🌟 Side Quest Directory 🌟
Welcome! This is a constantly evolving directory of all of the projects I’m building in public as part of Side Quest Summer. I’ll be updating it in real time as each quest unfolds.
What is Side Quest Summer?
I’ll be launching seven micro-businesses over the next three months, with a new launch every 10 to 14 days. You can read the full backstory about why I’m doing this in Issue #51 of Extracurricular Pursuits.
How does this directory work?
Each project is listed below with a link to its dedicated progress log, which I am using to share daily progress updates. Further down is a brain dump of potential projects that I’m mulling over. I’m mostly winging this as I go, so thanks for following along!
Last Updated: July 11, 2025
Project #1: Totebrag
Start Date: June 25
Grand Opening Date: July 8Website: www.totebrag.com
Status: Complete ✅
✨ View Project Recap →
Project #2: TBD
Start Date: July 13
Target Launch Date: July 27Status: Scheming in progress ðŸ§
✨ View Running Project Log →
💡 Possible Quest Ideas
A digital-only product…
If you didn’t already know this, I’m about to let you in on a major secret: Digital products are THE BEST — Zero inventory, create once/sell a billion times, insane profit margins. The tricky part is that original ideas that people are willing to pay for are tough to come up with, so I would definitely document the brainstorming process, too.
A productized service…
Earlier this year, I set out to give my freelance design work a glow-up by turning it into a full-blown creative agency. But when it came time to go live, something felt off. I was trying to do too much, and I quickly realized it wasn’t built to scale the way I’d hoped. It’s not totally DoA, though — I want to rework it into one or two more simple, focused productized services and give it a proper relaunch.
A physical, printed zine…
I miss tangible, paper publications. I recently went to a second-hand bookshop and ended up spending a few hours flipping through old magazines and antique books. The texture, the weight, the smell, MY GOD the smell. It me realize that not only do I miss print publications, but I could totally make something of my own. A small, scrappy, personal zine, something I can fold, staple, hold. Just for the love of the game.
A physical, handmade product…
If you couldn’t tell from the above project, I have an itch to get out from behind my laptop screen and use my hands again. Perhaps this is inspired by the absolute GEM (no pun intended) of a craft store I stumbled upon in Valencia last week — it’s literally called Casa De Piedras Y Cristales (House of Stones and Crystals), and the walls are lined with beads, charms, clasps, and pendants galore — which reminds me, I really should share the funny story of my first ever Etsy shop…
A niche mobile app…
I’m a complete rookie at building apps, but I’ve been wanting to figure out how to do it for a while now. And now with LLM-guided vibe coding, I can’t promise it will be perfect but it’s more possible than ever to give it a shot.