Behind the Scenes: How I Built This Blog with AI & No-Code Tools

Dear friend,

Two months ago, if you’d told me I’d be building a website on my own, I’d have laughed. I’m not an IT person. In fact, I’ve spent years quietly avoiding tech-heavy tasks. My world was numbers, spreadsheets, and people — not code.

But when the headlines about AI layoffs started rolling in, I realised I had two choices: fear it, or face it. I chose to face it.

And so began my first solo, no-code, AI-assisted project: building this blog.

Why I Started

I wanted to create a personal space online — a home for my “weekly letters” — but I had zero IT skills and didn’t want to hire a developer. At the same time, I wanted to learn AI in a way that was practical, not theoretical.

I set myself a simple but challenging mission: create a functional blog that looked clean, allowed subscriptions, let readers comment, and offered a way to support my work — all without writing a single line of complex code.

Building the Blog

Here’s the Document Map (Soft Launch) — the exact workflow I followed, the tools I chose, and the features I deliberately left out at this stage to keep the costs low.

The Cost Breakdown

Total Monthly Cost (soft launch): $37/month

Annual Equivalent: ~$444/year

Typical developer-built blog cost for comparison:

One-off build: USD $1,500–$5,000 + annual hosting/maintenance ≈ USD $200–$500/year.

What I Learned (and Fixed Along the Way)

• Formatting chaos — My headings looked perfect in Notion but broke on Super.so. Fix: learned basic CSS tweaks (with AI guiding me step-by-step).
• Embed failures — The Ko-fi button wouldn’t display. Fix: realised I had copied the “share link” instead of the “embed code.”
• Comment system choice — I wanted something that felt native to Notion and was easy to moderate. Fix: switched to Hyvor Talk for functionality and used Apption for clean embedding.

Every frustration became a small victory. I realised my brain — the part that connects dots, makes decisions, and sees the bigger picture — is still worth more than any AI alone. AI gave me speed; I gave it direction.

The Result

• Functional website live in two weeks.
• Fully no-code build, maintained solo.
• Embedded subscription, support, and comment features without outside help.
• Annual running cost well under USD $500.
• Zero budget spent on developers or designers.

It’s not perfect yet, but I’ve taken the first step — and I’m confident I’ll get better each week. The important thing is that I’ve moved from hesitation to action, and that momentum feels amazing.

Beyond the Blog

The same tools and mindset could:

• Automate parts of reporting in finance.
• Speed up research for presentations or proposals.
• Help create templates, guides, or team resources in minutes instead of days.

You don’t have to know everything about AI to use it well. Start small. Start with something you care about. Let curiosity lead you, and keep the human in charge.

💡 Want to try AI for yourself?

If you’d like to explore beginner-friendly AI tools and resources, check out my first blog post here → Beginner’s Guide to AI: Facts, Myths, and How to Start Today

Until next week —

Lydia

P.S. If this letter found you at just the right moment, I’d love to hear about it. Join my weekly letter list and let’s figure it out together — one AI-shaped step at a time. Join the weekly letter list.40+ and Figuring It Out

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