Building a Successful One-Person Business: Strategies and Challenges

Brett Williams (better known as Brett from DJ on X) built a design business over a weekend, scaled it to $80K/month… and still didn’t quit his job.

Now he has, and he runs a $2M/year one-person business.

In today's episode, he helps you steal his playbook:

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Timestamps:

Preview - 00:00:00

How Brett Started a Business with Full-Time Job - 00:02:41

Why Brett's Approach is Different - 00:07:59

Concept Behind Packaging - 00:09:47

Ad - 00:12:31

Ad - 00:13:10

Strategies to Reach Success - 00:14:33

Common Requirements of Clients - 00:17:25

How Long is Brett's Turnaround - 00:21:04

Focus on Distribution Platfrom - 00:24:43

Brett's Life on Twitter - 00:28:29

Design in Figma -- Tutorial - 00:32:41

Ad - 00:35:31

Importance of Using AI Skills Right - 00:36:12

Handling Thumbnails - 00:55:09

Ending Notes - 01:08:23

Key Takeaways

1. One guy. One Trello board. $2 million a year. DesignJoy is what happens when you stop overcomplicating and start executing. No team. No agency overhead. No client onboarding flow. Brett built a $2M/year design business with just a landing page, a Trello board, and relentless output. People pay for clarity and DesignJoy offers just that.

2. He was making $80K/month… and still didn’t quit his job. Most founders quit when the side hustle hits $10K. He waited until $80K/month, then still applied to 60 jobs. Why? Because deep down, he wasn’t sure it would last. That’s the quiet truth for many solo builders: it’s not just about making money, it’s about believing you deserve it.

3. His offer is stupidly simple and that’s what makes it genius. One flat price. One request at a time. One-man turnaround in ~48 business hours. That’s it. Clients don’t need to scope projects, negotiate timelines, or wonder what they’ll get. It’s design like Netflix: press play, get results. As they say, simplicity scales better than process.

4. DesignJoy was built in 48 hours and validated in real-time. No growth strategy. No “perfect launch.” Just a clean offer built in a weekend, launched Saturday, clients by Sunday. And then? He kept going not by making it absolutely complex, but by refining the exact same system for years.

5. He designs faster than most teams can Slack about it. He doesn’t wireframe, brainstorm, or explore 12 directions. He one-shots full high-fidelity designs in Figma using instinct, experience, and a deep mental library of design patterns. No templates. Just speed, conviction, and clarity - honed from years of obsessively consuming great design. In essence, real mastery as Robert Greene has proclaimed for years!

6. He doesn’t chase perfection, he chases velocity. His goal isn’t to win design awards. It’s to get you 90% of the way there, fast. And if the first version isn’t right, he doesn’t defend it, he just ships another one. That’s why clients love him. That can be another reason why he’s making more than like 99.99% of the designers!

7. His distribution channel is only X (Twitter) and here how he nails it. He treats X (Twitter) as oxygen. He’s not there to share random thoughts he’s there to build distribution. Whether it’s revenue milestones or AI-powered design tutorials, everything he posts is battle-tested for reach. And right now, nothing is outperforming high-value, visual tutorials. So, if your work involves AI somehow, make sure you’re dropping banger visuals. Overall, if I conclude his content strategy, it would be this: highly valuable content, jumping on trends, controversial/hot takes, etc.

8. He doesn’t trust Figma anymore. Ask him what Figma has become, and he won’t hold back: “They’re building for developers, not designers.” He’s watched the updates shift toward dev mode and tokens while UI/visual designers get left behind.

9. But why he doesn’t do any meetings with clients? He built his business around the idea that great work is communication. His clients don’t want another Zoom call, they want a landing page by Friday. That’s why he wins. Every deliverable speaks louder than status updates.

10. Here’s how you can build a one person agency around your expertise:→ Productize your strongest skill.→ Limit what you offer to what you’re best and fastest at.→ Pick one platform and post with consistency and clarity.→ Work solo if you can but systematize everything.

Sounds too simple but truly that’s only the sauce.

Check it out on Apple, Spotify, or YouTube.

Where to Find Brett

Twitter: Brett

Company: Designjoy

Course: Productize Yourself

Related Podcast:

How this Ex-Amazon VP makes $950k/yr post retirement

Up Next

I hope you enjoyed the last episode with Harish Mukhami (where we built AI Customer Success Agent). Up next, we have episodes with:

Thomas Occhino - CPO, Vercel

Aman Khan - AI PM @ Arize AI, Spotify, Cruise

Nan Yu - Head of Product, Linear

Finally, check out my latest deep dive if you haven’t yet: Career-Launching Companies: These are the Companies You Should Work For

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