) next week.

But it’s giving me new energy around domains and led me to a 45-minute brainstorm with AI this morning.

Here’s what I’m about to do…

I’m going to turn my entire domaining investment business over to GrokBot.

GrokBot isn’t cheap, but I just collected the funding to work with it as a team for 12 months.

I can’t wait to share what I learn!

More coming soon…

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If you want to get a deep dive into watching how I work with Claude Code to build sites, this video is for you 👇

All Projects

Other projects I’ll update over time (or provide future updates) include…

• Our Local Media Brand Newsletter [sold!]

• Networking Group for Local Newsletter Operators

• Gulf Coast Beach Vibes [new local media brand]

• AI Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• My Daily Planner

• Domain Name Investing Community

• Remote Work Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• EraseFriction [AI Automation & Software Agency]

• Real Estate Investing - Rentals / Flips

• TrackItAndSave - a tool for tracking your subscriptions

• CleverLayouts (a written and visual report with website feedback)

• CreditCardTracking (a tool to help track your credit cards)

• Helpful Analytics (dashboard to help make Google Analytics easy to understand)

If I can help your business apply AI and reduce friction, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Until next time!

Last week, I told you about how I’ve been frustrated with the bookkeeping process for my small business for 10+ years.

I wrote about it here - I'm Building My Own Accounting Software 

I’ve made a ton of progress and want to update you.

My current bookkeeping company is affordable [only $1,500 for the entire year for 2 different entities], but the problem is the friction involved in the process.

And you know I hate friction.

The problem I had is not their cost. It was how much of my time and how much of a pain it was for me to work with them to get the necessary info.

So I built using Claude Code + Plaid’s Free Trial for 10 connections.

I maxed out my 10 Plaid slots [I didn’t think I would do this], and that’s with some slots having multiple accounts where the transactions get linked — see image.

But I needed all 10 because I added personal accounts and 2 LLC accounts.

[What can I say, I’m a credit card hacker at heart — so I needed the slots! — it’s also why I created https://creditcardtracking.com/ for myself 😁]

This past week, some cool things stood out.

I grabbed some screenshots when interesting output happened.

The one that blew my mind the most was this one 👇

I thought that I had added all of my credit cards correctly.

Then it found a hole in the data.

It reviewed and guessed that we were missing household spending.

Which led me to look and realize that we had not yet connected one of our household credit cards!

This is truly the sign of a smart collaborative partner that’s drawing conclusions and digging deep.

It easily confirmed duplicates of entries and removed them.

It also helped normalize transactions — you know, where on one card it may say *Uber567 and another may be *Uber-Ride-cc757 [I still don’t get this, but I digress].

I also sent it additional transaction data to help give more context.

The way each credit card company does things is different.

Numbers you’d expect to be negative are shown as positive.

Positives shown as negative.

Maybe this doesn’t confuse accountants — but it does for your average dude (me).

The tool was able to catch on.

It even went down the wrong path for a bit, but came back and reversed course.

Ok, so the company that does my current bookkeeping is sending final financials for my 2025 this week [yes, I know, I’m behind].

I’m sending both sets to my CPA.

If my newly formed financials work, then I’m ending my contract with my bookkeeper.

But listen carefully.

I’ve been asking them for years if there’s an easier way for us to work together.

And I’ve increased that ask over the last 3 months.

I put the ball in their court to find a solution — but while their process is fine, it’s stuck in 2015. They ask for statements, review them, and then send me a spreadsheet to clarify transactions.

That’s just not good enough in 2026.

I know, $1,500 for bookkeeping is cheap. But the hours I burn every year answering their spreadsheet aren't.

Hey, maybe my output is trash, and I only use it for personal finance reference.

Time will tell.

But I’ve said this before.

You must start using AI tools to get more efficient in your business.

This is what I’ll continue to tell college-aged students as well…

Ok, I’ll update you after my CPA has a look!

What are you using for your process?

If you missed these from last time… 👇

If you haven’t used Google Search Console in a while, here’s a nice little bonus.

You can now add the following web properties — Instagram, TikTok, X, and YouTube.

What does this mean?

You can now see what search terms from Google traffic is sending traffic to those platforms.

Pretty cool!

If you want to get a deep dive into watching how I work with Claude Code to build sites, this video is for you 👇

All Projects

Other projects I’ll update over time (or provide future updates) include…

• Our Local Media Brand Newsletter [sold!]

• Networking Group for Local Newsletter Operators

• Gulf Coast Beach Vibes [new local media brand]

• AI Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• My Daily Planner

• Domain Name Investing Community

• Remote Work Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• AI Automation & Software Agency

• Real Estate Investing - Rentals / Flips

• TrackItAndSave - a tool for tracking your subscriptions

• CleverLayouts (a written and visual report with website feedback)

• CreditCardTracking (a tool to help track your credit cards)

• Helpful Analytics (dashboard to help make Google Analytics easy to understand)

If I can help your business apply AI and reduce friction, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Until next time!

I’ve been frustrated with the bookkeeping process for my small business for 10+ years.

My situation is strange — 3 entities, a few rentals, and multiple online business projects.

This means each of those entities needs financial statements.

I’ve never had a clear path for this [and to top it off, I choose to have multiple credit cards and banks — shoutout to my newest account at Mercury, a tech platform layered on a bank — you can get $250 free if you want to open an account].

I’ve tested multiple bookkeeping softwares that haven’t been a good fit.

I settled on having an international bookkeeping service.

I’ve done this for years, but even it frustrates me (mostly my fault).

Because I’m always looking in the past at transactions, they send me a big spreadsheet with questions about transactions.

Because so much time passes between, I rarely know the answers.

But finally, I think AI is getting good enough to help.

So I’m testing out a few things.

First, I launched a Claude project — I’m planning to drop all my credit card and bank statements in and see if it can generate reports similar to those from my current bookkeepers.

And while chatting about this project with my buddy Claude, I discovered that Plaid now has a free trial plan (which doesn’t appear to be listed on their pricing page).

I applied for my trial account less than an hour ago and should hear back in 2-3 business day.

I’ll get 10 connections for free.

My plan?

See if I can make my own personal finance app that can pull in my data.

My hope?

Finally have a monthly P&L and cash flow statement that I can review to help me look ahead instead of doing the financials in arrears for tax returns.

I’m hopeful, and I’ll keep you posted!

Have you done something similar?

If so, let me know!

If you haven’t used Google Search Console in a while, here’s a nice little bonus.

You can now add the following web properties — Instagram, TikTok, X, and YouTube.

What does this mean?

You can now see what search terms from Google traffic is sending traffic to those platforms.

Pretty cool!

Recently I was coding my son’s business website (shoutout Great White Pressure Washing!), and I noticed something.

Not only do the current coding models listen to fixes and changes, but they also make powerful suggestions that are improvements.

Here’s what I mean.

I asked to remove a few service areas from our homepage.

Not only did it do that, but it reasoned through the rest of the website copy and found the other mentions.

But that’s not all!

It then thought about an article we have on the site that talks about salt air being corrosive for beach homes.

But it (correctly) decides that salt air can affect bay homes as well and redirects the focus of that article to those areas.

One request from me.

But wise thinking and multiple changes from the development side.

Here’s more of that reasoning if you’d like to have a look…

And just a heads up, it’s only going to get smarter from here 😉🤯

Last week, I shared the growth of a directory site that I built a few month back and forgot about.

You can read more about it here: I forgot about this website for 3 months 

If you want to get a deep dive into watching how I work with Claude Code to build sites, this video is for you 👇

All Projects

Other projects I’ll update over time (or provide future updates) include…

• Our Local Media Brand Newsletter [sold!]

• Networking Group for Local Newsletter Operators

• Gulf Coast Beach Vibes [new local media brand]

• AI Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• My Daily Planner

• Domain Name Investing Community

• Remote Work Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• AI Automation & Software Agency

• Real Estate Investing - Rentals / Flips

• TrackItAndSave - a tool for tracking your subscriptions

• CleverLayouts (a written and visual report with website feedback)

• CreditCardTracking (a tool to help track your credit cards)

• Helpful Analytics (dashboard to help make Google Analytics easy to understand)

  See more current, past, and dead projects here.

If I can help your business apply AI and reduce friction, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Until next time!

I spent this past week building.

I’m shipping as fast as possible.

I’ll share my builds and what I’m learning (ping me back if you have ways to help me improve!)

A few months ago, I built a website as a “Saturday morning coffee project.”

The site is CPAsinAlabama.com 

I found out that our board of accounting publicly provides a file of all the licensed CPAs (certified public accountants) in Alabama so I thought it would be interesting to see if I could build a directory site from it.

I have always wanted to build a directory site, but have never taken the time due to the amount of manual work it takes.

