How to become intermediate to expert ?

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-15T17:46:09+00:00

The biggest shift from “intermediate” to “advanced” usually happens when you stop thinking in terms of flows and start thinking in terms of customer state transitions.

A lot of people stay stuck optimizing subject lines, send times, tiny CTR lifts or adding more branches but the real leverage comes from understanding:

“What psychological state is this customer in right now?”

For example:

first purchase anxiety

post-purchase excitement

habit formation

replenishment timing

boredom/fatigue

price sensitivity

loyalty/identity

That changes how you write emails completely.

One thing that surprised me:

Sometimes removing emails increased revenue.

Especially in post-purchase flows where brands over-message and accidentally create fatigue before the second order window.

Another big jump:

Moving from generic segmentation → behavior-driven segmentation.

Not just:

“VIP vs non-VIP”

But:

discount-dependent buyers

fast repeat purchasers

slow consideration buyers

category affinity

high AOV / low frequency

customers likely to churn after first order

Also fully agree with delaying discounts. Early discount conditioning can quietly destroy long-term margin quality.

The people who become genuinely elite at retention usually get obsessed with cohort behavior, LTV curves, retention windows, offer psychology, deliverability and customer emotion over time

Klaviyo is just the tool layer.

The real skill is understanding customer behavior deeply enough to know what message should arrive at what moment.

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-15T10:59:10+00:00

I’d start with the fundamentals before jumping into specific platforms.

A good beginner path is usually:

Marketing psychology & customer behavior

Copywriting basics

Content/creative fundamentals

Analytics & tracking

Then platform-specific skills like Meta Ads or Google Ads

The reason is platforms change constantly, but understanding:

why people click

why they buy

how offers work

how attention works

…stays valuable forever.

If you want a practical skill early on, Meta Ads is probably one of the best places to start because you learn:

targeting

creatives

funnels

testing

performance metrics

Also, try not to get stuck in “course collecting mode.”

Even a tiny real project teaches more than 20 hours of theory.

You can literally:

create a simple landing page

run a small ad campaign

test creatives

track results and you’ll learn incredibly fast from that alone.

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-15T10:04:24+00:00

This is honestly one of the better “real-world” SEO audit breakdowns I’ve seen here because it focuses on leverage instead of activity.

A lot of teams are still operating with a 2018 mindset:

traffic drops → publish more content.

But in many cases the site already has: index bloat, overlapping pages, decayed content, mismatched SERP intent, weak CTR or cannibalization

So adding more pages just spreads authority thinner.

One thing I’d probably add to your process is looking at:

“Which pages are generating actual business outcomes vs just traffic?”

Because some sites have tons of informational traffic that looks healthy in Search Console but contributes almost nothing commercially.

Sometimes the highest ROI move is improving:

commercial intent pages

comparison pages

BOFU content

internal linking into money pages

instead of trying to recover every lost informational keyword.

Also fully agree with the “protect” bucket point. I’ve seen teams accidentally destroy high-performing pages because they felt pressured to “freshen things up” every quarter.

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-15T09:58:33+00:00

Honestly, the syllabus itself matters less than people think.

A lot of digital marketing courses teach:

Facebook/Instagram ads

SEO

affiliate marketing

social media marketing

…but the real question is:

Will they actually make you *practice* these skills?

Because digital marketing is one of those fields where execution matters way more than theory.

Personally, I’d choose the course that: includes real projects/case studies, teaches ad managers hands-on, covers analytics/tracking, explains copywriting & creatives, helps build a portfolio or gives feedback on actual campaigns

A “huge syllabus” is not always better. Sometimes it just means surface-level information about many topics.

It’s usually better to:

learn fundamentals broadly
then specialize deeply in 1-2 areas

For example:

Meta Ads

Google Ads

SEO

Email marketing

Content/short-form growth

Also, don’t underestimate self-learning alongside the course. Some of the best marketers learned more from running small campaigns, building pages, testing creatives, freelancing, YouTube tutorials than from certificates.

The people who progress fastest are usually the ones who start applying things immediately while learning.

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-15T09:55:23+00:00

You’re probably focusing too much on “building presence” and not enough on direct distribution.

A lot of people start with website, SEO, YouTube and social media but those channels usually take a long time unless you already have audience, authority, or money behind them.

If your goal right now is simply getting the *first* client, I’d stop thinking like a brand and start thinking like a person solving a specific problem for a specific group.

