#18 Peter Nowell (Sketch Master) - The freelance designer that stopped selling his time

10/11/16 • 63 min

The Hacking UI Podcast - with Sagi Shrieber & David Tintner

Episode #18: Peter Nowell Our guest today is a super talented designer with an entrepreneurial fire burning in his veins. We are pleased to present to you Peter Nowell, a designer based in San Francisco. Currently, Peter is splitting his time between doing amazing endeavors, design work for high end clients, and running Sketch Master, his scaling platform of professional courses for Sketch. His course was quickly considered one of the greatest resources for designers to learn Sketch and improve their skills.

Peter works with clients big and small, ranging from Apple to the Juice Shop, and absolutely revels in the high-level design vision and the execution of every detail in each of his projects. Living by his ideals of simplicity, honesty, and intentionality, Peter continues developing his design brand and do the things he really believes in.

This is the sixth episode of the second season of the Hacking UI podcast, 'Scaling a Side Project'. In this season we interview designers, developers, and creative entrepreneurs who built and scaled successful side projects that we admire.

Please support our amazing sponsors This episode is brought to you by

An Event Apart.

They host the best conferences for both designers and front-end developers in cities all across the US.
An Event Apart bring in the best speakers and biggest names in the industry, so if you haven’t attended one yet,
register now and get $100 off tickets if you use the code AEAHACKING at checkout.

The Side Project Accelerator Registration for the second batch of the

Side Project Accelerator opens on October 26. Spots are extremely limited, and we expect it to sell out fast. You can sign up to and get priority by joining the waiting list. You'll also get notified as soon as registration opens so you don't miss it.

Key points from this episode:

Learn why Peter get’s the most out of long blocks of time, focusing on one thing at a time instead of many things over short sections of time.
Understand why batching is important for the creative process and why these long periods of time can unlock more potential.
What does it mean to be a successful creative in this era of social media and constant distractions, and how to combat this?
Learn why Peter’s best piece of advice is to be defensive with your time, and how simply saying “no” more often has helped him succeed.
Peter finds spending his time on vastly different projects brings him the most excitement. Why is that, and how does he implement that with his work?
Find out what first motivated Peter to design his courses for Sketch and how that has changed the design world.
Learn Peter’s top tips for batching to work on your side project while working a full time job.
What was the best advice that Peter had and how reflecting on each project to find out what role you want business.
Find out how Peter gained his following, and how Medium helped his content launch to a greater level of acknowledgement.
What pushed Peter to launch Sketch Master? Find out how the launch was done by Sketch themselves.
Understand the importance of having others test your product pre-launch and how that feedback is critical for success.

Links from the show

Transcript If you'd like to read the full text of this episode, you can

download the transcript.

I Love this podcast - now what?

Show your love #1 - Talk: Talk about it with friends and get the word out! We started this podcast in order to learn, and would love to see others learn from it too.

Show your love #2 - Leave a review: Review us on iTunes and tell us which guest you'd like us to bring on the show next. Here's how:

Open the iTunes Store on your computer/phone
Search for "The Hacking UI Podcast"
Once you're in the podcast page, click/tap on "Reviews"
Click/tap on "Write a Review"
Rate us and write a ...

Please support our amazing sponsors This episode is brought to you by

An Event Apart.

The Side Project Accelerator Registration for the second batch of the

Key points from this episode:

Learn why Peter get’s the most out of long blocks of time, focusing on one thing at a time instead of many things over short sections of time.
Understand why batching is important for the creative process and why these long periods of time can unlock more potential.
What does it mean to be a successful creative in this era of social media and constant distractions, and how to combat this?
Learn why Peter’s best piece of advice is to be defensive with your time, and how simply saying “no” more often has helped him succeed.
Peter finds spending his time on vastly different projects brings him the most excitement. Why is that, and how does he implement that with his work?
Find out what first motivated Peter to design his courses for Sketch and how that has changed the design world.
Learn Peter’s top tips for batching to work on your side project while working a full time job.
What was the best advice that Peter had and how reflecting on each project to find out what role you want business.
Find out how Peter gained his following, and how Medium helped his content launch to a greater level of acknowledgement.
What pushed Peter to launch Sketch Master? Find out how the launch was done by Sketch themselves.
Understand the importance of having others test your product pre-launch and how that feedback is critical for success.

Links from the show

Transcript If you'd like to read the full text of this episode, you can

download the transcript.

I Love this podcast - now what?

Show your love #1 - Talk: Talk about it with friends and get the word out! We started this podcast in order to learn, and would love to see others learn from it too.

Show your love #2 - Leave a review: Review us on iTunes and tell us which guest you'd like us to bring on the show next. Here's how:

Open the iTunes Store on your computer/phone
Search for "The Hacking UI Podcast"
Once you're in the podcast page, click/tap on "Reviews"
Click/tap on "Write a Review"
Rate us and write a ...

Previous Episode

#17 Matt Mullenweg (Automattic, Wordpress) - The mission to give everyone their own home on the Internet

Episode #17: Matt Mullenweg In this episode we were joined by Matt Mullenweg, CEO of the multi-billion dollar company Automattic, which is responsible for some of the Internet's most well known products such as WordPress, Gravatar, Akismet, and WooCommerce.

Matt is driven by the mission to allow anyone in the world to have a home on the internet where they can express their thoughts and base their business. At 19 years old, bored with his classes at the University of Houston, Matt first discovered his passion for code and writing. His personal blog was reaching more than 20,000 people at the time but the blogging software was outdated, so he decided to create a new platform, which is known today as WordPress.