I was able to hand the CSV file to Claude Code and build out the site.

I’m using Firebase for the database, and the site is being hosted with Vercel. 

I created the site and sort of forgot about it.

I checked back in a few months later, and I saw that it was being indexed by Google and gaining traction.

Once that happened, I began putting more attention and energy into it.

I added some guides.

I gave CPAs the ability to claim and upgrade their listing.

Then, a few weeks later, after seeing more Google Search Console data, I realized people around the state are actually searching for a CPA (duh) so I created an option for us to collect their info and we’ll connect them with a CPA.

We’ve already received 2 leads and I’m working on creating a relationship with a CPA firm that has offices around the state.

What’s next?

Well, I’m now on the hunt for affiliate programs where we can make a commission for referring the products or services.

And now I’m digging into data from the State of Florida and plan to launch a site for that state.

It’s even led me to launch the next “Saturday morning coffee project” called ContractorsinAlabama.

I’m a firm believer that you can’t have the full picture of what a project or business can be.

You have to start with a hypothesis.

Then launch.

Then adjust as you go.

So how can you use the directory website idea in your business?

Maybe you’re a chiropractor and you launch a niche site in your city or state with very targeted info.

Your company can be the main “sponsor” of the website.

The goal is to help folks find information and be helpful.

But if your company can provide info people are looking for, they’ll remember you.

And do business with you.

Last week, I showed you how I had the idea for a tool that helps make introductions.

You can read more about it here: Couldn't Sleep. Built This Tool Instead. 

If you want to get a deep dive into watching how I work with Claude Code to build sites, this video is for you 👇

All Projects

Other projects I’ll update over time (or provide future updates) include…

• Our Local Media Brand Newsletter [sold!]

• Networking Group for Local Newsletter Operators

• Gulf Coast Beach Vibes 

• AI Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• Real Estate Investing

• My Daily Planner

• Domain Name Investing Community

• Remote Work Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• MSN writing hustle [we got kicked out!]

• 4,000 weeks calendar (in process…)

• Facebook Page (Meme Supply)

• Agency Work

• Real Estate Rentals / Flips / Airbnbs

• TrackItAndSave - a tool for tracking your subscriptions

• Grow a YouTuber’s Merch Brand 

• CleverLayouts (a written and visual report with website feedback)

• CreditCardTracking (a tool to help track credit card offers)

• Helpful Analytics (dashboard to help make Google Analytics fun again!)

  See more current, past, and dead projects here.

If I can help your business Erase Friction, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Until next time!

It was 3 AM, and I couldn’t sleep.

(When you realize you’re wide awake at 3 AM, do you get on up? I do sometimes.)

And what did I do?

Well, naturally, I spent 2 hours building a new tool 😜

I built a tool to make email intros easier, and I’ll share my process.

The idea came from a conversation about how folks don’t always carry the ball forward from an introduction.

We’re all guilty of this — there are a lot of reasons for it — too much friction, we don’t have enough personal connection with the person to make a meeting happen. It’s easy for the budding relationship to fizzle before it can ever even start.

I figured I could at least play a small role in reducing some of this friction.

Introducing Email of Introduction.

Here’s how I built it:

1. I put my voice memo into Claude Code: “Our goal is to build a beautiful tool with a very simple interface. The goal of the tool is to make an email of introduction to start the person that wants to write the email intro will input two LinkedIn URLs for two different people that will connect with an Apify process that I will give you the link to that we need to link up. After it looks up the two LinkedIn profiles, it... the tool needs to use a free or low cost LLN model in order to look for similarities in the profiles. It will make a nice bullet point list of the similarities, and then it will write Three different short email intros to connect the two people based on best practices for connecting people via an intro email.”

2. I knew about Apify —- they have prebuilt web scrapers you can rent for things like… getting all the info from a LinkedIn profile! You just have to create an API key. I get charged every time I scrape profiles.

3. Claude Code gave me V1 —- and then I made adjustments for about 20 minutes.

4. I added the code to GitHub.

5. I created a project on Vercel.

6. Bought the domain (“email of introduction” has 3k monthly searches — otherwise, I would have just added the tool to my personal website).

7. Changed the DNS records to point to Vercel.

8. Went live at https://www.emailofintroduction.com/ 

It won’t solve the whole connection problem. But maybe it’ll help just a little.

It only took me 2 hours to build.

Just 2 years ago, I would have had to get quotes from developers for this, and I imagine my less expensive bids would have been $2-5k.

This time, it was live before my wife woke up.

Shipping keeps getting faster, and this is the proof — idea at 3AM, live tool before I went back to bed.

In my latest YouTube vid, I built out a well-designed PDF in less than 60 minutes.

Claude Design is officially in my toolbox.

All Projects

Other projects I’ll update over time (or provide future updates) include…

• Our Local Media Brand Newsletter [sold!]

• Networking Group for Local Newsletter Operators

• Gulf Coast Beach Vibes 

• AI Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• Real Estate Investing

• My Daily Planner

• Domain Name Investing Community

• Remote Work Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• MSN writing hustle [we got kicked out!]

• 4,000 weeks calendar (in process…)

• Facebook Page (Meme Supply)

• Agency Work

• Real Estate Rentals / Flips / Airbnbs

• TrackItAndSave - a tool for tracking your subscriptions

• Grow a YouTuber’s Merch Brand 

• CleverLayouts (a written and visual report with website feedback)

• CreditCardTracking (a tool to help track credit card offers)

• Helpful Analytics (dashboard to help make Google Analytics fun again!)

  See more current, past, and dead projects here.

If I can help your business Erase Friction, don’t hesitate to reach out.

Until next time!

I set up my own digital employee.

[I share my experience below not for you to do the same thing necessarily, but so that you get a good feel for what’s coming — and what’s possible today].

You’ve probably heard of Open Claw.

I tried that months back.

After it spent $8 in the first few minutes of my setup, seemingly doing nothing, I shut it down.

My theory was that the big companies would be creating their own similar products (and they will be!), but I couldn’t wait so I’m back at it😁

There’s another project called Hermes, so I set out to set it up.

I had an old PC on hand, so I figured out how to wipe it clean and install Linux.

I was able to get it set up with lots of taking photos of my screen, dropping into Grok (any would work), and saying “what do I do next?”

I named her Jenn Sanders (story for another day).

And the first thing I did was give her an email address.

Makes sense for a new employee hire, right?

Then I saw the potential for Jenn (digital) to help out Tish (human) with the growth of Gulf Coast Beach Vibes.

I woke up the next morning to see that Tish and Jenn had an entire strategy session overnight.

Am I going to give Jenn a credit card and tell her to go wild?

Probably not.

But maybe.

I’m here to run strange tests so you don’t have to 😁😁

Yesterday, I also gave her access to the code base for a project I launched a few months back called CPAs in Alabama.

She even pushed code to the website.

Pretty wild stuff.

I’ll keep you posted on what we try next!

SpaceX is going went public.

I was able to get a few shares at the $135 price.

But before I pulled the trigger, I wanted to know something nobody seemed to have a clean answer to:

How do IPOs actually perform on day 1, week 1, and month 1?

So I did what I do.

I built something.

Over a few evenings, I pulled historical data on 2,000+ company IPOs from the last decade.

The moment I had the idea, I dropped it into Manus.

In less than an hour, it had researched all the data and created a website.

But as I started refining it, I realized the cost would be too great.

So I asked it to give me zip files of the code and the database info.

Then I created a new project in Claude Code, starting with those folders, and had CC review the folders so we could start building from there.

In hindsight, it may have been faster to start fresh with the idea in Claude Code rather than trying to massage the data from Manus.

I filtered out penny stocks. Filtered out international exchanges. What I was left with was a few hundred companies you'd recognize — Pinterest, Coinbase, Roku, Rivian, Palantir, Uber, Spotify.

Then I turned that data into a live site backed by a database.

I’m using TidbCloud and Railway to host the database and site.

Here's where it gets interesting.

Four years ago, this idea would've died on a napkin. I would've pitched a dev team, gotten a quote for $10-15k, and passed because I wasn't sure of the market.

Not anymore.

I built v1 in a few evenings. It's rough. It didn’t even have a domain name until a few minutes ago. But it works.

Here's my plan for getting it out into the world:

1. Set up a $29 Stripe link → sends you the site directly

2. Ran $100 in Facebook ads → I got 281 clicks to Whop → no purchases.

3. Drop some conversations on Reddit

4. I also set up a Whop [this is where I pointed my Facebook ads to]

281 clicks and no sales.

There’s a disconnect, so I’m pausing for now!

In my latest YouTube vid, I built out a well-designed PDF in less than 60 minutes.

Claude Design is officially in my toolbox.