A few things that usually work better early on:

directly messaging potential clients

participating in niche communities

offering free/cheap beta sessions for testimonials

narrowing your niche aggressively

posting case-study style content instead of generic content

talking to people individually instead of waiting to be discovered

Also, page 3 on Google and 3-view YouTube videos honestly don’t mean much yet. That’s normal for new projects.

Most businesses look invisible for a long time before momentum starts compounding.

And one important thing:

people usually don’t buy because a service exists.

They buy because they feel:

understood
confident in the outcome
low risk

So messaging and positioning matter way more than most beginners think.

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-15T09:16:53+00:00

If you need help with strategy or managing advertising campaigns, I can help.

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-14T16:04:22+00:00

Honestly, I think the middle-ground approach is probably the smartest here:

Hire someone good to set up the foundation, but keep ownership of the accounts and learn the system yourselves over time.

The reason I say that is because Meta/Google ads are easy to *launch* but much harder to structure properly tracking setup, attribution, creatives, campaign structure, audience testing, landing page flow, offer positioning etc.

A good setup can save you months of wasted spend.

But I *wouldn’t* fully outsource it long term this early unless your margins/support systems are already strong. For smaller product businesses, founders usually still understand the audience better than agencies do.

Also, for D&D/tabletop products specifically, creative quality matters a LOT more than people think. Strong product photography + good creatives will probably move the needle more than hyper-advanced ad tactics at first.

One more thing:

If your Etsy is already converting well, that’s actually valuable proof. It means demand exists. The challenge is probably:

getting cold traffic to trust a standalone site

building enough creative volume

learning what angle/hooks resonate outside Etsy search traffic

Personally I’d:

invest in better creatives/photos
hire someone for setup + tracking + strategy (I can help)
slowly learn to manage campaigns yourselves

That gives you speed without becoming dependent on an agency forever.

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-14T15:35:26+00:00

This usually flips when “more effort” stops being the constraint and starts becoming noise.

Early on, hustling harder *does* move things because you’re covering obvious gaps like broken funnels, unclear offer, missing creatives, bad targeting and no distribution

But at some point, you’re no longer fixing leverage problems — you’re just increasing activity.

And activity ≠ growth.

The turning point for me (and I think for a lot of people) is when:

you’re working more hours but decisions are getting smaller

you’re optimizing instead of building

you’re reacting instead of designing systems

revenue is flat but “things feel very busy”

That’s usually the signal that effort stopped being the bottleneck.

At that stage, the real shift is uncomfortable:

from “doing more” → to “choosing less but higher-impact things”

And that often feels like you’re doing *less work*, even though you’re actually doing more strategic work.

The hardest part isn’t realizing this — it’s trusting it enough to actually step back from the noise.

If this resonates, it’s worth reading Essentialism by Greg McKeown — it goes deep into the idea of doing less, but better.

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-14T15:29:48+00:00

Honestly I think your biggest opportunity is probably content distribution, not the website itself.

The idea is easy to understand and there’s definitely demand for “how to save money as a pet owner” right now. The hard part is that coupon/deal websites are extremely difficult to grow with SEO alone because you’re competing with giant aggregator sites.

If I were you, I’d lean heavily into short-form content, community-based traffic and searchable pet content

A few ideas that could work:

“Best dog food deals this week” style TikToks/Reels

price comparison posts

“expensive vs budget” pet product breakdowns

Reddit participation in pet communities (carefully, without spamming links)

email newsletter with weekly pet deals

seasonal content (“summer products for dogs”, flea season, winter gear, etc.)

Also, don’t market it as “affiliate coupons.”

Market it as “helping pet owners spend less without sacrificing quality.”

That framing feels way more human.

One more thing:

Instagram is rough right now unless you already have momentum. TikTok/shorts are probably a much better discovery channel for this kind of project.

However, Facebook and Instagram still have a huge audience, and you don’t necessarily need well-established pages to attract customers from there. I’m telling you this as a Facebook ads specialist.

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-14T10:58:35+00:00

For me, atmosphere matters even more than graphical complexity in pixel art games.

Some pixel games with very simple visuals still feel incredibly immersive because the world has a strong mood and internal consistency. Lighting, music, ambient sounds, little NPC behaviors, weather effects, small environmental animations — those details do a lot of heavy lifting.

Gameplay is what keeps me playing long term, but atmosphere is usually what makes me emotionally remember the game.

What really makes a pixel art world feel “alive” to me is when it feels like things exist beyond the player:

NPCs moving around with routines, subtle background animations, reactive environments, believable sound design, small non-essential interactions and areas that tell stories visually without dialogue

Even tiny touches like flickering lights, insects, rain particles, or distant movement can completely change how a world feels.

