06 Jul 2025 #misc
He turned a half-joking Tweet into a community of over 7,000 creators.
His name is Daniel Vassallo. He was a Software Engineer with a cushy job at Amazon. But one day, after being tired of daily meetings and the lack of freedom, he decided to start a solo business.
His journey went from building software to freelancing, selling info products, and eventually running the Small Bets community.
After binge-watching some of his interviews on YouTube, like this one with the Refactoring podcast, here are 4 lessons I’ve learned:
1. Find an easy way to make $1,000 dollars.
You don’t need a company or investors to begin.
Start with a low-hanging fruit, a small project that makes you a few hundred or thousand bucks to build momentum.
For Daniel’s first project, he tried to imitate the processes from his last coding job. Coming up with a yearly goal, splitting it into milestones, and working in sprints. That only made him burn through almost all of his savings.
Don’t replicate your last full-time job. Find an easy project first.
2. Be like an investor, but without being one.
You don’t need VC funding, but you need to think like an investor.
An investor places bets on lots of startups. They know some of them will fail, but the one that succeeds will pay off all other investments.
Think of your projects the same way. Don’t put all your effort into one basket. And like an investor, don’t get too attached to a particular project. They’re your cattle, not your pets.
Run a portfolio of small bets so income doesn’t have to come from a single place.
3. You don’t need a big master business plan.
You don’t need a mission, vision, or values to start an online business.
Your only goal might be to never return to a 9-5. That’s Daniel’s goal. That could be yours and mine too.
4. The ultimate goal is freedom.
The goal of starting a business is to have the freedom to work under your own terms.
For Daniel, that means having no rigid schedule or routine, but working on the tasks with the biggest ROI every day. Or simply scrolling through Twitter/X looking for project inspiration.
As a solopreneur or creator, you’re an investor, but of your own time.
05 Jul 2025 #writing
In 2018, I wrote a blog post for the first time.
I didn’t know what I was doing. I only wanted to get better at coding. And after years of trial and error and taking my writing seriously, I’ve developed my own writing mantras. Here they are:
#1. If it can help one person, you’re safe to hit post. Write about anything, as long as it’s helpful for at least one person. You don’t need to write to the masses. Just to one person. And that one person could be your past self.
#2. Give something and give it fast. Writing online is different from fiction writing. In a novella, you can describe every detail of the room where your scene is happening. But online, readers decide in milliseconds if they’ll keep reading or move on. Nail your headlines and opening lines.
#3. Write as if nobody is reading, and keep writing because you don’t know who’s reading. Writing can be lonely, especially at the beginning. The cure? Write for your younger self. Write the tweets, posts, or books you would have liked to read two years ago.
#4. Don’t wait to become an expert to write. Write to become one. If you wait to become an expert, it will take you 10 years or more to write your first piece. Instead, share what you’re learning. Show your work. The best way to learn is to teach, and the best way to teach is to write.
#5. An intention makes you start but a system keeps you showing up. It’s easy to start. Just drop a bunch of words into a text box and hit “Post.” The hard part? Doing it for years. For that, find a system to capture ideas and turn them into content, and one piece into many.
In the end, it isn’t just intention. It’s the right attitude, a system, and the habit that keeps you writing.
04 Jul 2025 #mondaylinks
Hey there.
Here are 4 links I thought were worth sharing this week:
#1. Five years ago, we only needed “Software Engineer” as a title on LinkedIn to be flooded with “life-changing” opportunities. People jumped in for the money. Tech was booming. But that bubble popped. We’re living in a software engineering squeeze (5min).
#2. The most boring part of software projects? It’s when we’re just closing JIRA tickets instead of solving real problems. It’s when we’re in Ticket-Driven Development (4min).
#3. As a coder, you don’t have to know every single acronym, framework, or tool. It’s fine to say I don’t know (3min). But I’ve learned to rephrame it as “I don’t know…yet”
#4. Maybe this is a good excuse to buy augmented reality glasses to use them as ad-blockers (3min).
And in case you missed it, I wrote on my blog about a recovery guide for AI-dependent coders (5min) and the best 3 pieces of advice I’ve received (2min).