All Projects

Other projects I’ll update over time (or provide future updates) include…

• Our Local Media Brand Newsletter [sold!]

• Networking Group for Local Newsletter Operators

• Facebook Page (Gulf Coast Beach Vibes)

• AI Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• Real Estate Investing

• My Daily Planner

• Domain Name Investing Community

• Remote Work Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• MSN writing hustle [we got kicked out!]

• 4,000 weeks calendar (in process…)

• Facebook Page (Meme Supply)

• Agency Work

• Real Estate Rentals / Flips / Airbnbs

• TrackItAndSave - a tool for tracking your subscriptions

• Grow a YouTuber’s Merch Brand 

• CleverLayouts (a written and visual report with website feedback)

• CreditCardTracking (a tool to help track credit card offers)

• Helpful Analytics (dashboard to help make Google Analytics fun again!)

  See more current, past, and dead projects here.

Until next time!

Don’t just think outside the box — keep destroying that box 😉

SpaceX is going public.

And like most people, I immediately thought: should I buy in?

[not financial advice!]

But before I pulled the trigger, I wanted to know something nobody seemed to have a clean answer to:

How do IPOs actually perform on day 1, week 1, and month 1?

So I did what I do.

I built something.

Over a few evenings, I pulled historical data on 2,000+ company IPOs from the last decade.

The moment I had the idea I dropped it into Manus.

In less than an hour, it had researched all the data and created a website.

But as I started refiniing it, I realized the cost would be too great.

So I asked it to give me zip files of the code and the database info.

Then I created a new project in Claude Code, starting with those folders, and had CC review the folders so we could start building from there.

In hindsight, it may have been faster to start fresh with the idea in Claude Code rather than trying to massage the data from Manus.

I filtered out penny stocks. Filtered out international exchanges. What I was left with was a few hundred companies you'd recognize — Pinterest, Coinbase, Roku, Rivian, Palantir, Uber, Spotify.

Then I turned that data into a live site backed by a database.

I’m using TidbCloud and Railway to host the database and site.

Here's where it gets interesting.

Four years ago, this idea would've died on a napkin. I would've pitched a dev team, gotten a quote for $10-15k, and passed because I wasn't sure of the market.

Not anymore.

I built v1 in a few evenings. It's rough. It didn’t even have a domain name until a few minutes ago. But it works.

Here's my plan for getting it out into the world:

1. Set up a $29 Stripe link → sends you the site directly

2. Run $100 in Facebook ads → quick video of why I built it → straight to checkout

3. Drop some conversations on Reddit

4. I also set up a Whop

Lifetime access. Price goes up as I make sales.

If it gets traction, v2 gets interesting fast — map overlays, trend layers, maybe tracking all the way from S-1 filing to day one of trading.

What do you think?

Would you pay for access to this? Reply and let me know — or blast holes in the idea. I can take it.

My YouTube content has slowed.

Part of the reason is that I’m trying to create a workflow that works for me.

I’m all about reducing the friction in processes.

Anything that can shave minutes off and make getting started easier is worth doing.

Example: 2 days ago I sold my large monitor. I sold it because it was like 32” by 12” screen. The aspect ratio is not 16:9 » while it was extremely helpful for work, it was bad when trying to do screen recordings because I had to reshape the recorder to fit my screen at times. So my plan? Replace with a monitor that will work by default.

Reduce the friction! Heck, we even launched an agency brand called Erase Friction — my belief is even in the name 😜😜

—

But I did record a vid recently sharing how I automated my YouTube analytics review process.

The program I’m helping build for our state is going really well.

We’ve got 100+ 170+ builders signed up, and we just completed our second call.

The energy from the builders is part of the reason I built the IPO project!

I’ve used AI as a junior assistant for many things in my role.

Our entire sponsorship package was created using Claude (we landed a $7.5k sponsor with it!)

We’re using AimFox to help us automate LinkedIn connections.

I used Manus [here are some free credits if you want to test] as a personal assistant to help me research strategic lists for us to outreach to, make some of our media, etc.

My worklife is augmented and is a solid mix of AI and analog actions.

All Projects

Other projects I’ll update over time (or provide future updates) include…

• Our Local Media Brand Newsletter [sold!]

• Networking Group for Local Newsletter Operators

• Facebook Page (Gulf Coast Beach Vibes)

• AI Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• Real Estate Investing

• My Daily Planner

• Domain Name Investing Community

• Remote Work Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• MSN writing hustle [we got kicked out!]

• 4,000 weeks calendar (in process…)

• Facebook Page (Meme Supply)

• Agency Work

• Real Estate Rentals / Flips / Airbnbs

• TrackItAndSave - a tool for tracking your subscriptions

• Grow a YouTuber’s Merch Brand 

• CleverLayouts (a written and visual report with website feedback)

• CreditCardTracking (tool to help track credit card offers)

• Helpful Analytics (dashboard to help make Google Analytics fun again!)

  See more current, past, and dead projects here.

Until next time!

Don’t just think outside the box — keep destroying that box 😉

Most of my newsletters have been written to the hustlers — and my lead magnet is business ideas.

I’m switching gears.

I’m still writing to the builders (hey, you 👋), and I’m still documenting my projects and income streams.

But since AI is a part of my everyday workflow, I want to make sure I’m talking to business owners and they can get value from my emails as well.

And so I adjusted the language on the newsletter homepage.

I’m still building out income streams and documenting, but I want to better share in a way that other business owners can also learn.

That’s also why I switched my lead magnet from 100 business ideas (which I’ll still share) to an AI audit — you’re already on my list, so here’s my rough draft if you’d like to check it out.

On that note, here’s the first “lesson.”

I built 100% of the AI audit using Claude + Claude design.

I brainstormed with Claude on the contents and what would make it good, and then created my brand media kit and built the PDF in Claude design.

note: this previously would have taken me 6-8 hours, but instead probably took me 1 hour of solid work. The product is amazing…

Below is a tool you should use (or something like it) where appropriate — we speak much faster than we type!

Speak naturally. Send without fixing.

Wispr Flow turns your voice into clean, professional text you can send the moment you stop talking. Not rough transcription you have to clean up. Actual polished text — ready for email, Slack, or any app.

Speak the way you think. Go on tangents. Change your mind mid-sentence. Flow strips the filler, fixes the grammar, and gives you text that reads like you spent five minutes writing it.

89% of messages sent with zero edits. Millions of professionals use Flow daily, including teams at OpenAI, Vercel, and Clay. Works on Mac, Windows, and iPhone.

Start flowing free

My YouTube content has slowed.

Part of the reason is that I’m trying to create a workflow that works for me.

I’m all about reducing the friction in processes.

Anything that can shave minutes off and make getting started easier is worth doing.

Example: 2 days ago I sold my large monitor. I sold it because it was like 32” by 12” screen. The aspect ratio is not 16:9 » while it was extremely helpful for work, it was bad when trying to do screen recordings because I had to reshape the recorder to fit my screen at times. So my plan? Replace with a monitor that will work by default.

Reduce the friction! Heck, we even launched an agency brand called Erase Friction — my belief is even in the name 😜😜

—

But if you didn’t see my latest series, I’m sharing my views on what’s happening in AI in a relaxed manner.

Check it out here (or the first vid in the series is below).

The program I’m helping build for our state is going really well.

We’ve got 100+ 170+ builders signed up, and we'll launch next week.

I’ve used AI as a junior assistant for many things in my role.

Our entire sponsorship package was created using Claude (we landed a $7.5k sponsor with it!)

We’re using AimFox to help us automate LinkedIn connections.

I used Manus [here are some free credits if you want to test] as a personal assistant to help me research strategic lists for us to outreach to, make some of our media, etc.

My worklife is augmented and is a solid mix of AI and analog actions.

All Projects

Other projects I’ll update over time (or provide future updates) include…

• Our Local Media Brand Newsletter [sold!]

• Networking Group for Local Newsletter Operators

• Facebook Page (Gulf Coast Beach Vibes)

• AI Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• Real Estate Investing

• My Daily Planner

• Domain Name Investing Community

• Remote Work Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• MSN writing hustle [we got kicked out!]

• 4,000 weeks calendar (in process…)

• Facebook Page (Meme Supply)

• Agency Work

• Real Estate Rentals / Flips / Airbnbs

• TrackItAndSave - a tool for tracking your subscriptions

• Grow a YouTuber’s Merch Brand 

• CleverLayouts (a written and visual report with website feedback)

• CreditCardTracking (tool to help track credit card offers)

• Helpful Analytics (dashboard to help make Google Analytics fun again!)

  See more current, past, and dead projects here.

Until next time!

Don’t just think outside the box — keep destroying that box 😉

It was unexpected, but we just closed a week ago.

I won’t share sales figures out of respect for the buyer.

