Know someone doing great things?
Pin a flyer for a person, a piece of work, or something you want. I approve the board every Friday.
Meet the Rangers The case study No. 00 · The manifesto
How a One-Man Agency Runs
A year of ideas, collapsed into a week of action.
What happens when you stop listening to your disability and start acting on your intention.
The manifesto
Build systems that work for yourself.
This is the Dopamine Furnace manifesto: building systems that work for yourself when you've been stuck inside someone else's.
I spent two years trying to find a village to fit into, before I realized that I'm the mayor of my own village and I have to build it myself.
I'm finally trusting myself, believing my ideas are valid and people want them. And I need to make a container for them that is bigger than the Tupperware cupboard.
This is the case study for the future of Creative Burn.
Chapter 01
38 hours · six days
From the case file: every message and card I sent, Oct 1 to 6, counted into work blocks. It's a floor. Time in Wix, Canva or on the phone doesn't show.
Six days. One person. A whole agency's first month.
- Thu Oct 11.9 hThe Burn Session offer, Kindling and the MatchBook named and proofed. "With you, not for you" became the core.
- Fri Oct 26.4 hPositioning locked: "Fierce kindness, not Midwest nice." Intake live on the booking form. The travel funnel drafted.
- Sat Oct 32.2 hThe name, the DF/c mark, and the identity spec gone final.
- Sun Oct 49.4 hA six-piece launch kit, then the website rebuilt and live around 12:30 AM.
- Mon Oct 57.9 hThe money plan, policies, soft-launch posts, the sales pipeline and a copy pass.
- Tue Oct 610.4+ hLaunch day: Meta verified, a business plan in two editions, a landing page, a sizzle reel, the first signup.
What that week is worthWhat that week is worth My own rate, and what an agency would quote.
About 38 hours over six days, roughly six and a half a day. At my own Burn Session rate of $222 an hour, that's about $8,480 of my time.
An agency or a stack of freelancers would quote something like $21,500 to $43,000 for the same deliverables. That's an estimate from typical small-business rates, not a quote. The point isn't the number. The point is that one person with the right systems can do it.
Coming chapters
- The fuelThe year before the week, in my words.
- The systemsWhat runs the business when I'm not looking.
- Creative BurnThe agency, handed to you.
Where to next.
Proof of how I plan.
My own walks, written up the way I'd build your trip. Maps, meals, the hotel.
Read the field guidesYou know someone who needs me.
Send them my way in one tap, then put yourself in my address book for a card from me.
Send me a friendYou've got the spark.
I've got the matches.
Someone has to say it. Might as well be me.