This is the fifth episode of the second season of the Hacking UI podcast, 'Scaling a Side Project'. In this season we interview designers, developers, and creative entrepreneurs who built and scaled successful side projects that we admire.

Please support our amazing sponsors This episode is brought to you by

Rindle.

Organize all your tasks in one place. Rindle centralizes data from the apps you already use, so you can focus on your work. Sign up for their beta for free, and get 25% off any premium plan. No credit card required.

The Side Project Accelerator Registration for the second batch of the

Key points from this episode:

Learn what first motivated Matt to start building WordPress, and how he organically grew it to the community that it is today.
Find out which strategies Matt used to promote WordPress and get the reach it needed to expand.
Understand the significant impact of growing your network and word of mouth marketing and how that can snowball the expansion of a company.
How was WordPress first monetized? Learn how an anti-spam software launched WordPress into positive profits.
Learn why the key to community is treating people well and how an online community is similar to a party; if you do not take care of the people they will leave.
Understand why Matt lives by the philosophy of always creating more value than you capture, especially when it comes to valuing your customers.
Find out more about the culture of Automattic, especially the ability for employees to work on whatever they are passionate about, including side projects.
How can companies best create loyalty? Learn why respecting people is key to growing trusted customers.
The daily practice of writing will make you grow. Understand why writing is muscle that needs tobe practiced every day.
Find out Matt’s tips to getting over the fear of taking on the role of thought leader, and why using metrics is important for both your business and personal life.

Links from the show

Transcript If you'd like to read the full text of this episode, you can

download the transcript.

I Love this podcast - now what?

Show your love #1 - Talk: Talk about it with friends and get the word out! We started this podcast in order to learn, and would love to see others learn from it too.

Show your love #2 - Leave a review: Review us on iTunes and tell us which guest you'd like us to bring on the show next. Here's how:

Open the iTunes Store on your computer/phone
Search for "The Hacking UI Podcast"
Once you're in the podcast page, click/tap on "Reviews"
Click/tap on "Write a Review"
Rate us and write a short comment. Let us know what other guest you'd like us to bring on the show.
Check out the following image to help describe the process

Next Episode

#19 David Okuniev (Typeform) - The musician who turned a side project into a multi-million dollar company

Episode #19: David Okuniev Joining us today is the former musician turned designer, David Okuniev. He is the co-founder and joint CEO of Typeform, one of the hottest young startups out there.

In this conversation, we discuss his journey from being a musician with a record deal to owning a design agency and eventually building a product that was transformed from being a side project into a massively successful startup. Through Typeform David and his team have set the goal of making beautiful tools for human interaction that anyone can use.

David discusses his amazing world-wide journey from touring with his band in England, to starting a small design agency in Columbia, and eventually meeting his co-founder, Robert, in a co-working space in Barcelona. Looking forward, David and the team at Typeform continue to innovate and bring in new ideas to create the best conversational UI in the industry.

This is the seventh episode of the second season of the Hacking UI podcast, 'Scaling a Side Project'. In this season we interview designers, developers, and creative entrepreneurs who built and scaled successful side projects that we admire.

Please support our amazing sponsors This episode is brought to you by

An Event Apart.

An Event Apart hosts the best conferences for both designers and front-end developers in cities all across the US. They bring in legendary speakers, like Jeffrey Zeldman, Eric Meyer, Dan Mall and Rachel Andrew. so if you haven’t attended one yet, you're missing out. Register now and get $100 off tickets with the code AEAHACKING.

Find your event →

If you'd like to become a sponsor of the Hacking UI podcast, contact us

The Side Project Accelerator Registration for the second batch of the

Side Project Accelerator opens on October 26. Spots are extremely limited, and we expect it to sell out fast. You can get priority access to the next batch by joining the waiting list. You'll also get notified as soon as registration opens so you don't miss it.

Key points from this episode:

How did David go from being a touring rock star to building a full-time design agency? Find out how the events in his life played out, leading him to become a successful entrepreneur.
Find out exactly how Typeform was inspired by the movie War Games, and how David and Robert translated that into a successful startup.
David and Robert both had great faith in Typeform as a project. Learn how even after the first round of investment they still took no salary.
Side projects can give you the advantage to perfect the product before launch. Understand how pressure from investors can create a completely different outcome for your product.
Learn how when designing Typeform David and his team worked based off of a “gut feeling”. So without data and user testing, how did they actually know it was right?
Find out how Typeform used conversational forms to achieve a 55% completion rate, compared to the industry benchmark, which is only 15%.
Understand how Typeform is working to help people create conversations much more easily by removing the friction out of starting a conversation and providing them with the right tools.
Learn how even though David is the co-CEO, he still manages to spend time designing and places a high value on design in his work life.
At Typeform they have created a culture of happiness. Find out why David believes it best to organically establish a culture and how to manage it as the company scales rapidly.
David’s advice to new entrepreneurs is to build your company from the heart, and not from the head. Learn how this concept has scaled Typeform rapidly to success.

Links from the show

Transcript If you'd like to read the full text of this episode, you can

download the transcript.

I Love this podcast - now what?

Show your love #1 - Talk: Talk about it with friends and get the word out! We started this podcast in order to learn, and would love to see others learn from it too.

Show your love #2 - Leave a review: Review us on iTunes and tell us which guest you'd like us to bring on the show next...