I’m not retiring forever, but I’m definitely happy with the outcome and will be choosy about my next projects.

I’ll share my takeaways and what I learned in this post.

First, our brand was more than just an email newsletter.

It was a full-on media brand, and if you plan to sell your brand in the future, I’d push you to think in terms of being a media brand as well.

We made 80,000 touches per week across our website, newsletter, and social channels.

Over the last few years, I had adjusted my brand into being fully digital.

While we sold ads to incoming inquiries, we weren’t doing local networking and selling.[which is the #1 revenue source if you’re willing to go this route].

But I was full on digital mode.

I had Mediavine ads, Facebook monetization, periodic Beehiiv ads, sponsorship, and ads from incoming requests.

My theory was that if I wanted to sell one day, it would be more marketable.

I’d be able to sell it via any online marketplace to any buyer around the world, rather than just a local.

But then…

I got a random email from another media brand owner in my state who asked if I’d be open to selling.

I told them I was always up for a conversation.

I made an asset list and gave them a price range.

It was higher than they expected.

They came to me with an offer, and I politely declined.

But we kept the conversation going over the next weeks and months.

I explained how the brand was valuable for me in addition to the ad revenue generated.

I was also able to advertise any local business that I was a part of — real estate, silent discos, my son’s pressure washing business, and any future endeavors.

Having a local platform you own to put out messaging is extremely valuable.

They came back with a creative offer of a cash payment plus future advertising.

I agreed to it [I love creative financing!]

Then the hard work began.  

I was comfortable enough not to use an attorney since we were going to meet in person to transfer payment and assets.

Fun Fact: I used Claude to help me draft the entire agreement that we used and signed.  

We also felt comfortable enough not to need an Escrow service (although I would have been fine for us to use one and split the costs).

From my real estate experience and seeing plenty of deals fall apart, I never get excited about a deal.

I just try not to get too emotional, because a deal isn’t closed until it’s closed.

In fact, one of their concerns was that I continue to operate the brand as normal.

In response, I tracked growth and politely let them know that I assumed the deal was NOT happening until it DID happen — I think that made them comfortable.

I also made a list over weeks of all the assets and transfer notes (think hosting, domains, social channels, etc. — each have their own steps on how we wanted to do them).

Then, they showed up to close!

We signed an agreement, they brought a check, and we sat for 3.5 hours and worked through transferring everything over.

I instantly lost access to the assets.

Feel free to ask me anything, in the event you ever have an interest in selling your brand.

By the way, I’m staying in the game and am in the process of growing a new brand covering our Gulf Coast Beaches — https://www.gulfcoastbeachvibes.com/

I’m putting out a new playlist in a different style of video than I normally do.

Just sharing my views on what’s happening in AI in a relaxed manner.

Check it out here (or the first vid in the series is below).

The program I’m helping build for our state is going really well.

We’ve got 100+ builders signed up, and we launch in a few weeks.

We’re using AI all over the place.

Our entire sponsorship package was created using AI.

We’re using AimFox to help us automate LinkedIn connections.

I used Manus [here are some free credits if you want to test] as a personal assistant to help me research strategic lists for us to outreach to, make some of our media, etc.

My worklife is augmented and is a solid mix of AI and analog actions.

Domain Name Sales

I sold 2 domain names in early 2026.

Because of that, I’ve got multiple tools in the works.

One is an outreach assistant to help me with outbound and sell some of my real estate names.

Another tool is to help me organize my entire portfolio and track the overall ROI on the domains (hard to do without a system!)

I also just bought 100 more domain names, bringing my portfolio to about 250!

Amazon Influencer Program [Update]

This will be my final update to these figures.

I stopped making videos a long time ago.

I made more than $3,000 in 2025.

I haven’t thought about it in 2026, but have made about $500.

It’s truly passive at this time and I’ll just let it roll.

My time is more valuable building online tools with AI.

I have 141 147 videos.

(plus 90 videos from other creators..)

My total earnings equal $5,341.35 $7,188.00

After expenses, I’m making $107.51 $141.98 per hour.

It’s pretty dang cool to think that the original work put in now pays me at a rate of a $250k per year job.

—

If you want to learn more about Amazon Influencer, an overview of the program is here, and my first update is here.

(If you want, you can check each weekly update. I’ve come a long way from $2.81 per hour!)

All Projects

Other projects I’ll update over time (or provide future updates) include…

• Our Local Media Brand Newsletter [sold!]

• Networking Group for Local Newsletter Operators

• Facebook Page (Gulf Coast Beach Vibes)

• Facebook Page (Dog Moms)

• AI Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• Real Estate Investing

• My Daily Planner

• Domain Name Investing Community

• Remote Work Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• MSN writing hustle [we got kicked out!]

• 4,000 weeks calendar (in process…)

• Facebook Page (Meme Supply)

• Agency Work

• Real Estate Rentals / Flips / Airbnbs

• TrackItAndSave - a tool for tracking your subscriptions

• Grow a YouTuber’s Merch Brand 

• CleverLayouts (a written and visual report with website feedback)

• CreditCardTracking (tool to help track credit card offers)

• Helpful Analytics (dashboard to help make Google Analytics fun again!)

  See more current, past, and dead projects here.

Until next time!

Don’t just think outside the box — keep destroying that box 😉

Howdy!

^{Every week I share the business projects I’m working on and what I’m learning — excited to hang out with you.}

^{I’m asked what tools I use in my business. Here’s my tool list, AI tool list, and money-making ideas to help you with your income stream building. Reply to this email and ask me anything - happy to help. A note: I always use referral links when I have them. I will make a commission if you purchase through the links, so thanks!}

It’s been a wild January.

I just won a hackathon event in my area.

I built a tool to help make surveys not suck.

Feel free to check out unboringsurveys.com — it’s almost ready for primetime.

Here were my takeaways.

AI tools continue to accelerate — ain’t slowing down!

This software took me about 20 hours of work to build.

Zero chance I could do this myself 2 years ago.

And if I wanted to hire it out, the MVP would have cost me $10-15k+

I also just took my first traditional job in 18 years.

18 years!

I’m the head of community for a 3-person team, and we have funding for 8 months.

We’re launching a program in our state of Alabama to keep young entrepreneurs here and show them they don’t have to leave the state to be a builder.

I also sold a domain in January, but that’s a full story for another day!

I made a vid with what I think will be some of the biggest items in the AI space for 2026.

Feel free to watch it below 👇

A few weeks ago, I told you about a project I launched in a few hours because I wanted to take action.

You can read about it here » Earned $1 in Less Than 36 Hours 

I’ve sent sample reports to marketing agency owners I know.

I’m waiting to hear back.

I’m getting closer to launching CreditCardTracking (a tool for credit card hackers to track their credit cards, offers, etc.)

I’m building out the AI advisor that will help answer questions about the user’s credit cards.

I also had the idea to create a “top 50” credit card list, so I’ll get that live as well before launch.

If you see a need for it or would just like to follow along, you can sign up for updates here.

🐶PetMurals

Ok, so PetMurals.com is now live and has gotten its first users.

I’m putting zero time into it as it was more of a learning exercise.

But just when I do that, my friend sends me a similar site making $100k+ in monthly revenue.

Twitter tweet

Ha, maybe I won’t scrap it after all!

note: I sent them an email and ask if they wanted my domain name for $7k — we’ll see…

Amazon Influencer Program [Update]

I’ve made more than $3,000 in 2025.

I periodically make videos for brands that reach out, and I charge them (so I get paid there as well).

But, some updates…

I have 141 147 videos.

(plus 90 videos from other creators..)

My total earnings equal $5,341.35 $6,543.21

After expenses, I’m making $107.51 $113.35 per hour.

—

Want to start Amazon Influencer? Here are my best tips I’ve learned at no cost to you. Enjoy!

—

If you want to learn more about Amazon Influencer, an overview of the program is here, and my first update is here.

(If you want, you can check each weekly update. I’ve come a long way from $2.81 per hour!)

All Projects

Other projects I’ll update over time (or provide future updates) include…

• Our Local Media Brand Newsletter

• Networking Group for Local Newsletter Operators

• YouTube Channel (Our Local Media Brand)

• Facebook Page (Gulf Coast Beach Vibes)

• Facebook Page (Dog Moms)

• AI Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• Real Estate Investing

• My Daily Planner

• Domain Name Investing Community

• Remote Work Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• MSN writing hustle

• 4,000 weeks calendar (in process…)

• Facebook Page (Meme Supply)

• Agency Work

• Real Estate Rentals / Flips / Airbnbs

• TrackItAndSave - a tool for tracking your subscriptions

• Grow a YouTuber’s Merch Brand 

• PetMurals (make fun pet photos)

• CleverLayouts (a written and visual report with website feedback)

• CreditCardTracking (tool to help track credit card offers)

• Helpful Analytics (dashboard to help make Google Analytics fun again!)

