03 Aug 2025 #misc
Recently, I learned about the 10,000 experiment rule.
I found it on Skip The Line by James Altucher. That is, instead of aiming for 10,000 hours to mastery, run quick, cheap, and easy-to-do experiments.
Yesterday, as part of my daily routine of writing 10 bad ideas a day, I thought about experiments I could run this month. So here are 7 of them.
#1. Change my LinkedIn bio to include “Ghostwriter.” Often the only thing we need to start with a new offer or service is changing our headline and email signature. I’m changing my LinkedIn headline and bio to start my LinkedIn ghostwriting gig.
#2. Upload my coding courses to my Gumroad store. I offer three C# coding courses on Udemy. The thing is, Udemy keeps students contacts and takes a big cut.
Instead of growing Udemy’s business, I’m hosting my coding courses on my Gumroad store too. I control the course prices and have direct access to my students.
#3. Change all prices on my Gumroad store to end on 99. There’s a lot of psychology research behind pricing. Long story short, products with prices that end in 99 sell more. Let’s see if that’s true.
#4. Instead of giving away some ebooks, charge $1. Or $0.99 to follow #3. I’ve read that $0.99 is the new free for books, given that “free” readers rarely convert to paying ones.
#5. Reformat my free ebooks and point to my paid ones. I’ll add a “From the same author” section to each book.
#6. Increase the suggested prices of all my free products. I offer free books on Gumroad, with pay-what-you-want pricing. I only set a suggested price. I’m increasing that price from $5 to $7. Maybe I can subconsciously influence my visitors to leave a higher tip. Muahaha!
#7. Offer all my C# coding courses on a “C# Fundamentals Bundle.” After following #2 and #3, I’m bundling my C# courses together and offering it for $12.99 or something. If I sell one or two bundles, that’s a win!
Let’s see which ones take off. Either way, I’ll learn something… and keep my daily streak alive.
02 Aug 2025 #career
Oi, galera! You don’t need to overwork to stand out in your team.
Paulo Cardoso reacted to my post with 10 tips to stand out at work, sharing his thoughts on his YouTube channel. Well, actually, he reacted to the Medium version.
He translated and expanded on all 10 points. He added more context to each point. All in Portuguese.
Check out his full breakdown below.
01 Aug 2025 #mondaylinks
Hey there.
Here are 4 links I thought were worth sharing this week:
#1. I had ~5 meetings to decide what to do on each sprint. And I wasn’t doing any rocket science, just boring enterprise software. Meetings are the #1 distraction and a necessary evil. Here’s how to create the ultimate meeting culture (8min).
#2. If you’re a new manager or you want to become one, here’s a down-to-earth guide for new managers (7min). I really liked the coach analogy.
#3. Here’s another way how AI is “killing” junior coders (4min) in the open source world.
#4. If you’ve ever wondered if you’re a good programmer, read this post/reflection. It helps with the impostor syndrome.
And in case you missed it, I wrote on my blog about the business lesson I learned buying a new mattress (2min) and 10 career actions you will never regret (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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31 Jul 2025 #career
My corporate journey didn’t come with an instruction manual.
I landed my first job because that’s what everyone does and what I was supposed to do. I joined the corporate world without any goal, other than “gain experience.” Which I did it.
But I was fired from my first job, got bored from my second, and got laid off from my last one. No survival kit or instruction manual. Only trial and error.
If I could start all over again, here are 10 actions I will never regret doing:
- Change jobs often
- Learn new skills constantly
- Set a career goal or intention
- Practice hobbies outside work
- Build a strong online presence earlier
- Invest in coaching, mentoring, and education
- Learn a second or third language
- Build multiple income sources
- Grow a professional network
- Have an emergency fund
And more importantly, figure out my own career and plan life instead of accepting the default path. That’s a lesson that took me 10 years to learn.
30 Jul 2025 #misc
“Sorry, it’s too late. There’s nothing to do,” a salesgirl told me.
The mattress
Earlier that day, the mattress I had ordered was delivered. I was told I should get it assembled and ready to use. But the delivery man told me, “I was hired only to deliver this to you.”
I tried to contact the company by dialing the phone number on the invoice. It didn’t work. It was either wrong or constantly busy. I checked their website for a phone number. No luck!
Then I rushed back to the mall where I bought it. The salesgirl called her supervisor. I wasn’t the only one receiving a mattress in pieces that day.
“If you had called me right away, maybe I could have done something,” she told me. After telling me it was too late, she explained that my mattress was delivered from another city via another delivery company. “Hey, but it isn’t that hard for you to assemble the mattress. It has some instructions inside.” Arrggg!
The lesson
If you promise something on your sales pages, deliver that promise. And make sure everyone involved understands what they need to do to make it a reality.
Imagine KFC handing you raw chicken and telling you, “You can fry it on your own. It comes with a step-by-step. It’s not that difficult.” You would never visit that restaurant again. Just like I’ll never trust that mattress company again.
There’s no secret to business, just promise, then deliver.