Build a layoff-proof income in 30 days

Hey, product-preneur!

Amazon is exploring cuts of ~30,000 corporate roles, and live trackers show tech companies have already slashed 100,000+ jobs across 200+ tech companies so far in 2025.

Here's your 30-day plan to build a tiny, boring income engine that keeps running even if your paycheck vanishes tomorrow.

What’s brewing:

• Figma's new AI media engine opens creator revenue doors — Faster asset creation means faster offers and landing pages for solo founders.

  • What it is: Figma announced "Weave," bringing AI-native image, video, and motion creation directly into Figma.
    Why it matters: You can repurpose one case study into a landing page plus three social assets in under 20 minutes.
    Use it this week: Turn your last client win into four formats and ship them.

• Layoffs are accelerating, so use live data to set your timeline — Proof that urgency is warranted; set a four-week income buffer goal now.

  • What it is: Year-to-date trackers and fresh headlines show sizable 2025 tech cuts still climbing.
    Why it matters: If that paycheck can vanish, your runway shouldn't, so block two hours to define a paid micro-offer and pre-sell five slots.
    Use it this week: Draft a $149 "Fast Fix" offer and publish a Stripe checkout link.

• Underrated: Beehiiv's referral playbook dropped — Referrals can add ~17% subscriber growth—cheap audience you own.

  • What it is: A step-by-step beehiiv guide released this week to launch a referral program.
    Why it matters: Owned audience plus referrals compound growth without ad spend or algorithm swings.
    Use it this week: Add a two-perk referral tier and announce it in your next email.

How I can help you:

Async Potion Review — a quick product teardown (website or mobile app) that includes a 15-minute Loom walkthrough and a one-page action plan, delivered within 48 hours.

If I can’t surface three actionable quick wins, you’ll be credited toward a live strategy call.

First time reading?

Potion of the Week

Your paycheck is like gravity, reliable until it's not

It’s difficult to notice, but we mentally anchor to security even when it’s an illusion. Your employer is a single client, and if they leave you, your entire life shouldn’t implode with it.

This week’s antidote isn't polishing your resume or networking harder because I’m tired of that grandpa. It's treating income like a diversified investment portfolio except instead of stocks, you're building a tiny, boring system that runs whether you show up to a normal 9-5 job or not.

Here your safety net, a tiny, boring system. It’s a hobby you like, turned into a paid micro-offer, sold to an audience you own. Sure, you can add AI, but treat it like power tools borrowed from your dad, not full autopilot (yet).

If the sh*t never hits the fan in your life, then great. But if it does, at least you’ve started preparing multiple streams of income.

Now, let’s dig in. 👇

The Magic Sauce

Your 30-Day Layoff-Proof Plan

Day 1–7: Pick one thing and price it

Choose a skill you're legitimately good at, not the one that sounds impressive at dinner parties. Maybe it's editing videos, cleaning up messy landing pages, or writing aggressive email copy.

Package it into a $149 "fast fix solution" with a concrete before-and-after outcome you can deliver in 48 hours. Write three lines: the problem, your process, the result. Publish a Stripe payment link.

No fancy funnel, no "download my free guide first" gate. Just a price and a promise. If you're stuck, steal the last question someone asked you or that you found on Reddit, and that's your headline.

Day 8–14: Build your list the uncomfortable way

Go through your phone, email, LinkedIn connections, and social media. Write down every single person who might need what you're offering or knows someone who does.

Yes, it's awkward. Do it anyway. You're not asking a favor; you're offering to solve a problem they already have.

Send 20 personalized messages, but not a generic blast, not a template with [First Name] swapped in. Lead with something genuine: a compliment, a shared memory, a specific observation about their work.

Then tell them what you're doing and ask if they know anyone who needs it. Most won't respond. One will buy. That's your first customer.

Day 15–21: Ship twice a week, no excuses

Post about it. It could be one useful tip and one tiny case study or win every week. Make it stupid simple: "Here's how I cut a landing page from 8 seconds to 3" or "Why your About page confuses people (and how to fix it in 20 minutes)."

End every post with a single call-to-action: reply to this, book a slot, join the newsletter. Consistency compounds faster than clever ever will.

Use AI to speed the grunt work like research, outlines, or first drafts. But never let it replace your flavor. You are the last line of defense before anyone sees your work, not AI.

Day 22–30: Pre-sell five slots and deliver manually

Announce a "5 slots only" offer for the next 2-4 weeks. Gumroad checkout, calendar link, deliver by Zoom or Loom. Scarcity validates demand before you've built anything fancy.

If all five fill in 48 hours, raise your price 30% and open five more. If they don't fill, ask the first person who clicked what stopped them. That hesitation is where your real objection lives, not in the imaginary competitor you've been obsessing over.

Deliver the work manually. No automation. Just five humans getting a result they paid for. That's your proof of concept.

Your 30-day scorecard: 25 email subscribers, 3 paid customers

That's it. But by day 30 you'll have a list you control, cash in your account if it’s a product market fit, and more confidence on a direction. Maybe enough to raise your price or expand scope.

If the layoff never comes, great. At least you've built a secondary income stream that runs on autopilot. If the sh*t storm does come, you're not starting from zero while everyone else panic-applies to 400 jobs. You're already running a business, just smaller and less sexy than you imagined. But it's yours, it's real, and it keeps the lights on.

And lastly. You may get no results, so don’t be afraid to try again if you fail the first 30 days or more. The best entrepreneurs are persistent problem solvers.

The layoff wave is real, and so is the fact that you can de-risk your income in 30 days if you stop overthinking and start shipping. Pick one thing, price it, and put it in front of 20 people this week. Remember to make everything stupid simple so it’s easily repeatable.

Have questions?

Reply to any newsletter with your questions, and I might dedicate a newsletter to it to help others. I personally review and reply to each email, unless I reach thousands of subscribers.

Corking Things Up

Turn ugly designs into $10K clients — guaranteed

Being a solo founder can be confusing, so let’s bring you clarity and cash together. I'll identify the issues hindering your business. Together, we'll create a prioritized action plan, working weekly for a month to ensure you have a clear path forward.

If you don't find value in our first session, I'll refund your money.

Don’t miss me too much, I’ll see ya next week! 👋 

— Dana

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