  See more current, past, and dead projects here.

Until next time!

Don’t just think outside the box — keep destroying that box 😉

Howdy!

^{Every week I share the business projects I’m working on and what I’m learning — excited to hang out with you.}

^{I’m asked what tools I use in my business. Here’s my tool list, AI tool list, and money-making ideas to help you with your income stream building. Reply to this email and ask me anything - happy to help. A note: I always use referral links when I have them. I will make a commission if you purchase through the links, so thanks!}

I hope your 2026 started off strong.

I did a simple cleanse that really helped me get my mind right for the year.

I organized my closet — tossed some — donated some.

Simple, I know.

But it really put me in the frame of mind to get organized about the rest of my 2026 planning.

I’m still giving thought to my year and planning for 2026.

While I don’t believe in a super regimented plan, I do think having a direction is important.

I hope you choose to do the same.

(hey, you might even want a “Win the Day” daily planner for your upcoming year!)

I also took a contract position in my state to help our young people stay here (Alabama).

It’s grant funded and is essentially a startup.

Our team of 3 has funding for 8 months.

Our goal is to see if we can build something sustainable that can continue on.

I’m sure I’ll share more as I go along…

I recently sat down and recorded a different style video.

I just talked through some of the projects of this year and gave some thoughts for the year ahead.

Feel free to watch it below 👇

A few weeks ago, I told you about a project I launched in a few hours because I wanted to take action.

You can read about it here » Earned $1 in Less Than 36 Hours 

I’ve sent sample reports to marketing agency owners I know.

I’m waiting to hear back.

I’m getting closer to launching CreditCardTracking (a tool for credit card hackers to track their credit cards, offers, etc.)

I’m building out the AI advisor that will help answer questions about the user’s credit cards.

I also had the idea to create a “top 50” credit card list, so I’ll get that live as well before launch.

If you see a need for it or would just like to follow along, you can sign up for updates here.

🐶PetMurals

Ok, so PetMurals.com is now live and has gotten its first users.

I spent $75 on Facebook ads as a test to get a sense of the demand for the dog moms out there.

I see 32 users signed up that I don’t recognize.

I see I have a $4.99 paying customer I didn’t know about (nice!)

Clearly I can’t stay on this path (spend $75 to make $5) but… I now plan to reach out to all of those users to touch base.

And we’ll see if this is something I should spend any more time on or not.

This project was more of test for learning how to build, so I’m not sure if I’ll invest more time into growing it.

We’ll see — want to help me grow it? Reach out!

Amazon Influencer Program [Update]

I’ve made more than $3,000 in 2025.

I periodically make videos for brands that reach out, and I charge them (so I get paid there as well).

But, some updates…

I have 141 147 videos.

(plus 90 videos from other creators..)

My total earnings equal $5,341.35 $6,543.21

After expenses, I’m making $107.51 $113.35 per hour.

—

Want to start Amazon Influencer? Here are my best tips I’ve learned at no cost to you. Enjoy!

—

If you want to learn more about Amazon Influencer, an overview of the program is here, and my first update is here.

(If you want, you can check each weekly update. I’ve come a long way from $2.81 per hour!)

All Projects

Other projects I’ll update over time (or provide future updates) include…

• Our Local Media Brand Newsletter

• Networking Group for Local Newsletter Operators

• YouTube Channel (Our Local Media Brand)

• Facebook Page (Gulf Coast Beach Vibes)

• Facebook Page (Dog Moms)

• AI Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• Real Estate Investing

• My Daily Planner

• Domain Name Investing Community

• Remote Work Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• MSN writing hustle

• 4,000 weeks calendar (in process…)

• Facebook Page (Meme Supply)

• Agency Work

• Real Estate Rentals / Flips / Airbnbs

• TrackItAndSave - a tool for tracking your subscriptions

• Grow a YouTuber’s Merch Brand 

• PetMurals (make fun pet photos)

• CleverLayouts (a written and visual report with website feedback)

• CreditCardTracking (tool to help track credit card offers)

• Helpful Analytics (dashboard to help make Google Analytics fun again!)

  See more current, past, and dead projects here.

Until next time!

Don’t just think outside the box — keep destroying that box 😉

Howdy!

^{Every week I share the business projects I’m working on and what I’m learning — excited to hang out with you.}

^{I’m asked what tools I use in my business. Here’s my tool list, AI tool list, and money-making ideas to help you with your income stream building. Reply to this email and ask me anything - happy to help. A note: I always use referral links when I have them. I will make a commission if you purchase through the links, so thanks!}

I really love this time of year.

It’s a great time to slow down, reflect, and look to the year ahead.

I look forward to making notes and planning 2026.

I hope you choose to do the same.

(hey, you might even want a “Win the Day” daily planner for your upcoming year!)

I recently sat down and recorded a different style video.

I just talked through some of the projects of this year and gave some thoughts for the year ahead.

Feel free to watch it below 👇

A few weeks ago, I told you about a project I launched in a few hours because I wanted to take action.

You can read about it here » Earned $1 in Less Than 36 Hours 

I’ve sent sample reports to marketing agency owners I know.

I’m waiting to hear back.

I’m getting closer to launching CreditCardTracking (a tool for credit card hackers to track their credit cards, offers, etc.)

I’m building out the AI advisor that will help answer questions about the user’s credit cards.

I also had the idea to create a “top 50” credit card list, so I’ll get that live as well before launch.

If you see a need for it or would just like to follow along, you can sign up for updates here.

🐶PetMurals

Ok, so PetMurals.com is now live and has gotten its first users.

I spent $75 on Facebook ads as a test to get a sense of the demand for the dog moms out there.

I see 32 users signed up that I don’t recognize.

I see I have a $4.99 paying customer I didn’t know about (nice!)

Clearly I can’t stay on this path (spend $75 to make $5) but… I now plan to reach out to all of those users to touch base.

And we’ll see if this is something I should spend any more time on or not.

This project was more of test for learning how to build, so I’m not sure if I’ll invest more time into growing it.

We’ll see — want to help me grow it? Reach out!

Amazon Influencer Program [Update]

I’ve made more than $3,000 in 2025.

I periodically make videos for brands that reach out, and I charge them (so I get paid there as well).

But, some updates…

I have 141 147 videos.

(plus 90 videos from other creators..)

My total earnings equal $5,341.35 $6,543.21

After expenses, I’m making $107.51 $113.35 per hour.

—

Want to start Amazon Influencer? Here are my best tips I’ve learned at no cost to you. Enjoy!

—

If you want to learn more about Amazon Influencer, an overview of the program is here, and my first update is here.

(If you want, you can check each weekly update. I’ve come a long way from $2.81 per hour!)

All Projects

Other projects I’ll update over time (or provide future updates) include…

• Our Local Media Brand Newsletter

• Networking Group for Local Newsletter Operators

• YouTube Channel (Our Local Media Brand)

• Facebook Page (Gulf Coast Beach Vibes)

• Facebook Page (Dog Moms)

• AI Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• Real Estate Investing

• My Daily Planner

• Domain Name Investing Community

• Remote Work Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• MSN writing hustle

• 4,000 weeks calendar (in process…)

• Facebook Page (Meme Supply)

• Agency Work

• Real Estate Rentals / Flips / Airbnbs

• TrackItAndSave - a tool for tracking your subscriptions

• Grow a YouTuber’s Merch Brand 

• PetMurals (make fun pet photos)

• CleverLayouts (a written and visual report with website feedback)

• CreditCardTracking (tool to help track credit card offers)

• Helpful Analytics (dashboard to help make Google Analytics fun again!)

  See more current, past, and dead projects here.

Until next time!

Don’t just think outside the box — keep destroying that box 😉

Howdy!

^{Every week I share the business projects I’m working on and what I’m learning — excited to hang out with you.}

^{I’m asked what tools I use in my business. Here’s my tool list, AI tool list, and money-making ideas to help you with your income stream building. Reply to this email and ask me anything - happy to help. A note: I always use referral links when I have them. I will make a commission if you purchase through the links, so thanks!}

I’ve got a confession.

There’s so much going on in the tech space — it’s really hard to stay focused.

But that’s ok because I’m just trying to be a sponge and learn as much as possible.

Last week, I told you about a project I launched in a few hours because I wanted to take action.

You can read about it here » Earned $1 in Less Than 36 Hours 

I’ve since created marketing reports for a handful of marketing agency owner friends and I’m waiting to hear from them if they find the reports valuable.

I’ll take what they say to heart.

I’ll let you know what I find out!

Ok, I’m soon to circle back to my credit card tracking tool!

I’m getting closer with this.

