30-Day Build Your Platform

A high-intensity 30-day plan for experienced IT professionals to build a complete online platform: brand, website, GitHub organization, content pipeline, and first public artifacts.
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  7 minute read  

Introduction

This 30-day plan is designed for laid-off, underemployed, or career-transitioning IT professionals who want to rapidly establish a powerful public presence. It assumes you have the time, motivation, and desire to build something substantial - a platform that supports consulting, digital products, SaaS ideas, and long-term career leverage.

By the end of 30 days, you will have:

  • A complete personal brand
  • A professional website
  • A structured GitHub presence
  • A repeatable publishing pipeline
  • Three meaningful public artifacts
  • A foundation for future income
  • A system you can grow for years

This plan moves fast. It is intentionally ambitious.

Week 1 - Identity, Brand, Direction

Day 1 - Define Your Identity & Direction

Goal: Clarify who you are professionally and what direction you want to grow.

Actions:

  • Write a one-paragraph “Who I Am Now”.
  • Define your direction for the next 6–12 months (e.g., SaaS, consulting, content, digital products).
  • Select 3 themes that match your skills + market demand.

Output: Identity & direction statement.

Day 2 - Pick Your Brand Name & Domain

Goal: Choose a name that is memorable, professional, and available.

Actions:

  • Choose: real name brand (recommended) or brand alias.
  • Verify domain availability.
  • Purchase the domain via Cloudflare.
  • Create a Cloudflare Pages placeholder.

Output: Domain owned and deployed with placeholder.

Day 3 - Define Brand Voice, Style, & Tone

Goal: Make your brand recognizable and intentional.

Actions:

  • Choose a color palette (3–5 colors).
  • Choose a typography pair.
  • Write short guidelines:
    • Tone
    • Sentence style
    • Attitude
    • Level of technical depth

Output: Brand guidelines page.

Day 4 - Write Your Core Messaging

Goal: Define the “public story” that everything else echoes.

Actions:

  • Write:
    • A 2–3 sentence bio
    • A short mission statement
    • Your differentiator (“Why People Should Care”)
    • A long-form About page draft

Output: Complete messaging foundation.

Day 5 - Set Up Your GitHub Organization

Goal: Create the technical foundation of your public work.

Actions:

  • Create GitHub org (matching your brand).
  • Write an organization-level README.
  • Add:
    • profile/README.md
    • CONTRIBUTING.md
    • CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md

Output: Public GitHub org with clean identity.

Day 6 - Create Initial Repository Structure

Goal: Give your platform a skeleton to grow from.

Actions: Create at least:

  • /homelab
  • /scripts
  • /templates
  • /guides

Add initial scaffolding README(s).

Output: Repo structure ready.

Day 7 - Review Week 1 & Document Your Vision

Goal: Lock in direction before building the platform.

Actions:

  • Review your work.
  • Tighten brand voice.
  • Finalize the structure of your site + GitHub + content plan.
  • Write a short “Platform Vision” doc.

Output: Week 1 complete and direction set.

Week 2 - Website, Structure, Infrastructure

Day 8 - Build Website Boilerplate

Goal: Stand up the core site structure.

Actions:

  • Create your Hugo site.
  • Install your theme.
  • Set up navigation (About, Blog, Projects, Contact).
  • Deploy to Cloudflare Pages.

Output: Live, functional website.

Day 9 - Build Core Pages

Goal: Write and publish your foundational pages.

Actions: Write:

  • About
  • Start Here
  • Services (even if currently empty)
  • Projects hub

Output: Core website skeleton.

Day 10 - Add Analytics, SEO, & Social Metadata

Goal: Make your site discoverable and measurable.

Actions:

  • Add Google Analytics or Plausible.
  • Add Open Graph metadata.
  • Add structured schema.
  • Add favicon + OpenGraph images.

Output: Fully instrumented and clean metadata.

Day 11 - Build Portfolio Structure

Goal: Prepare the site to display future artifacts.

Actions:

  • Create Portfolio section.
  • Add:
    • Homelab architecture
    • Sample config files
    • Small demos or scripts
  • Add placeholder entries.

Output: Complete portfolio framework.

Day 12 - Create Newsletter Infrastructure

Goal: Begin capturing your audience.

Actions:

  • Add a signup form.
  • Create a mailing list (Buttondown, MailerLite).
  • Create a welcome email.
  • Add CTAs throughout the site.

Output: Working newsletter funnel.

Day 13 - Polish Branding Across Website

Goal: Make everything visually consistent.

Actions:

  • Apply brand colors + typography.
  • Style your hero section.
  • Style code blocks, tables, lists.
  • Add a headshot or brand image.

Output: Polished, cohesive brand.

Day 14 - Review Week 2 & Fix Weak Points

Goal: Ensure the website is stable and presentable.

