Herbert Lui

Blog on creativity, marketing, and the human condition.

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  • Being frugal makes entrepreneurs less fragile

    Many—maybe most—bootstrapped entrepreneurs tend to bias towards frugality. A dollar saved is a dollar earned. Saving money buys greater freedom, it also enables the entrepreneurs to survive longer, so they have more time to execute their plans or to get lucky. Here are some scenes from my career to illustrate: A client leased a beautiful…

    Herbert Lui

    December 1, 2025
    Creator Confidential, Turning Stories
  • When you follow your inclinations, you create a special type of luck

    Very early in my career, I worked a day job writing for Lifehacker. One of my favorite posts was about how to create your own luck. The piece featured research from neurologist James H. Austin, who suggested there were four types of luck. One of these types is specific to your own personal preferences, inclinations,…

    Herbert Lui

    November 30, 2025
    Creativity, Creator Confidential, Expectations
  • Don’t make maintenance a last resort

    If you only ever visit the doctor when you have an emergency, you’d believe that every doctor’s trip should be urgent and borderline life threatening. “The doctor is so ineffective!” you might think. That’s not how it needs to be though. Annual check ups and visits with mild symptoms help you get ahead of the…

    Herbert Lui

    November 29, 2025
    Expectations, Turning Stories
  • Good judgment does not mean being judgmental

    Anyone who wants to make good work needs to master the art of receiving constructive feedback, knowing what to do with it, and following through with making changes.  “There are no writers, there are only rewriters,” says author John Seabrook. What pieces of feedback are useful? Which is most important? What are some possible solutions?…

    Herbert Lui

    November 28, 2025
    Creativity, Creator Confidential, Turning Stories
  • To get back into reading, choose a book just for fun

    Whenever you fall off a reading practice, a useful way to get back into it is to read a book just for fun. Purely out of interest, curiosity, and joy. Some books that have done that for me lately: Office Ladies, Adversity for Sale, How Starbucks Saved My Life. When you don’t read, it’s easy…

    Herbert Lui

    November 27, 2025
    Creativity, Creator Confidential, Turning Stories
  • Strong defense sets up strong offense

    A few days ago, I observed how my work either felt like playing defense or offense in a sport. I wrote, “Saving money, living gently and slowly, and minimizing risk feels like playing defense… Getting in motion, creativity, and shipping work feels like playing offense.” I am in the thick of a season where I…

    Herbert Lui

    November 26, 2025
    Expectations, Turning Stories
  • If you’re exploring your career, keep more options open

    There will be seasons where you need to keep options open, and others when you need to commit. My friend Jason wrote a provocative article about the latter.  When we recently caught up, I mentioned his article and I told him how I felt like I’d been juggling a lot of projects. I wondered out…

    Herbert Lui

    November 25, 2025
    Creator Confidential, Expectations, Turning Stories
  • Share your reminders to yourself

    If a lesson was important enough for you to remind yourself about, there’s a good chance it will be useful for other people too.  A lesson is particularly helpful when you share the story that led you to learn the lesson. People remember stories. What’s obvious to you isn’t obvious to everyone else. Publish your…

    Herbert Lui

    November 24, 2025
    Creativity, Creator Confidential, Turning Stories
  • Maybe it’s not you

    A good friend of mine has worked tenures at several great tech companies. Their professional success was never surprising to me; I’d known them for years, and I knew any team would be lucky to have them. Still, when tech companies started laying people off—by the tens of thousands—they got caught in two of them,…

    Herbert Lui

    November 23, 2025
    Expectations, Turning Stories
  • If you’re unsure what to do, take any action

    Here’s a useful reminder from Brian Armstrong, who leads Coinbase: One of my favorite lessons I’ve learnt from working with smart people: Action produces information. If you’re unsure of what to do, just do anything, even if it’s the wrong thing. This will give you information about what you should actually be doing. Sounds simple…

    Herbert Lui

    November 22, 2025
    Creativity, Creator Confidential, Expectations
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