I’m building out the AI advisor that will help answer questions about the user’s credit cards.

I also had the idea to create a “top 50” credit card list, so I’ll get that live as well before launch.

If you see a need for it or would just like to follow along, you can sign up for updates here.

Have you guys heard of Kalshi?

You can trade on the outcome of future events.

Very interesting site that’s similar to a site like Polymarket.

Polymarket is currently not allowed in the U.S.

And many other sites that do sports betting aren’t allowed in many U.S. states.

But Kalshi is available in all 50 states.

Here’s $10 for free if you want to test it out.

🐶PetMurals

Ok, so PetMurals.com is now live and has gotten its first users.

No paying customers yet.

I’ve spent $35 $70 out of $100 on Facebook ads as a test to get a sense of the demand for the dog moms out there.

Below are some of the ad samples. 👇

This project was more of test for learning how to build, so I’m not sure if I’ll invest more time into growing it.

We’ll see — want to help me grow it? Reach out!

💵 TrackitandSave

Have you checked out Track it and Save yet?

I’ve shipped a few new updates for the tool and will continue to do so.

And I’m continuing to log in and use it often (just added some notes today to a subscription I have).

There’s a free tier, so if it’s a tool you can use, I hope you find it helpful.

It’s been very helpful for me, so I decided to make the tool public.

I used a combination of Cursor, Lovable, Claude, and ChatGPT to build out the tool.

A few months back I built a few websites with AI and did some cold outreach to businesses to help them out.

But it didn’t work.

I quickly figured out why 👇

Amazon Influencer Program [Update]

I’ve made more than $3,000 in 2025.

I periodically make videos for brands that reach out, and I charge them (so I get paid there as well).

But, some updates…

I have 141 147 videos.

(plus 90 videos from other creators..)

My total earnings equal $4,752.19 $5,341.35

After expenses, I’m making $103.25 $107.51 per hour.

—

Want to start Amazon Influencer? Here are my best tips I’ve learned at no cost to you. Enjoy!

—

If you want to learn more about Amazon Influencer, an overview of the program is here, and my first update is here.

(If you want, you can check each weekly update. I’ve come a long way from $2.81 per hour!)

All Projects

Other projects I’ll update over time (or provide future updates) include…

• Our Local Media Brand Newsletter

• Networking Group for Local Newsletter Operators

• YouTube Channel (Our Local Media Brand)

• Facebook Page (Gulf Coast Beach Vibes)

• Facebook Page (Dog Moms)

• AI Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• Real Estate Investing

• My Daily Planner

• Domain Name Investing Community

• Remote Work Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• MSN writing hustle

• 4,000 weeks calendar (in process…)

• Facebook Page (Meme Supply)

• Agency Work

• Real Estate Rentals / Flips / Airbnbs

• TrackItAndSave - a tool for tracking your subscriptions

• Grow a YouTuber’s Merch Brand 

• PetMurals (make fun pet photos)

• CleverLayouts (a written and visual report with website feedback)

• CreditCardTracking (tool to help track credit card offers)

• Helpful Analytics (dashboard to help make Google Analytics fun again!)

  See more current, past, and dead projects here.

Until next time!

Don’t just think outside the box — keep destroying that box 😉

Howdy!

^{Every week I share the business projects I’m working on and what I’m learning — excited to hang out with you.}

^{I’m asked what tools I use in my business. Here’s my tool list, AI tool list, and money-making ideas to help you with your income stream building. Reply to this email and ask me anything - happy to help. A note: I always use referral links when I have them. I will make a commission if you purchase through the links, so thanks!}

Yesterday, over my morning coffee ☕, I saw a demo for an AI tool to help analyze your landing page.

And I thought, “wow, this could be a simple micro-saas ‘business in a box’ type of product.”

So I got to building and gave updates throughout the day as I thought through the build.

Twitter tweet

At the end of day one, I had built out the core automation, the landing page, and a way to collect money.

But no sales.

So I started again this morning.

Twitter tweet

And by 2:40 this afternoon, my first sale!

Our first $1 was made less than 36 hours after the idea.

I’m pumped!

I also now have gigs set up on Fiverr and Upwork.

Hopefully I can sell more jobs there to get feedback on the tool.

Ok, I’m soon to circle back to my credit card tracking tool!

Here’s a post I made if you want to understand why I’m building it.

Twitter tweet

If you see a need for it or would just like to follow along, you can sign up for updates here.

Have you guys heard of Kalshi?

You can trade on the outcome of future events.

Very interesting site that’s similar to a site like Polymarket.

Polymarket is currently not allowed in the U.S.

And many other sites that do sports betting aren’t allowed in many U.S. states.

But Kalshi is available in all 50 states.

I think it’s because of the way they set up their company — they’re a designated contract market and set up their company with the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission).

It’s what many would quickly look at and label as a gambling site.

But because you’re betting on a simple yes or no outcome, it falls under a different set of rules.

Here’s $10 for free if you want to test it out.

🐶PetMurals

Ok, so PetMurals.com is now live and has gotten its first users.

No paying customers yet.

I’ve spent $35 out of $100 Facebook ads as a test to get a sense of the demand for the dog moms out there.

Below are some of the ad samples. 👇

💵 TrackitandSave

Have you checked out Track it and Save yet?

I’ve shipped a few new updates for the tool and will continue to do so.

And I’m continuing to log in and use it often (just added some notes today to a subscription I have).

There’s a free tier, so if it’s a tool you can use, I hope you find it helpful.

It’s been very helpful for me, so I decided to make the tool public.

I used a combination of Cursor, Lovable, Claude, and ChatGPT to build out the tool.

My friend Pete and I recently had a conversation talking shop about building AI softwares to sell. Watch here or below 👇

Amazon Influencer Program [Update]

I’ve made more than $3,000 in 2025.

I periodically make videos for brands that reach out, and I charge them (so I get paid there as well).

But, some updates…

I have 141 147 videos.

(plus 90 videos from other creators..)

My total earnings equal $4,752.19 $5,341.35

After expenses, I’m making $103.25 $107.51 per hour.

—

Want to start Amazon Influencer? Here are my best tips I’ve learned at no cost to you. Enjoy!

—

If you want to learn more about Amazon Influencer, an overview of the program is here, and my first update is here.

(If you want, you can check each weekly update. I’ve come a long way from $2.81 per hour!)

All Projects

Other projects I’ll update over time (or provide future updates) include…

• Our Local Media Brand Newsletter

• Networking Group for Local Newsletter Operators

• YouTube Channel (Our Local Media Brand)

• Facebook Page (Gulf Coast Beach Vibes)

• Facebook Page (Dog Moms)

• AI Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• Real Estate Investing

• My Daily Planner

• Domain Name Investing Community

• Remote Work Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• MSN writing hustle

• 4,000 weeks calendar (in process…)

• Facebook Page (Meme Supply)

• Agency Work

• Real Estate Rentals / Flips / Airbnbs

• TrackItAndSave - a tool for tracking your subscriptions

• Grow a YouTuber’s Merch Brand 

• PetMurals (make fun pet photos)

• CleverLayouts (a written and visual report with website feedback)

  See more current, past, and dead projects here.

Until next time!

Don’t just think outside the box — keep destroying that box 😉

Howdy!

^{Every week I share the business projects I’m working on and what I’m learning — excited to hang out with you.}

^{I’m asked what tools I use in my business. Here’s my tool list, AI tool list, and money-making ideas to help you with your income stream building. Reply to this email and ask me anything - happy to help. A note: I always use referral links when I have them. I will make a commission if you purchase through the links, so thanks!}

I finally found a bit more time to get started on a tool that I need.

It’s a tool to track credit cards.

Here’s a post I made if you want to understand why I’m building it.

Twitter tweet

If you see a need for it or would just like to follow along, you can sign up for updates here.

Have you guys heard of Kalshi?

You can trade on the outcome of future events.

Very interesting site that’s similar to a site like Polymarket.

Polymarket is currently not allowed in the U.S.

And many other sites that do sports betting aren’t allowed in many U.S. states.

But Kalshi is available in all 50 states.

I think it’s because of the way they set up their company — they’re a designated contract market and set up their company with the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission).

It’s what many would quickly look at and label as a gambling site.

But because you’re betting on a simple yes or no outcome, it falls under a different set of rules.

Here’s $10 for free if you want to test it out.

🐶PetMurals

Ok, so PetMurals.com is now live and has gotten its first users.

No paid customers yet.

My plan is to run $200 of Facebook ads as a test to get a sense of the demand for the dog moms out there.

I’m creating some ad ideas as I type! 👇

The backstory…

My wife started talking about getting some holiday pictures for our dog, Beau.

Beau, while cute, is 100% not gonna set down for a photo with Santa.

So I made one for us 😁

Which led me to an idea.

