Chris Nguyen has rebuilt his business twice since he appeared on episode 51 (100 episodes ago). This week, he digs into why designers can't count on job security the way they used to, what it actually takes to build something of your own, and why the perfect plan is a myth worth abandoning early. |
If you can't count on your job to protect you, what are you doing to protect yourself?
Christopher Nguyen used to sell products. Now he sells conversations.
That shift alone was worth an hour of my time.
He built UX Playbook into one of the more recognized design education brands out there. Then he tried a community that fizzled. Took four or five months completely off. And landed on something new called rectangles, a live stream and newsletter built around the conversations he wishes he'd had years ago.
None of it happened in a straight line, and he'd be the first to tell you that.
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This week, I sit down with Chris, 100 episodes wiser. We talk candidly about why designers can't treat a single employer as their whole safety net anymore. My team just went through a drastic tooling change, and I connect that directly to a bigger point: if the ground can shift that fast, having something outside your job isn't optional. It's how you stay steady.
Here's what you need to know: nobody has the plan figured out in advance.
Chris sat on the Rectangles idea for almost a year before finally shipping it in a two-week sprint, and he still doesn't know exactly what it'll become.
Here's what we dig into:
➡️ Why treating a media business like a product business will mess with your head
➡️ Why he sat on his idea for a year before finally shipping it in a two-week sprint
➡️ Why talking to one person forces decisions you might never reach on your own
➡️ How my team just walked away from our Figma license entirely (a little lagniappe)
Neither of us has the plan figured out. We're both just building something outside our day jobs because waiting around for a company to guarantee stability stopped feeling like a real strategy a while ago.
Give this one a listen if you've been sitting on an idea, waiting for the right moment.
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You iterated, pivoted, circle-backed, and made it out of Q4 (barely).
You’ve earned a Merit-ish Badge!
Choose from four sets:
• Soft Skills, Sharp Tongue
• Cult of Figma Initiation
• Pixel Pusher Survivor Kit
• Field Notes & Frayed Nerves
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They don't teach this stuff in school
Learn the things they left off the syllabus.
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