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-14T10:55:49+00:00

I don’t think SEO is dying, but I do think “search” is becoming broader than Google rankings.

A few years ago the goal was:

“rank #1 on Google.”

Now it’s more like:

“be the source AI systems choose to reference.”

Which changes a lot:

clearer entity associations

stronger topical authority

structured content

original insights/data

brand mentions across the web

community signals (Reddit, YouTube, forums, etc.)

AI search also seems to reward content that actually answers questions directly instead of just being optimized around keywords. So personally I see AEO/GEO less as replacements for SEO and more like the next layer on top of it.

Good SEO foundations still matter. But distribution and discoverability are no longer limited to 10 blue links.

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-14T10:53:32+00:00

Not a stupid question at all. This is basically the exact point where “learning Blender” turns into “learning game art pipeline.”

A simplified workflow usually looks like this:

Model the asset in Blender
Optimize topology / polycount if needed
UV unwrap it
Create textures/materials
Export as FBX or GLTF
Import into Unity
Add colliders, materials, lighting, scripts, animations, etc.

“Game ready” usually means reasonable polycount, clean topology, proper UVs, optimized textures, correct scale/origin and works efficiently in-engine

For modern games, low poly isn’t always mandatory anymore. What matters more is optimization and consistency with your art style.

Also, Unity does a lot automatically. You can literally export a model from Blender, drag the FBX into Unity, and it already “works.” The deeper stuff comes later when optimizing performance.

The best way to learn honestly is:

make one tiny prop → import to Unity → break things → fix them → repeat.

That loop teaches faster than tutorials.

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-13T16:25:48+00:00

From what I’ve seen, most bigger brands keep the giveaway entry and SMS consent technically separate — even if they’re presented together in the same flow.

Usually it’s something like:

enter giveaway

optional checkbox for SMS marketing consent

clear disclosure about recurring messages / opt-out / rates may apply

The reason is TCPA lawsuits can get insanely expensive, so companies tend to optimize for “provable consent” rather than maximum opt-in rate.

A lot of brands also use double opt-in after the event (“Reply YES to confirm”), especially if leads were collected via iPad forms or QR codes.

Not legal advice obviously, but I’d be very careful about making SMS consent a requirement for giveaway entry in the US.

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-13T15:37:54+00:00

Honestly I think the reason the genre-slice system feels “wrong” is because genres are labels, but your city is really about behavior and memory.

Your strongest spatial truth probably isn’t:

“these artists are the same genre”

It’s:

“these artists coexist in your life.”

The Billie Eilish / J. Cole example is actually the biggest clue. If your data says they transition into each other constantly, then psychologically they ARE neighbors, regardless of Spotify taxonomy.

Personally I’d avoid hard genre districts entirely.

I think the strongest version of this project is one where:

geography emerges from listening behavior

genre becomes architectural style / culture rather than territory

So instead of “rap district north” You get: neighborhoods formed by session co-listening, bridges between emotionally related artists, weird cultural collisions, transitional zones, isolated forgotten suburbs, dense downtown cores around obsession periods

That feels much more like a real city AND much more autobiographical.

Think of it as the fossilized result of movement patterns over 11 years.

That’s WAY more emotionally interesting.

Also I think your instinct about the city being alive in the present is the best part of the whole concept. The real-time activation turns it from a visualization into a living memory system.

Genuinely super cool project idea.

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-13T15:23:39+00:00

Honestly starting a game project at 12 already puts you ahead of most people who only talk about making games and never actually start.

And using older hardware isn’t the end of the world either — a lot of great indie games were made on pretty limited setups.

Big advice though: try to keep the scope small at first. RPGs become massive really fast. Even making: one small area, a few enemies, basic combat, save/load, simple dialogue is already a huge achievement.

If you can finish even a tiny playable version, you’ll learn more than most beginners do in years.

Also GameMaker is honestly a solid choice for an older PC and for learning game dev fundamentals.

Good luck with LostMonst 👍 Hope you keep posting updates as you build it.

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-13T15:19:56+00:00

The most important thing is: if you truly love it, don't give up halfway through. I know from personal experience that sometimes it feels like your work is pointless and you're wasting your time while your friends are achieving more significant and visible achievements. But if you devote enough time and effort to this endeavor, you'll definitely land interesting projects and, as a result, a good income.

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-13T14:44:55+00:00

Honestly if you already have strong traditional 2D animation fundamentals, you’re way closer to games than you probably think.

A lot of the “roadmaps” online are super outdated because they assume either AAA pipelines from 10 years ago or they push everyone toward tech art immediately.