Could I make a simple tool where I drop my dog’s image and choose some outputs?

Yes, yes I could!

And now the site is live!

For the basic functionality, I used Google’s AI Studio to build what you see above.

With another 5-6 12 hours of working with Claude Code (took longer than I thought), we brought it to life.

A few years ago, I would have added this to my long idea list that would have never happened.

But in 2025, you’re able to launch the full tool as a website as the MVP.

💵 TrackitandSave

Have you checked out Track it and Save yet?

I’ve shipped a few new updates for the tool and will continue to do so.

And I’m continuing to log in and use it often (just added some notes today to a subscription I have).

There’s a free tier, so if it’s a tool you can use, I hope you find it helpful.

It’s been very helpful for me, so I decided to make the tool public.

I used a combination of Cursor, Lovable, Claude, and ChatGPT to build out the tool.

My friend Pete and I recently had a conversation talking shop about building AI softwares to sell. Watch here or below 👇

Amazon Influencer Program [Update]

I’ve made more than $3,000 in 2025.

I periodically make videos for brands that reach out, and I charge them (so I get paid there as well).

But, some updates…

I have 141 147 videos.

(plus 90 videos from other creators..)

My total earnings equal $4,752.19 $5,341.35

After expenses, I’m making $103.25 $107.51 per hour.

—

Want to start Amazon Influencer? Here are my best tips I’ve learned at no cost to you. Enjoy!

—

If you want to learn more about Amazon Influencer, an overview of the program is here, and my first update is here.

(If you want, you can check each weekly update. I’ve come a long way from $2.81 per hour!)

All Projects

Other projects I’ll update over time (or provide future updates) include…

• Our Local Media Brand Newsletter

• Networking Group for Local Newsletter Operators

• YouTube Channel (Our Local Media Brand)

• Facebook Page (Gulf Coast Beach Vibes)

• Facebook Page (Dog Moms)

• AI Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• Real Estate Investing

• My Daily Planner

• Domain Name Investing Community

• Remote Work Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• MSN writing hustle

• 4,000 weeks calendar (in process…)

• Facebook Page (Meme Supply)

• Agency Work

• Real Estate Rentals / Flips / Airbnbs

• TrackItAndSave - a tool for tracking your subscriptions

• Grow a YouTuber’s Merch Brand 

  See more current, past, and dead projects here.

Until next time!

Don’t just think outside the box — keep destroying that box 😉

Howdy!

^{Every week I share the business projects I’m working on and what I’m learning — excited to hang out with you.}

^{I’m asked what tools I use in my business. Here’s my tool list, AI tool list, and money-making ideas to help you with your income stream building. Reply to this email and ask me anything - happy to help. A note: I always use referral links when I have them. I will make a commission if you purchase through the links, so thanks!}

I’m helping a YouTuber turn his 2,000,000+ subscribers into a diversified business.

He already makes a full-time income from the YouTube ad revenue (he’s 19 if you’re wondering).

But I think we can double his revenue by building out additional revenue streams.

At the same time, we’re reducing platform risk by building out an email list.

We’ll also use that email list to promote new videos and products.

The hub and spokes of a brand. Our first launch is merch, which gets released this Friday! (that site is a new part of the brand we build using Carrd and we’re using beehiiv to run and operate the newsletter).

My wife said I probably shouldn’t wear a “Girls Love My Swag” hoodie since I’m 41 and married.

She’s probably right 🤣 

But she approved me to wear a “No Brainer” hoodie — nice!

PS - the items I’m building out for this channel can be implemented in any business, so if you want to learn what I’m testing out to get ideas for your business, follow along!

Have you guys heard of Kalshi?

You can trade on the outcome of future events.

Very interesting site that’s similar to a site like Polymarket.

Polymarket is currently not allowed in the U.S.

And many other sites that do sports betting aren’t allowed in many U.S. states.

But Kalshi is available in all 50 states.

I think it’s because of the way they set up their company — they’re a designated contract market and set up their company with the CFTC (Commodity Futures Trading Commission).

It’s what many would quickly look at and label as a gambling site.

But because you’re betting on a simple yes or no outcome, it falls under a different set of rules.

Here’s $10 for free if you want to test it out.

Ok, with about 12 hours of work over 6 days, PetMurals.com is now live!

The story…

My wife started talking about getting some holiday pictures for our dog, Beau.

Beau, while cute, is 100% not gonna set down for a photo with Santa.

So I made one for us 😁

Which led me to an idea.

Could I make a simple tool where I drop my dog’s image and choose some outputs?

Yes, yes I could!

And now the site is live!

For the basic functionality, I used Google’s AI Studio to build what you see above.

With another 5-6 12 hours of working with Claude Code (took longer than I thought), we brought it to live.

A few years ago, I would have added this to my long idea list that would have never happened.

But in 2025, you’re able to launch the full tool as a website as the MVP.

Have you checked out Track it and Save yet?

It’s a tool I’ve been using on my own for months to track and help me manage my subscriptions.

And I’m continuing to log in and use it often (a good sign!)

There’s a free tier, so if it’s a tool you can use, I hope you find it helpful.

It’s been very helpful for me, so I decided to make the tool public.

I used a combination of Cursor, Lovable, Claude, and ChatGPT to build out the tool.

My friend Pete and I recently had a conversation talking shop about building AI softwares to sell. Watch here or below 👇

Amazon Influencer Program [Update]

I’ve made more than $3,000 in 2025.

I periodically make videos for brands that reach out, and I charge them (so I get paid there as well).

But, some updates…

I have 141 147 videos.

(plus 90 videos from other creators..)

My total earnings equal $4,752.19 $5,341.21

After expenses, I’m making $103.25 $107.45 per hour.

—

Want to start Amazon Influencer? Here are my best tips I’ve learned at no cost to you. Enjoy!

—

If you want to learn more about Amazon Influencer, an overview of the program is here, and my first update is here.

(If you want, you can check each weekly update. I’ve come a long way from $2.81 per hour!)

All Projects

Other projects I’ll update over time (or provide future updates) include…

• Our Local Media Brand Newsletter

• Networking Group for Local Newsletter Operators

• YouTube Channel (Our Local Media Brand)

• Facebook Page (Gulf Coast Beach Vibes)

• Facebook Page (Dog Moms)

• AI Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• Real Estate Investing

• My Daily Planner

• Domain Name Investing Community

• Remote Work Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• MSN writing hustle

• 4,000 weeks calendar (in process…)

• Facebook Page (Meme Supply)

• Agency Work

• Real Estate Rentals / Flips / Airbnbs

• TrackItAndSave - a tool for tracking your subscriptions

  See more current, past, and dead projects here.

Until next time!

Don’t just think outside the box — keep destroying that box 😉

Howdy!

^{Every week I share the business projects I’m working on and what I’m learning — excited to hang out with you.}

^{I’m asked what tools I use in my business. Here’s my tool list, AI tool list, and money-making ideas to help you with your income stream building. Reply to this email and ask me anything - happy to help. A note: I always use referral links when I have them. I will make a commission if you purchase through the links, so thanks!}

Ok, funny story.

So my wife started talking about getting some holiday pictures for our dog Beau.

Beau, while cute, is 100% not gonna set down for a photo with Santa.

So I made one for us 😁

Which led me to an idea.

Could I make a simple tool where I drop my dog’s image and choose some outputs?

Why yes, yes I could!

For the basic functionality, I used Google’s AI Studio to build what you see above.

With another 5-6 hours of work, you’ll see this come to life as a real product you can use for your own pets.

A few years ago, I would have added this to my long idea list that would have never happened.

But in 2025, you’re able to launch the full tool as a website as the MVP.

So instead of me paying a dev $5k to launch the MVP, it’s less than $100 + my time.

Maybe next week we’ll be live!

Today was cool as I was able to speak with two different college entrepreneurship classes (not a normal Tuesday for me). I was able to share a bit of my ethos, which was fun.

Shoppers are adding to cart for the holidays

Over the next year, Roku predicts that 100% of the streaming audience will see ads. For growth marketers in 2026, CTV will remain an important “safe space” as AI creates widespread disruption in the search and social channels. Plus, easier access to self-serve CTV ad buying tools and targeting options will lead to a surge in locally-targeted streaming campaigns.

Read our guide to find out why growth marketers should make sure CTV is part of their 2026 media mix.

Learn more.

My first software product is live.

It’s called Track it and Save.

It’s a tool I’ve been using on my own for months to track and help me manage my subscriptions.

And I’m continuing to log in and use it about once a day (a good sign!)

There’s a free tier, so if it’s a tool you can use, I hope you find it helpful!

It’s been very helpful for me, so I decided to make the tool public.

I used a combination of Cursor, Lovable, Claude, and ChatGPT to build out the tool.

