12 Comments
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Alexandra Mateus's avatar

I connect so much with this piece. Especially the idea of turning friction into fuel and focusing on context rather than chasing every new tool. It’s a great reminder that working solo doesn’t have to mean feeling isolated. The right systems and peers can make a big difference. What’s been your approach to building your own systems? Thanks for sharing!

Melanie Goodman's avatar

How do you decide which friction points are worth turning into full-blown systems, and which to leave behind?

Jenny Ouyang's avatar

Thanks, Melanie, I love how James answered it.

In my little world, I only tackle friction points under two conditions:

1. They become increasingly annoying to work around

2. I’m genuinely interested in learning the technicals behind them :)

James Presbitero's avatar

That’s great too, Jenny. Also, it’s amazing how you have a more internal focus, but the passion is infectuous and valuable so more people externally resonate with it. I feel like content like that is the future of content creation.

James Presbitero's avatar

Thanks for the question, Melanie! You can validate it just like any other idea, I think. If there's demand for it, or if you feel the problem demands bigger solutions, then you can go ahead and scale it to a system. Otherwise, testing it with a small, helpful pilot can be enough.

But the beauty of solving your own problems is that regardless of the scale, whether full blown systems or simple solutions, you already get one beneficiary -- you.

Jonas Braadbaart's avatar

Love this! It touches on a lot of conclusions I also reaches myself - thanks for sharing!

Jenny Ouyang's avatar

Thank you, Jonas! I’m so glad we’ve reached similar conclusions, that’s real validation for me.

Jonas Braadbaart's avatar

There's definitely something there!

James Presbitero's avatar

Thanks, Jonas! Jenny had some standout insights in there.

Chris Tottman's avatar

Really Great Newsletter & Epic Notes - Write10x - Is so, so, valuable to writers

James Presbitero's avatar

Thank you, Chris! I hope to only offer more and more value for modern writers :)

Chris Tottman's avatar

You're nailing it - we appreciate you ✨