(Bzzz…Radio voice) This email was brought to you by… Check my Gumroad store to access free and premium books and courses to level up your coding skills and grow your software engineering career.
See you next time,
Cesar
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03 Jul 2025 #misc
#1. If you feel lost in life, start by working on your health.
Last year, for the first time, I had no idea what to do with my life.
I had just recovered from a stomach sickness. I was on my way out from a burnout season. And a layoff caught me off guard. No side income, no next offer waiting for me. No plan B.
I felt more lost than when I graduated high school. At that time, I believed in the “go to college, find a job, work hard” path in front of me. But this time? I realized that the default path was a lie.
By accident or luck, I found the idea of working on my health when I felt lost. And it worked. Slowly, it gave me clarity and momentum.
Truth is, to change our lives we don’t need “passion” or a big master plan. We just need to start working on our health.
#2. Do something for your body, mind, and spirit every day.
After deciding to work on my health, I ditched my to-do list and focused on one single goal: working on my body, mind, and spirit every day.
I found that idea in one of James Altucher’s books. Probably Choose Yourself.
For me, it meant a workout session, writing 200 words, and a moment of silence every single day.
For you, it could be going running, meditating, or painting. Whatever. But do something for your body, mind, and spirit every day.
We’re truly healthy when the three of them are healthy. Work on each one every day. That’s the easiest recipe for a happy life.
#3. Save 50% of your income
Credit goes to an ex-coworker from my first coding job.
One day, out of the blue, he came close to my desk and shared this unsolicited advice. For free.
He told me:
“Cesar, imagine you only make half of your salary. Save and invest the other half. Sooner rather than later, you will buy your own house.”
That’s the best piece of advice I’ve ever received. Since then, I started to save. Sometimes 50%. Other times, less.
#4. Learn a second (or third) language
I learned English to make my CV attractive and land high-paying jobs.
But learning English meant more than high-paying jobs. It opened a whole new world: friendships, traveling, books… And you’re reading this because one day my mom’s best friend told her to sign me up for English classes.
For me, it was English. For you, maybe Arabic for work in the Middle East or Spanish to join a rising startup in LatAm. A new life is waiting for you behind a new language.
#5. If you don’t read, you won’t learn anything.
I don’t remember much of my philosophy class in high school.
But I won’t forget our teacher’s mantra. He repeated it all the time:
“If you don’t read, you won’t learn anything.”
Many years later, I stumbled upon him at a mall and told him I still remembered his quote. He told me the second part:
“If you don’t read, you won’t have anything to talk about.”
I had to wait more than 10 years to learn the full line.
Read one page or 10 or 15, but read something every day.
#6. Start a blog
Apart from learning English, writing is one of the most helpful skills for my professional career.
I made my first $100 online by sharing my words in a corner of the Internet.
Start a blog or write tweets. Just write. It will teach you to think clearly and it can make you some money in the meantime.
#7. The minute you learn something, teach it.
I found this idea in Show Your Work by Austen Kleon.
You don’t need a lecture hall or scientific papers to teach. Simply share it with anyone over the phone. Or write it anywhere online. That’s what has powered my online presence since I wrote my first blog post back in 2018. Sharing what I learn has not only helped others, it has changed my own life.
02 Jul 2025 #misc
Writing isn’t hard. It’s doing it when nobody is reading.
I started reviving my LinkedIn account last year. At first, I only got one or two reactions from friends and ex-coworkers.
To keep myself showing up day after day, I started a “wins” folder. That’s an idea I got from “Steal Like an Artist.” Every time something good happens, like an encouraging comment or extra likes, I’d screenshot it for motivation.
This last week, I added another screenshot to it. It was a comment on my reposted Medium post about writing a book for our future grandkids:
“I never thought of writing as a gift for future generations, but now I want to document everything. This really shifted something in me!”
That comment made my day. I managed to change a stranger’s view on something with my words. And that was more rewarding than any of the other comments I had received recently.
Collect and celebrate your small victories, too. They make your day and keep you going.