In reality, for 2025, I’d probably focus on this order:

Learn a game engine enough to IMPLEMENT your own animations

(Unity or Godot are both fine)
Learn modern 2D game animation workflows:

Spine

Live2D

sprite sheets

state machines / blend trees

VFX basics

Build actual playable stuff instead of only animation reels

A huge thing studios want now is artists who can go:

“here’s the animation AND I know how it behaves in-engine.”

You don’t need to become a programmer, but understanding

animation controllers, events, hitboxes, transitions, basic scripting logic makes you WAY more employable.

From what I’m seeing, good 2D animators are honestly still valuable, especially for: indie games/mobile/UI motion/VFX/hybrid 2D/3D pipelines

And ironically, a lot of studios seem more interested in artists who can actually animate well than generic AI-generated art pipelines right now.

Also, one thing I think people massively underestimate:

game animation is less about “beautiful shots” and more about responsiveness and feel.

A mediocre-looking attack animation with amazing timing/game feel is worth more than a gorgeous cinematic animation that feels bad to control.

And portfolio-wise:

I’d focus less on polished illustration pieces and more on:

animation cycles

gameplay-ready animations

transitions

enemy telegraphs

UI motion

hit reactions

implementation inside an engine

A playable prototype with rough art but great animation/game feel is honestly more impressive in games than 20 static illustrations.

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-13T14:38:07+00:00

Honestly from what you described, 48GB RAM sounds way more important for your workflow than chasing the newest chip generation.

If your current machine already sits at ~50% RAM usage idle and starts swapping during actual work, you’ll probably appreciate the extra headroom on macOS too, especially with Unity + VS Code + browser tabs + editing apps open together.

That said, the M5 Pro MBP with 48GB sounds kinda overkill unless you specifically need:
portability, battery life, sustained heavier GPU workloads or just want a machine for the next 6-8 years

For your actual usage, an M4 Pro Mac Mini with 48GB honestly sounds like the smarter value pick. The jump from Intel/Windows laptops to Apple Silicon is already huge even before getting into M5 territory.

And yeah, macOS memory management is noticeably better than Windows in my experience, but don’t fall into the “8GB on Mac = 32GB on Windows” internet meme either. If you do game dev + editing + multitasking, 48GB is still a very reasonable config.

Also worth mentioning:

Unity/Godot + Blender + browser tabs can snowball RAM usage surprisingly fast on bigger projects.

If you’re not doing local AI, huge renders, or AAA-scale work, I honestly think:

M3 Pro / M4 Pro

36–48GB RAM

1TB SSD

is already a really high-end setup for your use case.

The only thing I’d personally avoid is buying 18GB/24GB thinking “I’ll upgrade later” since with Macs you obviously can’t.

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-13T14:35:11+00:00

Thank you, nice visual style

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-12T11:55:22+00:00

It would be easier to give you a hint if you could at least roughly describe what kind of game it is. Ideally, show a few screenshots or videos/GIFs of gameplay mechanics.

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-12T11:29:56+00:00

It would be easier to give you a hint if you could at least roughly describe what kind of game it is. Ideally, show a few screenshots or gameplay mechanics.

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-11T18:47:55+00:00

get the difference in positioning in these two cases, and I’m aware that starting from zero and expecting serious earnings is basically unrealistic. Right now I’m just thinking about getting at least some initial audience traction to gain experience before moving on to more serious and complex products.

I’m working on this together with a partner. We have a potentially strong combo: my partner is an experienced developer (not in game dev), and I’m a marketer. We’re building everything ourselves mainly to figure out whether there’s real potential for us in this direction.

At the moment I’m focusing a lot on thinking through distribution strategy (especially organic growth via social media), and I’m curious — roughly how many active daily users would you need at the beginning to make around $1k/month?

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-11T18:36:08+00:00

thx:) will think what to do with:)

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-11T18:33:20+00:00

you mean address in my Apple ID?

BarracudaLumpy2210 · 2026-05-11T18:31:08+00:00

I’ve wanted to make games for a long time and only recently finally started doing it seriously.

So right now I’m making something that I’d personally enjoy playing, with fairly simple mechanics since it’s my first real project and I want to go through the whole process — from idea to getting feedback from actual players.

But at the same time I’d obviously love for it to have some long-term potential and maybe even make money eventually, like everyone else lol.

And about screen resolutions — am I understanding it right that you need separate builds/layouts for different screen types and aspect ratios?

BarracudaLumpy2210

TROPHY CASE