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SLC

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Industrial Salt Lake (2)

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Industrial Salt Lake

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Big Cottonwood Canyon

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Antelope Island

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Salt Lake City 6/12/2025

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Sustainable growth

I consider blueprint my first real business. I’ve been grinding it for 2 years full time with nearly singular focus.

Coming from a content creation background, I used to see my path as:

1: Be great at what I do

2: Follow the opportunities that come (and create them)

I worked with hundreds of clients across music, photo, and film – but I wouldn’t say this was effective business thinking.

I realize now that money is made through planning and investment.

Ex:

We make 20k MRR, and last month we made 37k. We have been able to get our money up and get a real taste of entrepreneurship.

But this isn’t long term sustainable growth. All output is tied to our manual labor hours. We work over full time and delegation is near-futile. We have no marketing or leads. We’re a work in progress.

But now I can identify weaknesses, and believe we can develop these weaknesses over the long term through experimentation. This advice is obvious and ubiquitous. But it’s hard to truly believe in it until I experience and understand it for myself. In hindsight, I think we needed to feel valid and taste traction before we could grasp these concepts.

Now I value long term sustainable growth – growth that can compound and increase leverage – even if it looks measly in the short term.

In the beginning all we had was little tests, sprints, and side quests. Some of these unlocked little boosts and important information. Now the main quest is becoming clearer and clearer, and we can start to plan and invest.

Several hypotheses are at play here. We can make 20k/head and pay them 10k. 10k/m in person talent will be excellent, deliver lots of high quality work, and have high motivation. We will find acquisition channels that jive with our $10k/m subscription.

If this doesn’t work, we re-think the model. Those who know when to re-think early, and make effective changes, rise to the top.

I get excited about iterating, inventing, experimenting. But I should be careful with my calories going forward. Running for the sake of it may be fun, but long term growth will be more fun: I could take time to travel, do language learning, participate in family events, or just work on the business if I want to.

I may have more money now, but I’m poor in time.

Two steps forward, one step back.

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Saturday Doodles

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Design Process - PreGame

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Monteverde Costa Rica

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Stream of consciousness reflection after mtndao

Stream of consciousness reflection:

I choose not to embody a common archetype Though it grants harmony, belonging, social role It is not truth. There is more to decision making, understanding the world, etc. When given the choice out of curiosity I usually choose a less known option Maybe my goal is to make the best choice, and I need complete information to do so Maybe I would rather feel the edge of my existence than get lost in societal flow Exploration > established paths. Because I have to cope when the boundaries are too established Maybe I'm afraid of foresight. I'd prefer not to know who I will be in 1 year. I want to be special, above the standard path: wife, picket fence, dog… This is the pinnacle of thousands of years of societal evolution. But if I accept that is the point of life, I will be depressed at its lameness…

Agency low level throughput Agency premium few clients Digital products 9-5 employee Mtndao gave me a dream. And I am alone again

I'm not as wealthy as I thought. I used to be a starving dog, starving to help someone with my design skills. Now we have a big fish and are less diligent. But more confident. And evolved mindset. These options will shape me. But what is the point? What shape is the goal? Happiness? Wealth? Relationships? Skill? All? Balance? Growth?

Some happy time for myself Monetary shelter The long game: expanding the scope of possibility, improving efficiency, and enlightenment: purification of mind, education, consolidating pragmatic knowledge for psychophysiological health, and constructive comportment within the cutting edge matrix.

A humanist, lifeist, technologist take

Happy with nothing [minimalist room] A hunter [primitive human in the rain]

This whole discussion is to alleviate internal conflict The competing desires in my mind and my new worldsim update The social pressure of job/status/wealth My personal pressure to be unique, great, loved Is this the boundary between the absolute and the relative? Yin and yang? Internal and external?

Perhaps this itself is the challenge, the art To life life with a whole heart

What is the question I'm trying to answer?

Humans have mental bandwidth beyond the survival algorithm. Maybe it's a curse.

Lifestyle [business] vs performance [business]… Perhaps I only focus on survival, because I have no better answer. Capitalism: Tension for competition and survival creates Tapping into society, business, getting embedded in the machine, funneling resources to your kind.

Feel capitalism, survival mode Without forgetting:

Essential human jobs that aren't monetarily benefited (mothers, teachers)

Environmental destruction

Wealth inequality

Short term thinking

Monopoly

Exploitation

Social alienation

Don't be a scammer

I already exploit myself, alienate myself, devalue essential human jobs, forget the environment. I am on the bad side of monopoly and wealth inequality, so this won't be an issue until I'm on the other side.

I want to reduce the mental burden of choice. Meaningfully decrease choices. To do this I can:

Decide via dice

Decide via big picture ranked priorities

Decide via d/acc or EA …

Just one of those slow days Type II fun is not always fun Just keep pushing and it will be worth it We have to do something with this life, don't we? Is it about the money? It can buy lifestyle, awe, status, releif – it kinda is - it's kinda about everything All this thinking gives the illusion of control, when action and chance plays a large role

…

Perhaps by curiosity I walk down the path to the end just to know what's real. I did that with service design. With 312. And where did it get me. Am I happy with what happened? It was a good use of school. But I certainly don't want to do that again.

I am now interested in money, business

…

This was my first ever task in Service Design, a general prequarter assignment writing exercise. But I still feel very much the same way even after 5 years

For some reason, it makes me happy to think I haven’t changed much. Maybe it’s because I’m more scared of change these days

I think the core of it is here: “an easier path to determine the optimal society is found in focusing on "mechanics of humanity": subjective moral truths inherent in being alive, conscious, and human. Similar to how smiling makes you happier, working from this moral overlap is a self fulfilling prophecy that shapes perception and reality, in so embracing the limitations of being alive in the most healthy way.”

What I say becomes true, like a fake smile Making the right decision is a matter of clarity and alignment When you don't know, try When it comes to my career path, I say "making cool things with friends" - I believe it can happen!

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Yudei 余地 Hong Kong

Meditation with water ❤️

This third picture is titled "The Meaning of Life"

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Late Night, Hong Kong, 2024

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Tsim Sha Tsui - Hong Kong 2024

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Temple Street

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ID Scanner UX Redesign

Quick ID scanner UI redesign

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Lake Utah