76 / Black Swan Era? We Live in a Black Swan Farm!
If you’re working full-time today, there are only three ways to guard against an uncertain future.
Hello friends!
Every time someone asks why I quit my job, I usually share a list of reasons.
Here’s just one, along with some advice.
If you’re working full-time today, there are only three ways to guard against an uncertain future:
• Your money makes money (investments)
• You have a side project or business
• You were born into wealth
Which one are you?
The corporate ladder is not what it was 10 or 20 years ago. The old model of steady job and steady promotion is broken.
Sooner or later, your cost-to-value ratio will not beat algorithms and machines.
Companies are clear about this: AI is here to cut costs. And in that equation, you are the cost.
If you have alternative income, you are safer.
If not, the day will come when you either leave on your own terms or you are forced out.
And the higher your position, the bigger the impact.
We are no longer in a black swan era.
We are living in a black swan farm.
Unpredictable shocks are constant: industry shifts, geopolitics, identity politics. Our parents never had to think about these things. We do.
My advice: even if you think your job is stable, use at least 20 percent of your time to invest in yourself.
Learn new skills.
Protect your health.
The next three to five years will reshape entire industries.
Most people will not notice until it is too late, like the frog sitting in the pot while the water gets hotter.
Weekly goodies:
“How I Turned a $150 Month into a $1M Challenge” - Florin Pop’s Indie Hacker Story
What does it really take to go from a $150 side hustle to building a $1M challenge in public?
In this episode of BearTalk, I sit down with Florin Pop, an indie hacker and creator who left his developer job in 2019 with just six months of savings. Florin shares how he built his audience, launched viral challenges, sold his first startup, and now tracks his ambitious $1M journey live on the internet.
You’ll learn:
• Why building in public creates accountability—and pressure
• The frameworks Florin uses to validate ideas quickly
• How to turn small MVPs into real revenue
• The psychology behind pricing and why “water costs $1 or $4” is the best analogy
• Why long-term consistency beats burnout sprints
Whether you’re a product designer, developer, or aspiring indie hacker, this episode will show you the mindset, tools, and strategies to start your own journey.
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A Practical Guide to Motion in Product Design
I came across a super practical article by Bryan Maniotakis called “How I Approach Motion in Product Design.” It’s packed with simple, actionable advice on how to use motion to create a better user experience. Instead of getting bogged down in technical details, he focuses on the core principles: using motion to guide attention, add a sense of delight, and improve navigation. It’s a great reminder that animation isn’t just a decoration; it’s a critical part of the design.
I think this is exactly what product designers need. It feels like a lot of designers, including myself, get intimidated by motion. But this article breaks it down into easy, fundamental stuff that anyone can apply right away. For instance, he points out that a good default animation time is around 300ms, and that bigger elements should move slower, just like in the real world. I’ve been exploring Rive to get my feet wet with animation, and these principles are a perfect guide for a beginner like me. A little motion can go a long way.
AI Generates Design Systems in Seconds?
Designer Andres The Designer dives into Relume’s AI tool that promises to generate full websites with design systems in just seconds. The real magic comes afterwards: you can take that system straight into Figma via the Relume plug-in, tweak the details, then export it into Framer through another plug-in, and publish live instantly. The flow looks almost surreal—AI-powered generation, human fine-tuning, and smooth handoff all the way to a working site.
From my perspective, this is exactly the kind of workflow I want to try. It could be game-changing for building landing pages quickly, especially when tied to my Jam project. Seeing a pipeline of Relume → Figma → Framer → Publish makes me think this might soon become the new normal for solo designers.
Is AI the Future of Design Systems? (by Arnau Ros)
In this video, designer Arnau Ros explores Relume’s AI-powered Style Guide Generator. The tool can build a complete design system in just seconds, starting from your chosen colour palette. Traditionally, designers spend hours setting up grids, colours, and typography, but here the process is almost instant. Once generated, the system can be taken into Figma for further design work, and then pushed to Webflow to create live websites. It’s a neat workflow for anyone working under tight deadlines or exploring rapid prototyping.
I could feed Jam’s colour palette into Relume and get a ready-made design system. That becomes both a starting point for Jam’s landing page and a hands-on tutorial I can share. Watching the tool spin up a system so quickly feels like a productivity boost I wish I had years ago.
Hello, I’m Bear—a product designer, UX mentor and an award‑winning bilingual podcast host, currently living in Auckland, New Zealand. I enjoy sharing insights from my work, life, and study, helping all of us grow together.
Bear Academy Newsletter is my weekly email packed with thoughts on technology, design, and productivity—featuring book breakdowns, learning tips, and career reflections. Subscribe for free at bear.academy
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