Stories

The Printed Catalogue That Became My First Exit

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.

Twenty-Five Years of Chasing Better Ideas

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.

Reading My 2007 Guardian Interview Nearly Twenty Years Later

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.

What April Taught Me About TikTok Shop

A personal retrospective on a month of intense growth and unexpected challenges on TikTok Shop, highlighting key lessons learned through direct experience.

CapCut Finally Pushed Me Too Far, So I Built My Own AI Video Editor

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.

The Scroll-Stopping Power of Contrast: Why Colour Matters on TikTok

Before anyone hears your hook, they’ve already judged your video. Here’s why contrast and colour can make the difference between a scroll and a view.

I Spent 20 Years Chasing Google Rankings. Here’s What Actually Mattered.

After more than 20 years building and ranking websites, I’ve learned that lasting SEO success comes less from tricks and more from useful content, strong websites and understanding what people actually want.

TikTok Views Suddenly Down? 5 Things to Do Before You Panic

If your TikTok views have suddenly dropped, you are not the only creator asking what is going on. Here are five sensible things to do before deleting videos, changing your strategy or assuming your account is broken.

Hooking Viewers: Why Price Curiosity Caught My Eye on TikTok Shop

I've been looking at my TikTok Shop affiliate journey, and one thing that really stood out was how different video hooks performed. Specifically, hooks that played on 'price curiosity' seemed to make a significant difference.

Why I’ve Always Been Obsessed With Automation

Long before AI, I was already looking for ways to remove repetitive work and build systems that could multiply my effort.

Don’t Scale Chaos: Build a Strategy Before You Chase More Videos

Forget arbitrary upload targets. Before you try to make more TikTok Shop videos, build a strategy that’s actually worth repeating.

The Day I Realised You Don’t Need to Be the Biggest

A foundational business philosophy derived from an early career lesson, emphasising niche building over market domination.

The Best Businesses Start With an Irritation

Looking back over twenty-five years, some of my best ideas began with something small that simply didn’t make sense.

From Google Rankings to TikTok Algorithms

The platforms have changed dramatically, but the challenge is still the same: getting in front of the right people at the right time.

Before AI, I Was Automating Everything I Could

Long before APIs and AI assistants, I was building systems to automate repetitive work because doing it manually simply didn’t make sense.

Why Affiliate Marketing Became My First Love Again

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.

Building a Central Payment Layer for Everything I Create

How I built pay.1j2.com, a reusable payment service connecting Loyalty and my other projects to Stripe through secure requests, webhooks and callbacks.

Why I’m Finally Building Loyalty

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.

The Biggest Thing I Learned in June

The Simple Reason Most TikTok Videos Fail

Why I Think Most People Are Looking at TikTok the Wrong Way