Build With Billy · AI for regular lifeMangaroa Farms · --:-- NZTBiweekly letter · Monday morningFree monthly call · First Monday 7pm NZTBroadcast from AotearoaSimple tools · more time · being humanBuild With Billy · AI for regular lifeMangaroa Farms · --:-- NZTBiweekly letter · Monday morningFree monthly call · First Monday 7pm NZTBroadcast from AotearoaSimple tools · more time · being human

Mangaroa Farms · Aotearoa New Zealand

     

From a farmer and a builder. Built for regular life, not just builders.

I spent a decade trading time for money making videos for other people's brands. AI let me stop. Now I build systems that run while I'm outside — and a free letter, a monthly call, and a starter kit so you can do the same.

Step in

Free · No gatekeeping · Unsubscribe in one click

One email every other Monday. Unsubscribe in one click.

Photo — Billy outside / 4:5 / warm light

01

The story

I stopped chasing the four-hour week. I started building it.

A decade freelancing — motion design, photography, brand work. Bali, the digital nomad chase, feast and famine. Every time I tried to build something that wasn't just me, it didn't stick. I crash-landed back in Aotearoa and wound up at Mangaroa Farms building a media studio. Got my hands dirty. Reconnected to the land, the seasons, the rhythm.

Then Claude Code. Went from someone who tells stories with tools to someone who builds tools from storytelling principles. Drank the AI kool-aid, came out the other side. AI isn't the answer — it's the enabler of the life I actually want to live.

Now I build systems that run while I'm outside.

Photo — laptop on weathered table / film grain

02

Who this is for

You're doing meaningful work. The plumbing is in the way.

Regeneration, wellbeing, community, social or environmental work. You know AI could help. You've tried Claude. You've copy-pasted ChatGPT output. When you sit down to build something real — a website, a booking flow, an automation — the water leaks everywhere. DNS, API keys, Stripe, Zoom, markdown, prompting principles. You don't know what you don't know.

The whole AI-bro space is making content for other techies. You aren't a techie. You're someone with a mission, and learning the plumbing feels like it pulls you away from the work you're actually here to do.

You don't need permission to be a builder. You need the plumbing — delivered by someone who shares your worldview.

03

What you get

Three things. All free, for now.

Free

The letter

Every other Monday morning. Short enough to read before the kettle boils. The thing I'd tell a friend over coffee about what's actually working.

Free

The monthly call

First Monday of the month, an hour on Zoom. Show up with what you're stuck on. Leave with one thing you can actually use. Not a pitch.

Free

The starter kit

A ready-to-clone project that lets you run your digital life from Telegram. Voice notes, tasks, calendar, email — all talking to one place.

Next call

Mon, 4 May · 19:00 NZT

Format

60 min · Zoom · free

RSVP

Subscribe above. The link comes the morning of the call.

04

Build log

What I'm actually running. Today, on this farm.

Dayshift

Working — daily

An autonomous agent that runs my farm-day work in 20-minute cycles. It scrubs my task list, ships drafts, asks me when it's stuck.

Night Shift

Product — soon

The version that runs while I sleep. Wakes up at 1am, works through the queue, leaves a digest on my phone by sunrise.

Voice notes → Tasks

Working — daily

I talk into my phone walking back from the woodshed. Twenty seconds later it's a task in Airtable, properly tagged, with the right project linked.

Mangaroa Farms website

Live

Built end-to-end with Claude Code. Stories, shop, newsletter, brand voice, all wired together. The plumbing taught me the system.

The library grows because I'm building anyway. I package what I make. You get the plumbing without learning everything I had to.

05

Step in

Free up some time.

One letter every other Monday. One free call on the first Monday of the month. A starter kit for the plumbing. That's the whole offer — no funnels, no upsells, no urgency. When there's something worth paying for, you'll see it. Not before.

Subscribe

Free · No gatekeeping · Unsubscribe in one click

Stay human, Billy.