@uxchrisnguyen.bsky.social
I help UX designers go from Fuzziness to Focused to Freedom
📰 Listen to me moan weekly in my newsletter: newsletter.uxplaybook.org
14.10.2025 00:49 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0If you're not in the game, compounding can't work its magic.
You don't need to be Jony Ive.
You just need to start.
Make something.
Charge for it.
Stay in the game.
— Chris
🫳🎤
P.S. Who’s coming to FUSECON 2026? I’m already blocking the calendar.
Most people quit before 18 months.
I almost did.
But here's the thing…
If we don’t hit $1M ARR, we assume we're failing.
We're not.
We're just playing a different game.
Lesson 8: It’s a slow burn
Month 28: finally surpassed that $150K job offer.
Month 30: $200K lifetime revenue.
Month 42: $400K+.
No hockey stick.
No overnight millions.
Just small tweaks, compounding over time.
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Lesson 7: Your narrative matters
I stopped thinking "I need to hit X revenue."
Started thinking "I'm building something I own. That's pretty cool."
Pressure disappeared.
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Lesson 6: Reframe the context
October 2023.
4 months of flat growth.
Girlfriend: "Maybe we should quit."
We sat in silence for two days.
Then I asked myself:
"If money wasn't the goal, would you still do this?"
"Yes."
"Do you believe this will work?"
"Yes."
We kept going.
Next month: $10K.
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Lesson 5: One believer is enough
When I doubted myself, my girlfriend said…
"Just try."
That's all I needed.
We all need optimism at the beginning.
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Lesson 4: Money = Validation
Forget "would you pay for this?" surveys.
Launch.
Charge.
See what happens.
People vote with dollars, not hypotheticals.
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Lesson 2: Define your cushion
Can you afford 6-12 months of runway?
Cool.
Jump.
Can't?
Build your side project til you can.
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Lesson 3: Commit or Quit
I wrote every single day.
Shit posts.
Good posts.
Didn't matter.
Building the skill > Chasing followers.
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Here’s 8 lessons I learned on my journey towards independence:
Lesson 1: Make it real
I "accidentally" launched UX Playbook.
Uploaded it.
Forgot about it.
Someone bought it a week later.
If I'd waited for "perfect," I'd still be waiting.
↓
I spoke about “how to be an indie designer”
Because I believe designers are born to:
→ be founders
→ make things
→ chart their own paths
And nothing makes me more proud than being independent.
But it’s…
Not easy.
Not sexy.
Not overnight.
I spoke about “how to be an indie designer”
Because I believe designers are born to:
→ be founders
→ make things
→ chart their own paths
And nothing makes me more proud than being independent.
But it’s…
I'm not Chris Do with millions of followers.
I'm not running a venture-backed unicorn.
I'm not the next Jony Ive.
I'm just a guy who:
→ Declined a $150k job offer
→ Nearly quit at the lowest point
→ Took 18 months to hit $10k/month
I almost didn't give this talk.
Because who am I to talk about being independent?
It’s inside my UX Management Playbook:
∗ Templates to run it in under 3 hours
∗ Scripts for 1:1s that actually matter
∗ Tracking sheets so nothing slips
You're not paid to "figure it out."
You're paid to get it right.
Grab the playbook here →
uxplaybook.org/management
My 6-step framework helps:
→ Translates values into OKRs
→ Aligns personal growth with company objectives
→ Tracks progress without overwhelming everyone
Originally designed for onboarding designers.
Works whether you have 1 report or 20.
Instead, what I did with my prev. teams is:
Set goals that connect.
• Motivators (Why they care)
• Values (What drives them)
• Objectives (Ambitious targets)
• Key Results (Measurable proof)
Stop setting goals FOR your team.
Start setting goals WITH them.
Big difference.
3. Setting vague targets
↳ "Get better at [thing]" = no way to measure success
4. Skipping alignment
↳ Zero bridge between personal growth & business needs
5. Tracking only outputs
↳ Focusing on deliverables, not impact
It’s not your fault.
It’s a systemic org problem.
We need to unlearn the following 5 things:
1. Making it all about the company
↳ Ignoring what actually motivates your people
2. Confusing tasks with goals
↳ "Ship redesign" is a task, not an objective
Managers are often taught to:
- Copy-paste company OKRs
- Pull random targets from thin air
- Hope "improve design quality" magically inspires people
But the reality is…
🔻 Awkward performance reviews
🔻 Goals nobody remembers after Q1
🔻 Designers hitting KPIs but feeling dead inside
90% of UX managers set goals backwards.
(and it's probably not your fault)
📌 I host bi-monthly live streams called The Design of Everyday People Livestream. Sign up to not miss our next stream: live.uxplaybook.org
11.10.2025 17:44 — 👍 0 🔁 0 💬 0 📌 0
📌 For a better streaming experience, go to YouTube: youtube.com/live/HugE0Fo...
I can’t wait to use these strategies for this livestream!
📌 Drop Qs in the comments: www.linkedin.com/events/howto...
🎙️ Answering them live on Wednesday, Oct 15th!
Whether you're:
→ A junior designer trying to network
→ A senior building internal culture
→ A leader wanting to engage your team
This will help you turn lurkers into participants.
Josh is the founder of The Digital Third.
He's built thriving communities for Webflow and Relume, hosts 100+ person live events, and turned community engagement into a competitive sport.
Literally, he runs design gyms, tournaments, and leagues.
That's why I'm hosting The Design of Everyday People Livestream with Josh Loh.
We're diving into how to build communities that stick:
1. Creating engagement from scratch
2. Running events people show up to
3. Gamifying community experiences
Most communities die too early.
Why?
Because most designers treat community like:
• A follower (vanity metric) count
• A Slack channel they forget about
• An afterthought to their main work
• A monthly newsletter no one reads
• Something that "just happens naturally"
As the saying goes:
"People don't leave their jobs. They leave their managers.”
Be the manager people stay for.
I wrote more on this here: uxplaybook.org/articles/rec...
P.S. What's YOUR favourite way to recognise your team?
*Source: OC Tanner
💓 The big picture
Appreciation isn't just a one-time thing.
It's about feeling valued, every single day.
↳ Let them know their impact matters.
