Tech Productivity Issue #345 (How I Approach Starting a New Job)

Issue #345 (How I Approach Starting a New Job) 09/22/25

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It's easy to get intimidated by how many 'solopreneurs' are successfully bringing in revenue for an idea they had. If you've had trouble coming up with something to build that is successful, you might enjoy this Hacker News thread: Solopreneurs, how did you come up with your idea?

The user asking the question brings up a good challenge in this area:

Everything I create or try to do seems like there are already dozens of other solutions doing the same thing (specially in the fields of wrapping AI).

Of course, that's flawed thinking. As one of the top comments points out:

"For solo/small teams? Think of yourself as a street cart vendor that sells hamburgers, and is located on the front of McDonald's. They still sell."

There's lots of room for small startups and small projects, even if the market in that area seems to be saturated.

There's lots of other discussion on coming up with ideas, so you might enjoy the thread if that's something you're currently challenged with.

Now on to this week's hand-picked productivity links!

Tools & Apps

Epicenter — A database for your mind, built on plain text and SQLite that also features AI-powered audio transcriptions and integration with Obsidian.

Shakkei — An ambient sounds app for Mac that allows you to experience the focus and calm of working from a mountain cabin, Japanese ryokan, or seaside villa with just one click.

Meco: Free Your Newsletters From the Inbox — Move your newsletters to a newsletter aggregator built for reading and declutter your inbox in seconds. Offers support for Gmail, Outlook, or your personal Meco email. sponsor

A2.Time — An app that lets you automatically turn your calendar into a smart timesheet via AI, with support for Google Calendar, Outlook, and Apple Calendar.

Faved — A self-hosted, open source bookmarking solution to store, categorize, and access your saved web content and links from anywhere.

Gumboard — A free, sticky note board with real-time collaboration that helps your team stay aligned via adding notes, editing text, completing tasks, managing permissions, and more.

Mezon — A Discord/chat alternative with voice, text, and video chat features, notification management, private messaging, user roles, and more.

Articles & Resources

iPhone Dumbphone — If you've considered how to turn your smartphone into a 'dumbphone' for better focus, this extensive discussion of one developer's foray into that might inspire you.

Here is How I Approach Starting a New Job — Hopefully not the kind of advice we'll need too often, but some advice on things to do and things to avoid if you're ever starting a new position.

How Can I Deal With a Team Member Who Is Always Complaining? — Good advice on dealing with team members who often criticize but don't seem to have any solutions to the problems they're addressing.

Brooklyn Work-From-Home Study — This is actually a work-from-home office project study from a leading commercial real-estate and hospitality advisory firm who had to build a workspace in a 60 square-foot space.

Refind: Brain Food, Delivered Daily — Every day the team at Refind analyzes thousands of articles and sends you only the best, tailored to your interests. Loved by 540,000+ curious minds. sponsor

Shadow Mapping: A Beginner’s Guide to Shadow Work — A philosophical look at our strengths and weaknesses and how our weaknesses can actually be blind spots we don't realize are there.

My Best Advice for the Productivity-Challenged — The author makes a bold claim to be able to help you aim for a 3x productivity increase, especially for those who know they're capable of doing so much more be continue to fall behind.

Suggestions?

Have a suggestion for a productivity-related tool, article, or other resource? Send me a direct message via X or chat via Bluesky and I’ll consider including it in a future issue.

Stay productive!

Louis
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