How a chat with a friend turned into The Fillennial, and what building it taught me (and maybe you).
Now that the blog has finally reached a stable state, I felt excited to immediately write down its creation process. By doing this I will always be able to revisit its humble beginning. For you, there might be some valuable product management lessons if you ever want to create something yourself.
The idea for The Fillennial was born in conversation. I’ve always been open about money with my best friends, and one in particular. He has an entrepreneurial mindset, much more than I do, and we’ve often compared how differently we were raised financially. One day, we had a discussion about our saving behavior. After I explained the saving habits I had grown up with, he told me he’d never heard it framed that way before and that he was grateful I did.
Not long after that, he told me he’d made a few small tweaks to his own savings approach that would really help him on the long term. Realizing I could help someone I respect so deeply, simply by sharing my perspective, lit the spark that eventually became this blog.
I know what open and honestly talking about money and financial behavior with my friends has done for me personally, and I wish for everyone to have that as well. This blog is essentially a collection of the money conversations in my social circle. The ones I’ve had, and the ones still to come.
And that conversation on saving habits I just mentioned? That has become the very first post on this blog.
Starting with “Why”
When I decided to go for it, I did not start with the question“how do I monetize a blog?”. The goal for the blog would be to inspire conversation and thought through real stories, like in my own social circle. So I instead asked “what would make a blog worth reading if the goal is to spark discussions and thinking about money?”.
That flipped the problem upside down. It wasn’t about ads, plugins, or growth hacks. It was about integrity, quality, and consistency.
- Why: share real stories that might spark conversations and new perspectives on money.
- How: through openness, accessibility, and focus on nuance.
- What: a blog that is simple, bingeable, and easy to share.
How it took shape
If the Why was the compass, the How became the map.
Just like a good map, the How consists of different layers. And it’s the combination of many choices that together define how The Fillennial works:
- Quality content: reflections that honestly capture both experience, lesson, and me as a person.
- Warm, genuine and grateful interaction with anyone who takes the effort to read along.
- A clean, minimal website and newsletter focused exclusively on delivering both the stories and lessons.
- No gated content or affiliate links. Everyone should have equal access, and the blog should not be used to trick the reader into buying something they don’t need.
- A two-week rhythm that sets trust and pace, instilled to guarantee quality content and give me a chance to occasionally do other things in life as well.
- A single community channel (Bluesky) to stay focused and have meaningful interactions.
- Monetization only after the foundation is stable, and even then with minimal intrusion.
These are the things I hope will make this blog more than just a website and, instead, a source that inspires conversations and a few smiles along the way. Especially in the social circles of the readers.
The reality of implementation
Implementation didn’t begin with technology, it began with writing.
But let me be honest first: Yes, I make use of AI tools in the writing process. And if that takes away some of the romance of this blog, that’s a risk I’m happy to take. I found AI to be an extremely helpful support tool to help structure my thoughts, guarantee consistent quality in the posts, and actually get my messages across.
But that being said, I also want you to know the stories on this blog are as real as can be. I take great care in editing each post until I’m personally satisfied with it, which is one of the reasons I decided for a publication rhythm of every two weeks.
When I had written the first six posts, I shared them with the friend who inspired the idea, and with my girlfriend as well. Their feedback helped ensure that my actual personality, voice and perspectives were recognizable. Only after this writing foundation was finished did I turn to the technological setup.
Building a blog is not a straight process
Most people think products like this are built linearly: first this, then that. Like a Lego set with 1,300 pieces and an instruction manual. It’s a mistake I made as well, treating complex products like this as if they can be finished step by step and then declared “done.”
I now know that an approach like that is what you would normally call a project. Like the Lego set it has a pre-defined trajectory where important variables are known, and a true moment of completion. But this blog isn’t a project, it’s a product. And products are never truly finished. They evolve, improve, sometimes break, and then get fixed. Kind of like all the corporate coffee machines I’ve ever seen in my life. And the product labeled The Fillennial is more elaborate than I anticipated upfront:
- Hosting with Hostinger.
- Website building on WordPress.
- Professional e-mail via Outlook.
- Social Media interactions on Bluesky.
- Newsletter management in MailerLite.
- Website security with a tool I won’t name for exactly that purpose.
- Compliance through Complianz.
- Analytics and integrations with Google Site Kit.
- SEO powered by Rank Math.
- And a handful of other plugins to tie it all together.
That means in practice, implementation was highly iterative and far from linear. Every step was: install, test, adapt, sometimes abandon, then return later. I also had to be a generalist: learning just enough about a tool until I had what I needed, and then moving on. Never aiming for mastery, just progress. Bit by bit, the site became more stable and more aligned with the Why. And more fun to build than I would have expected as well.
The biggest lesson
Looking back, inverted thinking gave me the structure I didn’t even know I needed. It reminded me to always start with the Why. Then work back to the How. Then work back to the What.
But structure alone wasn’t enough. Progress came from iteration, from treating The Fillennial not as a project with an end date, but as a living product that grows, shifts, and sometimes breaks. And that when the latter happens, it gets rebuilt a little stronger.
That combination of vision and iteration is the biggest lesson I’ll carry forward. Not just here, but in my work and life too.
Moving forward
Now the foundation is here. The technology stack is in place. The rhythm is set.
Monetization might come, but the blog has been set up in such a way that it can only be a byproduct of consistency and reader value. The real work is writing, sharing, and connecting.
If you’re reading this, you’re part of that process. I’m glad you’re here and hope this blog delivers on its intended value, and maybe even lightens your day a little.
– The Fillennial
Many readers share these lessons in their own circles. If this story gave you something, feel free to pass it on!
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