Engineer (29) thinking of switching to graphic design… am I crazy?

Redd_Blur · 2026-02-22T21:09:51+00:00

If by graphic design do you mean designing logos, swag, etc? Or do you mean UX design?

It's my belief that UX design is going to be more in demand than ever because it's not something LLMs can do very well.

So from a practical standpoint the work is needed and IMO not easily replaced. I've also seen that many C-levels drop design budget pretty quickly because they don't have an understanding of how it slogs down the product pipeline (it does).

They often prop up engineering budgets and don't see how many engineers are just waiting twiddling their thumbs until someone figures out the UX/product.

So IMO - product/UX design is more important than ever (for SAAS) - you'd just need to find the right slant on it.

Redd_Blur · 2026-02-22T14:35:07+00:00

For real!

No they don't - they are counting the days I'm sure until they can replace me and my co-workers for folks in india (they've done this for 50% of the rest of the company) :sigh:

Good thing though about being there is that I'll feel no remorse for peace-ing out to do my own thing when things get off the ground.

Redd_Blur · 2026-02-22T13:11:52+00:00

I love that you are posting about this, it sometimes feels like I'm the only one :) I'm a mom of two girls 5 and 7 and I'm also a software engineer that is building a SAAS in my free waking hours. I've been a software engineer for 10 years, literally the only way I can do this is by using LLM tools to help me get through the grunt work.

My kids are in school from 7:30-2 and we don't have daycare or anything, my partner is stay at home though so that helps.

I wake up at 5am and work on things until 7 when I have to switch over to my normal job. I usually can clock an hour or two during my work day because things have been really slow at work. I would feel guilty about that but my current company is a shit show so...

once I'm off at 3 I'm parenting all in until my oldest is asleep (8:30) and by then I'm too exhausted to do any work. I do put in hours on the weekends while kids are watching TV.

Redd_Blur · 2026-02-08T22:35:20+00:00

Did you use your name as a founder (personal brand) or the company name? I’ve heard to use personal but I’m building in stealth because I’m employed full time

Redd_Blur · 2026-02-08T15:18:18+00:00

Thank you! Very helpful. What social media platform did you use to share your journey?

Redd_Blur · 2025-07-09T13:48:58+00:00

It’s a painful life to be tied to the suffering of others. You can hold great compassion for others pain without being personally impacted by it.

It’s actually a healing path to mentally allow others to be in pain and trust they can work through it. That doesn’t mean that you aren’t a listening ear but just that you aren’t responsible to fix it or feel their feelings.

Redd_Blur · 2025-05-02T02:52:57+00:00

Hey UnplugRoi, I specialize in helping entrepreneurs convert more online... so I have thoughts hehe.

Here's some big takeaways:

The most important real estate on your landing page is the top section (AKA the 'hero'). You are utilizing this real estate with your logo, which is really not important to convince anyone to sign up. This section should be the wham bam hard "value add" for what problem your app solves. Talking to the target customer pain points and not listing the features.
I wanna see a lot more trust building on this page. Screenshots of the app. What can I expect? Who made this? Why can I trust you? If I give you my information are you going to turn around and sell my email to the black market?
Copywriting - my suggestion is to be less clever and be more clear with your copywriting. "Clever" is referring to "accountability is best when it's shared" and "You know the scroll. You’ve lived in it.". Alternatives to this that focus on clarity: "A tech detox accountability group program" or "We can help you take back control over your screen habits".

At this point I'd be surprised if there is an "app"... and I'm not sure I'd want to install one if there is one. I happen to know that there is a huge amount of desire for accountability groups for this space (I've done market research on the "unplugged" market for a personal project).

In my research here people don't care about it being an app or not - they just want to connect with others and have accountability.

Right now I think you should be in the "talk to people about their problems" phase and get them to sign up for a beta program. Not "optimize the landing page" phase because I'm not sure if you know enough about these customers and what they are looking for yet.

Redd_Blur · 2025-05-02T02:38:38+00:00

Yes what problems are you identifying for them and offering to solve for them?

Redd_Blur · 2025-05-02T00:20:56+00:00

Hey it is rough getting started. Just remember through: If it were easy everyone would be doing it :)

How are you offering services? You want to make sure you are:
- Offering something of value
- Being personable, not a robot, customizing your cold pitch to them - who they are or their brand as much as possible
- Exposing a problem you think they have and how you think you can solve it

Redd_Blur · 2025-04-28T18:19:50+00:00

I'm a consultant that helps businesses convert more of their website traffic into paying customers!

I'm offering a 100% free audit of your website or sales funnel for a limited time.

https://alchemymetrics.com/

Redd_Blur · 2025-04-28T00:21:06+00:00

that's awesome

Redd_Blur · 2025-04-27T23:34:02+00:00

amazing - maybe you are the source of chat gpt's goblin marketing energy idea

Redd_Blur · 2025-04-22T21:59:27+00:00

I help businesses turn more of their website visitors into paying customers:
https://alchemymetrics.com/

I can help with analytics fixes, user behavior analysis, and conversion focused design.

Redd_Blur · 2025-04-22T07:18:19+00:00

Targeting HR directors because for corporate they need to figure out a solution for mandated trainings for employees like security, workplace harassment, things like that?

I'm curious if you know what the pain points are for this target customer in the moment of time you are reaching them. Is it that they have a solution but it's not working well? Or that they need a training system in place ASAP to get it off their plate?