Actions:

  • Audit site structure.
  • Fix broken styles or links.
  • Improve page flow.
  • List improvements for future.

Output: Week 2 complete.

Week 3 - Content Engine & First Public Artifacts

Day 15 - Build Your Content Pipeline

Goal: Create a repeatable system, not random posts.

Actions:

  • Create a “content ideas” list (20+ items).
  • Set your cadence: 1–2 posts weekly.
  • Create:
    • Outline template
    • Draft template
    • Publishing checklist

Output: Working pipeline.

Day 16 - Write Your First Blog Post (Draft)

Goal: Produce one flagship piece of content.

Actions: Choose a high-value topic:

  • homelab
  • security hardening
  • cloud automation
  • incident response
  • devops workflows
  • debugging guides

Draft the full post.

Output: Blog post draft complete.

Day 17 - Polish & Publish Post #1

Goal: Ship content.

Actions:

  • Edit.
  • Add screenshots/diagrams.
  • Test code blocks.
  • Publish on the website.
  • Announce on LinkedIn.

Output: First piece of content live.

Day 18 - Build Your First Open Source Artifact

Goal: Publish something technical and useful.

Actions: Pick one:

  • script bundle
  • homelab topology
  • Terraform template
  • Wazuh config pack
  • Linux hardening script

Create README + version.

Output: First public repo.

Day 19 - Build Your First Mini Digital Product (Free)

Goal: Create a small but polished free product to attract attention.

Ideas:

  • SSH hardening checklist
  • SOC playbook
  • CI/CD template
  • Suricata tuning guide
  • Cloud migration checklist

Package, zip, upload.

Output: Free digital asset live.

Day 20 - Improve & Document Your GitHub Profile

Goal: Make your GitHub presence feel premium.

Actions:

  • Add profile image.
  • Update org-level README.
  • Add badges.
  • Add pinned repos.
  • Streamline repo structure.

Output: Polished GitHub presence.

Day 21 - Review Week 3 & Expand Your Funnel

Goal: Review your artifacts and connect them.

Actions:

  • Ensure all content links between site ↔ GitHub ↔ newsletter.
  • Improve announcements.
  • Refactor metadata.

Output: Week 3 complete + content interconnected.

Week 4 - Amplification, Expansion, Momentum

Day 22 - Publish Blog Post #2

Goal: Establish cadence.

Actions:

  • Draft
  • Edit
  • Publish
  • Share

Output: Two strong posts published.

Day 23 - Create & Publish Project #2

Goal: Add another artifact to the platform.

Ideas:

  • Terraform module
  • Docker deployment
  • Proxmox automation
  • Cloudflare config
  • Network segmentation guide

Output: Another polished repo.

Day 24 - Build a “Resources” or “Tools” Page

Goal: Provide curated value.

Actions:

  • List tools, scripts, configs.
  • Add short descriptions.
  • Link to relevant repos.

Output: Resources page.

Day 25 - Record a Simple Video (Optional but Powerful)

Goal: Add a personal dimension to the brand.

Actions:

  • Record a screen-share walkthrough.
  • Upload to YouTube.
  • Embed in your platform.

Output: First video asset.

Day 26 - Optimize Social Presence

Goal: Make your brand consistent everywhere.

Actions:

  • Update LinkedIn banner, headline, bio.
  • Update GitHub profile.
  • Add links to your site.
  • Clean up old social clutter.

Output: Polished social identity.

Day 27 - Integrate Call-to-Action Funnel

Goal: Turn platform into a lead magnet.

Actions: Add CTAs:

  • newsletter signup
  • consulting intro call
  • digital product page
  • project downloads

Output: Growth funnel installed.

Day 28 - Build & Publish a “Start Here” Guide

Goal: Orient new visitors.

Actions:

  • Explain who you are.
  • What you build.
  • Best posts.
  • Best repos.
  • How to follow your work.

Output: Start Here page live.

Day 29 - Final Platform Polish

Goal: Clean, refine, finalize.

Actions:

  • Improve spacing and styling.
  • Fix images.
  • Update page hierarchy.
  • Rewrite weak sections.

Output: Platform polished.

Day 30 - Publish “What I Built in 30 Days”

Goal: Cement the transformation.

Actions:

  • Write a recap of the entire journey.
  • Publish on website.
  • Share on LinkedIn.
  • Celebrate the fact you now have:
    • a brand
    • a website
    • repos
    • pipelines
    • content cadence
    • a growing audience

Output: Public milestone + momentum locked in.

Conclusion

In 30 days, you have built a fully functional platform:

  • a clean website
  • a structured GitHub organization
  • a newsletter funnel
  • two published blog posts
  • two open-source projects
  • a free digital product
  • a refined brand
  • a system you can scale for years

This is the foundation for consulting, SaaS, digital products, content, or all three.

You now have a real platform, not just a profile.