The $1 secret that changed my design career forever

Hey beautiful human 👋,

Last week, I was reviewing a student’s portfolio when something hit me like a ton of bricks.

There they were – beautiful wireframes, perfect user flows, flawless Figma components...

Yet something was missing. The same thing that's missing from 99% of design portfolios I review.

It took me back to a moment that changed everything for me – but here's the wild part... it had nothing to do with design.

When I was reviewing some stats recently, I realized something interesting. Over 14,000 designers have trusted me with their UX/UI education (thank you! 🫶).

But not a single one has ever asked me the question that transformed my entire career.

"How do I make my first $1 online?"

I know what you're thinking... "Mizko, what does making money have to do with becoming a better designer?"

Everything. Let me explain.

When I was 16, I wasn't obsessing over design systems or user research.

I was just a kid with a simple goal – figure out how to make money on the internet.

I started building random websites (honestly, they were pretty ugly 😅).

Then something clicked – I discovered how to place ads on these websites.

A couple hundred dollars a day clicked.

Suddenly, I was diving deep into affiliate marketing: finding offers, designing landing pages, driving traffic, making sales.

Before I knew it, I was making thousands a month.

Here's the thing most designers miss:

That experience taught me more about UX than any course ever could.

Why?

Because when it's YOUR money on the line...

When YOUR bank account depends on that conversion rate...

When YOUR success is tied to whether users actually click that button...

You start seeing design completely differently.

You begin thinking like a business owner.

You understand why features get cut.

You feel the pressure of making trade-offs.

You learn why "done" is better than "perfect".

And most importantly – you discover that great UX isn't just about pretty interfaces, it's about driving real business outcomes.

Don’t get me wrong, learning everything I have to teach is important.

They are the ‘technical’ skills that help you generate that $1 online.

But your primary objective shouldn’t be to ‘learn figma’, ‘learn UX research’ or ‘learn UX/UI design’.

Your goal should be bigger, and learning these skills just help you get there.

How to make your first $1 online:

• Launch a portfolio on Framer and start selling your skills as a service.

• Launch a simple simple tool with the help of AI and charge $1 for it.

• Create and sell Figma plugins that solve specific problems.

• Launch a micro-SaaS using tools like Bubble.

• Start a paid newsletter about whatever niche you’re obsessed with.

• Sell design templates or UI kits on platforms like Gumroad.

The goal isn't to build the next unicorn startup.

The goal is to feel what happens when your design decisions directly impact your bank account.

It’s also to push you out of your comfort zone and get a taste of marketing, sales, customer support and more.

Because that first dollar? It teaches you something no portfolio project ever will.

It shows you how design fits into the bigger picture of business success.

And once you understand that – everything changes.

Hit reply and let me know: What will be your first $1 online idea?

Your boy who learned more from $1 than any course,

— Mizko

P.S. Some of my students have asked me to launch a course to help guide them through the $1 challenge. Would you be interested? Reply to this email and I can add you to priority access.

Bite-sized learnings

🎯 Solo vs Team operations: As a solo-founder, it's easy to fall into the trap of trying to be a full team - wearing the product, marketing, sales, and support hats all at once. I did this in my early days and ended up working 16-hour days, achieving less than when I learned to focus.

↳💡 Learning: When running solo, you need a completely different playbook than running a team. Pick one key metric that moves the needle and be absolutely ruthless about saying "no" to everything else. It's better to do one thing exceptionally well than ten things poorly (and burn out in the process).

🤫 Strategic silence: We're building our first SaaS product in stealth mode. While "build in public" is the trendy approach right now (like posting your daily revenue on X), sometimes keeping quiet is the smartest move - kind of like not telling everyone you're on a diet.

↳💡 Learning: Your go-to-market strategy should align with your biggest risk. If your challenge is building a solid product rather than getting users, going stealth gives you the space to focus on development without the pressure of public expectations.

🎭 Marketing stunt of the year?: The Jaguar rebrand sparked immediate outrage on social media. Everyone became an instant brand expert, critiquing everything from the video to the logo. But here's the plot twist - they went from zero social media chatter to trending worldwide (One video generated 165M views on X alone).

↳💡 Learning: No one knows yet, but this could potentially be the best marketing stunt of 2024. Before jumping to conclusions, ask yourself: "What if this is exactly what they wanted?"

Useful lil' links

• Beehiiv - Newsletter platform. Migrated over this month. Loving it so far.

• Framer - No-code web builder. Slowly moving web projects over to Framer.

• Bolt - AI coder. A lot of people on X have been praising this new tool.

• Never Enough - Book by Andrew Wilkinson. Halfway through the book, solid.

• AI is Creating a Deadly Virus - Interview with Ex-Google CEO. Very insightful.

Things I'm vibin'

• Never Enough - I’m 50% of my way through Never Enough by Andrew Wilkinson. He worked his way as a barista → designer → agency founder → investor; following the footsteps of Warren Buffet. I’m enjoying the read because I’ve found his journey very relatable.

• Rolex Datejust - I was never into luxury watches. The most “luxurious watch” I’ve purchased was a Montblanc Star Legacy Nicolas Rieussec Chronograph. But if you’re a watch enthusiast, you’d know Montblanc isn’t even a ‘watch brand’ 😅. I just liked the design. Recently I’ve started to really dig the OG Rolex Datejust. Does it come with age?

• Bluelight filtered glasses - Recently I picked up a pair of blue light filtered glasses; the one I have also has yellow lenses. After using them for a couple of hours, I could tell my eyes were thanking me whole heartedly.

How can I help you?

Here are a few ways I can help you crush your career goals (just like me):

💼 Build confidence in end-to-end UX/UI design (10 hours) - You’ve mastered the tool and UX research and now you want to learn how to lead, design and manage a project end-to-end. Dive deep into every little step alongside me with a real-world project.(300+ designers — New course ✨)

🖥️ Master Figma (10 hours) - Become an expert in Figma so you can get more done; faster and better. This isn’t just a technical course about features, it’s an end-to-end course on how Figma fits into a real-world project.(7,900+ designers)

🔍 Dive-deep into UX Research & Strategy (10 hours) - Learn how to run UX and business research to make more strategic and data-informed decisions for larger scaled projects and improved stakeholder management.(800+ designers)

⚡️Design 10X faster with 8,000+ pre-designed components - We just launched v.2.7.1. If you’re starting every project from scratch, you’re probably wasting a lot of time. Leverage Shipfaster UI to speed up your process dramatically.(3,400+ designers)

🚀 Looking to launch a product? - At More Cursors, my team and I help founders strategise, design and launch world-class products. Feel free to book a call directly with me if this is something you need.

That's it for this month's newsletter!

Let me know how you found this month's edition. What did you love or dislike? Have you been experimenting with AI too?

It means a lot to me.

Mizko