My friend Pete and I recently had a conversation talking shop about building AI softwares to sell. Watch here or below 👇

🤖 Automations

I’m testing out my first voice agent using Elevenlabs.

I’m using it on our Silent Disco website to help collect info from people interested in throwing a silent disco.

I’ve made 5 or 6 calls to it (her) for testing, and every time you make an update, it instantly considers that using its instructions.

It’s really cool!

🧑‍💻 My New Software Tool

It’s a tool to make Google Analytics easier and use AI to help analyze and create insights!

My developer partner is swamped with his regular business, so we’re having to regroup to figure out how to move it forward.

I think we’re going to bring on another developer we’re friends with.

I had the idea because looking at Google Analytics reports sucks.

I also know that AI is smart enough to help discover some insights from the data.

Can’t wait to get it live — feel free to sign up here to get notified when we go live.

If you have ideas for it as we go, let me know!

Amazon Influencer Program [Update]

I’ve made more than $3,000 in 2025.

I periodically make videos for brands that reach out, and I charge them (so I get paid there as well).

But, some updates…

I have 141 147 videos.

(plus 90 videos from other creators..)

My total earnings equal $4,752.19 $5,341.21

After expenses, I’m making $103.25 $107.45 per hour.

—

Want to start Amazon Influencer? Here are my best tips I’ve learned at no cost to you. Enjoy!

—

If you want to learn more about Amazon Influencer, an overview of the program is here, and my first update is here.

(If you want, you can check each weekly update. I’ve come a long way from $2.81 per hour!)

All Projects

Other projects I’ll update over time (or provide future updates) include…

• Our Local Media Brand Newsletter

• Networking Group for Local Newsletter Operators

• YouTube Channel (Our Local Media Brand)

• Facebook Page (Gulf Coast Beach Vibes)

• Facebook Page (Dog Moms)

• AI Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• Real Estate Investing

• My Daily Planner

• Domain Name Investing Community

• Remote Work Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• MSN writing hustle

• 4,000 weeks calendar (in process…)

• Facebook Page (Meme Supply)

• Agency Work

• Real Estate Rentals / Flips / Airbnbs

  See more current, past, and dead projects here.

Until next time!

Don’t just think outside the box — keep destroying that box 😉

Howdy!

^{Every week I share the business projects I’m working on and what I’m learning — excited to hang out with you.}

^{I’m asked what tools I use in my business. Here’s my tool list, AI tool list, and money-making ideas to help you with your income stream building. Reply to this email and ask me anything - happy to help. A note: I always use referral links when I have them. I will make a commission if you purchase through the links, so thanks!}

My first software product is live.

It’s called Track it and Save.

It’s a tool I’ve been using on my own for months to track and help me manage my subscriptions.

And I’m continuing to log in and use it about once a day (a good sign!)

There’s a free tier, so if it’s a tool you can use, I hope you find it helpful!

Oooh, plus dark mode.

Oooh lala.

It’s been very helpful for me, so I decided to make the tool public.

I used a combination of Cursor, Lovable, Claude, and ChatGPT to build out the tool.

In my latest YouTube video, I give you the benefits I’ve found with launching a local media brand (including our local newsletter). Watch here or below 👇

🤖 Automations

I’m testing out my first voice agent using Elevenlabs.

I’m using it on our Silent Disco website to help collect info from people interested in throwing a silent disco.

I’ve made 5 or 6 calls to it (her) for testing, and every time you make an update, it instantly considers that using its instructions.

It’s really cool!

Now I’m trying to figure out how to get it to transfer the call to me on my cell phone if someone needs to speak with a “manager.”

I’ll keep you posted!

🧑‍💻 My New Software Tool

It’s a tool to make Google Analytics easier and use AI to help analyze and create insights!

My developer partner is swamped with his regular business, so we’re having to regroup to figure out how to move it forward.

I think we’re going to bring on another developer we’re friends with.

I had the idea because looking at Google Analytics reports sucks.

I also know that AI is smart enough to help discover some insights from the data.

Can’t wait to get it live — feel free to sign up here to get notified when we go live.

If you have ideas for it as we go, let me know!

Amazon Influencer Program [Update]

I’ve made more than $3,000 in 2025.

I periodically make videos for brands that reach out, and I charge them (so I get paid there as well).

But, some updates…

I have 141 147 videos.

(plus 90 videos from other creators..)

My total earnings equal $4,752.19 $5,335.63

After expenses, I’m making $103.25 $107.39 per hour.

—

Want to start Amazon Influencer? Here are my best tips I’ve learned at no cost to you. Enjoy!

—

If you want to learn more about Amazon Influencer, an overview of the program is here, and my first update is here.

(If you want, you can check each weekly update. I’ve come a long way from $2.81 per hour!)

All Projects

Other projects I’ll update over time (or provide future updates) include…

• Our Local Media Brand Newsletter

• Networking Group for Local Newsletter Operators

• YouTube Channel (Our Local Media Brand)

• Facebook Page (Gulf Coast Beach Vibes)

• Facebook Page (Dog Moms)

• AI Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• Real Estate Investing

• My Daily Planner

• Domain Name Investing Community

• Remote Work Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• MSN writing hustle

• 4,000 weeks calendar (in process…)

• Facebook Page (Meme Supply)

• Agency Work

• Real Estate Rentals / Flips / Airbnbs

  See more current, past, and dead projects here.

Until next time!

Don’t just think outside the box — keep destroying that box 😉

Howdy!

^{Every week I share the business projects I’m working on — I’m excited to hang out with you.}

^{I’m asked what tools I use in my business. Here’s my tool list, AI tool list, and money-making ideas to help you with your income stream building. Reply to this email and ask me anything - happy to help. A note: I always use referral links when I have them. I will make a commission if you purchase through the links, so thanks!}

My first ever software product is live.

I present Track it and Save.

It’s a tool I’ve been using on my own for months to track and help me manage my subscriptions.

I’ll continue to make improvements to it over the coming months (feel free to make suggestions) but it’s ready to start using.

There’s a free tier, so if it’s a tool you can use I hope you find it helpful!

Oooh, plus dark mode.

Oooh lala.

It’s been very helpful for me, so I decided to make the tool public.

But…

Twitter tweet

I used a combination of Cursor, Lovable, Claude, and ChatGPT to build out the tool.

In my latest video, I give you the benefits I’ve found with launching a local media brand (including our local newsletter). Watch here or below 👇

I also worked on updating some blog posts and found AI really helpful in speeding up the process! My process below 👇

🤖 Automations

I’m testing out my first voice agent using Elevenlabs.

I’m using it on our Silent Disco website to help collect info from people interested in throwing a silent disco.

I’ve made 5 or 6 calls to it (her) for testing, and every time you make an update, it instantly considers that using its instructions.

It’s really cool!

Now I’m trying to figure out how to get it to transfer the call to me on my cell phone if someone needs to speak with a “manager.”

I’ll keep you posted!

🧑‍💻 My New Software Tool

We’re making some progress on our Google Analytics insights tool.

My developer partner is now able to sign in with his Google account.

It’s a tool to make Google Analytics easier and use AI to help analyze and create insights!

I had the idea because looking at Google Analytics reports are horrific.

I also know that AI is smart enough to help discover some insights from the data.

Can’t wait to get it live — feel free to sign up here to get notified when we go live.

If you have ideas for it as we go, let me know!

Amazon Influencer Program [Update]

I’ve made more than $3,000 in 2025.

I periodically make videos for brands that reach out, and I charge them (so I get paid there as well).

But, some updates…

I have 141 147 videos.

(plus 90 videos from other creators..)

My total earnings equal $4,752.19 $5,335.63

After expenses, I’m making $103.25 $107.39 per hour.

—

Want to start Amazon Influencer? Here are my best tips I’ve learned at no cost to you. Enjoy!

—

If you want to learn more about Amazon Influencer, an overview of the program is here, and my first update is here.

(If you want, you can check each weekly update. I’ve come a long way from $2.81 per hour!)

All Projects

Other projects I’ll update over time (or provide future updates) include…

• Our Local Media Brand Newsletter

• Networking Group for Local Newsletter Operators

• YouTube Channel (Our Local Media Brand)

• Facebook Page (Gulf Coast Beach Vibes)

• Facebook Page (Dog Moms)

• AI Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• Real Estate Investing

• My Daily Planner

• Domain Name Investing Community

• Remote Work Email Newsletter Project [sold!]

• MSN writing hustle

• 4,000 weeks calendar (in process…)

• Facebook Page (Meme Supply)

• Agency Work

• Real Estate Rentals / Flips / Airbnbs

  See more current, past, and dead projects here.

Until next time!

Don’t just think outside the box — keep destroying that box 😉