For three years, I ran Magic Pages alone.
I liked it that way. Make a decision, execute, move on. No meetings. No alignment. No explaining myself. Just me and my work.
When people asked if I'd ever hire, I shrugged it off. “Maybe eventually.” But honestly, I wasn't sure I wanted to. The solo thing was working.
Then I hired my first person. Cashflow wasn't an issue any more, and it felt like the right move. Yesterday, on day two, he told me this felt completely different from his other jobs. That it didn't feel like “work.” That he got a dopamine hit from solving a customer's problem.
Something clicked.
That feeling – the one where your work actually matters, where you're learning and getting better, where solving an issue feels good – that's not just for founders. That's for everyone. And maybe building a place where other people get to feel that way is just as meaningful as feeling it myself.
So I started writing down what I want Magic Pages to be. Not the product. The company. The experience of working here. I'm putting it on this blog because writing it down makes it real, and making it public makes it harder to quietly abandon later.
Curiosity over credentials.
You can teach someone Ghost. You can teach DNS. You can't teach someone to care about figuring things out.
Magic Pages hires for curiosity. The person who asks “why?” is more valuable than the person who already knows “how.” Skills can be learned. The instinct to dig deeper can't.
If you don't know something, say so – then go find out. That's not a weakness. That's the job.
Ownership means it's yours.
When you pick up a ticket, it's yours until it's solved or explicitly handed off. When you see something broken, you fix it or flag it. When you have an idea, you bring it.
Magic Pages doesn't have layers of approval. We have trust. You'll make mistakes – that's expected. We'd rather you try and learn than wait for permission.
The flip side: if you mess up, own it. No blame games. Just “here's what happened, here's what I learned, here's what I'll do differently.”
Flexibility is the default.
We don't track hours. We don't care when you work, as long as customers are covered and work gets done.
Sick? Take the time you need. No limit, no doctor's note. Just let us know.
Time off? Minimum 20 days a year – and you're expected to actually take them. Give reasonable notice, coordinate, so customers are still taken care of, and go live your life.
We're async by default. Meetings happen when something genuinely needs a conversation. Otherwise, write it down.
Purpose is not a poster on a wall.
Every customer is a real person trying to build something that matters to them. A newsletter. A business. A community. A voice.
When you help them, you're not just closing a ticket. You're helping someone's thing exist in the world.
That's the job. Not “providing excellent customer service.” Helping people make their thing work.
If that doesn't feel meaningful to you, Magic Pages probably isn't the right place.
Direct is kind.
No corporate speak. No fluff. If something's broken, say it's broken. If you don't know, say you don't know. If a customer's wrong, tell them – kindly, but clearly.
We communicate like humans. Friendly but honest. Short sentences. Real answers.
This applies internally too. If something isn't working, say so. If you disagree, say so. We'd rather have the awkward conversation now than the bigger problem later.
Document everything.
If you figure something out, write it down. If a process doesn't exist, create it. If the documentation is wrong, fix it.
Future-you will thank present-you. So will whoever joins next.
Small on purpose.
Magic Pages is not trying to be big. We're trying to be good.
That means sustainable growth. Customers we can actually support. A team small enough that everyone knows everyone.
We'd rather do fewer things well than more things badly.
Scale is not the goal. Quality is.
This is a living document.
Magic Pages is two people right now. These principles will evolve as we grow. But the core idea won't change:
Magic Pages is a place where curious people do work that matters, with the freedom to do it well.
I used to think I wanted to do this alone. Turns out, I just didn't want to do it the way I'd seen it done before.