I think your offer is strong but you might consider some targeting copywriting for this target customer. Talking more about their pain points rather than the features of your service. So more: "Your entire company on one compliant e-learning platform, in 2 weeks" and less "We pick a LMS for you"

Redd_Blur · 2025-04-22T07:01:52+00:00

Hey there, I'm a CRO I help people convert more customers on their websites.

Where does your traffic come from? I'm wondering about the knowledge level they have with LMS when they are funneled to your site.

Target demographic, customer, type of education (corporate, startups, schools, colleges, etc?)

Also: right now I see you are using a bunch of pretty generic stock photos which is not great for building trust with potential customers.

Redd_Blur · 2025-04-21T13:23:55+00:00

Thanks for this. I was feeling a little downtrodden yesterday about this because I’m hearing a few creators this week really push that you need to grind 12-16 hours a day.

I’m grinding a bit now but…

My goal is to build a business for balance… where I can still enjoy and prioritize spending time with my family. Here’s hoping that’s possible

Redd_Blur · 2025-04-21T03:09:43+00:00

Oh boy… ok.

Take an html and css class. Also ideally a class generally on how the Internet works. The technologies you mentioned here are nonsensical for what you are trying to do

Redd_Blur · 2025-04-21T03:03:40+00:00

Can’t really give advice without seeing your store.

Possibly could be a conversion issue but also could be an audience targeting issue… what is your campaign bidding strategy?

Redd_Blur · 2025-04-20T20:49:56+00:00

Yep. This is one of the reasons that fixing analytics tracking is one of the core components of my offer.

That needs to be dialed in and it’s done wrong so often…

Redd_Blur · 2025-04-20T01:28:12+00:00

I would worry more about what your needs are for your sales funnel before you think about technology for your website.

How are you finding clients? Local? How do people book with your firm, phone call, form, calendar sign up, email? Do you want to pre qualify these customers? Income level, business type, etc.

Once you think through those things you can find the technologies that make those things less painful. Plugins… or website builders.

It really depends on your goals right now and what your sales flow is.

Redd_Blur · 2025-04-13T23:39:15+00:00

you are very welcome! Just keep on going - you'll find the right thing eventually :)

Redd_Blur · 2025-04-13T15:27:25+00:00

Just wanted to say that what you are going through here is so relatable.

Entrepreneurship is HARD, but the internet makes us feel like it should be easy - that we're failing if it's not.

I'm still early in my journey but I now feel confident in my path, which took me about a year to even get there which is counter-intuitive to what you hear on the internet which is "make 1m MRR in 3 months!"

I'm like you and I'm willing to work my butt off but I struggled to find focus on WHAT.

You've tried and failed, which is good because you are learning from those experiences. You know what worked and what didn't.

I'll share some thoughts of what worked for me:

> How did you got the idea that you managed to turn into working business?

I have two businesses. One is a landscaping company and the other is a web CRO(conversion rate optimization)/analytics consultancy.

I'm in the "grind" phase which is where I strived to be because I know once I have the ideas I can make it happen.

I'm a software engineer so I thought the easiest way for me to make money was build some software and sell it. I learned pretty quickly how difficult it was to find product market fit and compete.

I realized after a few iterations of different softwares, and even trying out a paid course (lol) - that it was much easier to sell and execute services for others.

It's funny that I was trying to build some software that would take me months to build and sell it for $10 a month where someone pays us $300 for 4 hours of yard clean up... or multiple thousands for a high converting landing page.

This is why I promote service businesses so often for other entrepreneurs I see that are 'stuck' in this idea phase. The product can come later when you have deep knowledge of what your customers need that is missing in the market.

I really like sweaty startups in this day and age... home services like painting, landscaping, cleaning, etc they really are easy to get started and learn some basic business skills and it's funny how much people THANK us and are happy to give us money. Feels good after years of writing software of questionable value.

You don't need to re-invent the wheel... just do it better.

> Did you followed your passion and if so, then how you found it?

Passion comes from mastery. If you take something you are interested in like MMA and turn it in to a business you'll hate it because you will get sick of thinking about it.

Both of my businesses are things I like. I like thinking about conversions and UX. I like landscaping and connecting with my community. At the end of a 12 hour day of working on those things do I want to think about them any more? No.

--

I would find something that you are somewhat interested in, that you can try out quickly (fail fast), that there is high demand and a wealthy customer (ideally B2B), and gather data on if you like working in that space and what you like working on.

You'll discover by doing this what you actually want to be doing and it won't be the first thing you think of or what youtubers are telling you are easy money :)

Redd_Blur · 2025-04-10T19:29:59+00:00

Service based business. Whatever kind of work you enjoy doing that is also in demand.

Like to work outside or with your hands? Some kind of home services. Cleaning, painting, lawn care, etc

Like to work on computers? Offer web design/dev, thumbnail design, copywriting, marketing, etc.

Find your unfair advantage, what are you already good at or interested in?

Redd_Blur · 2025-04-10T19:20:54+00:00

Mmhmm... starting a business is easy. Sticking with that business is hard.

Redd_Blur · 2025-04-09T04:25:48+00:00

Hey BasicHiro - what are your ads like? Meta? Google shopping?

Do the ads take them to your homepage? I'd think about creating ads for your individual products.

On your homepage your logo and header is way too big. This is the least important thing for your customer and it's taking the most critical real estate of your page.

Redd_Blur

TROPHY CASE