Why I’ve Always Been Obsessed With Automation
11 August 2026
Long before AI, I was already looking for ways to remove repetitive work and build systems that could multiply my effort.
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1J2 / Digital brands, content systems and useful projects
Build
Things I make, code, automate and turn into working products.
12 articles in this pillar.
CapCut Finally Pushed Me Too Far, So I Built My Own AI Video Editor
7 August 2026
CapCut putting audio extraction behind a paywall was annoying. Adding a watermark was the final straw. Instead of finding another app, I built the features I needed into my own TikTok Shop video workflow, including direct Grok integration that turns still images into AI video clips.
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Before AI, I Was Automating Everything I Could
30 July 2026
Long before APIs and AI assistants, I was building systems to automate repetitive work because doing it manually simply didn’t make sense.
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Building a Central Payment Layer for Everything I Create
16 July 2026
How I built pay.1j2.com, a reusable payment service connecting Loyalty and my other projects to Stripe through secure requests, webhooks and callbacks.
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Why I’m Finally Building Loyalty
15 July 2026
After years on hold, I’m finally building Loyalty, a digital platform designed to help independent businesses encourage repeat customers. Here’s the story behind the project and how the idea has evolved.
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The Best Businesses Start With an Irritation
1 August 2026
Looking back over twenty-five years, some of my best ideas began with something small that simply didn’t make sense.
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Why Affiliate Marketing Became My First Love Again
27 July 2026
After years of building websites and software, I found myself falling back in love with affiliate marketing. Here’s why today’s tools have made it more exciting than ever.
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How I Make TikTok Shop Videos: My Full Formula
24 July 2026
Understanding the deliberate decisions behind a creator's strategy provides the strongest explanation for performance shifts on TikTok Shop, rather than relying solely on raw data.
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The Printed Catalogue That Became My First Exit
21 July 2026
How I turned a printed wholesale T-shirt catalogue into an online business, reached the top of Google and eventually sold the website to a larger competitor.
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Twenty-Five Years of Chasing Better Ideas
20 July 2026
An introduction to my journey building websites, software and online businesses over the last twenty-five years, and the lessons that continue to shape the products I’m building today.
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Reading My 2007 Guardian Interview Nearly Twenty Years Later
14 July 2026
A reflection on enduring business principles and personal motivations, seen through the lens of a nearly two-decade-old interview, highlighting consistency amidst technological change.
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How to Find UDID of iPhone or iPad Without Mac or PC
29 January 2023
UDID (Unique Device Identifier) is a 40-character string that is used to identify an iPhone or iPad.
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Useful resource
Read the UDID guide
Technical notes that still help people
Some of the older 1J2 articles still bring in useful traffic, including guides for iPhone app developers and web projects.