👋 Hey, it's Preston. Welcome to issue #6 in my weekly newsletter, Side Hustle Stories. I share what I'm learning building an influencer business (currently 650K followers on IG & TikTok) while balancing a full-time job as the Head of BD at Lucid. No fluff. Just stories, frameworks, and behind-the-scenes decisions from someone doing the work in real-time. If you're building your own thing on the side—or want to—you'll feel right at home here.
I spent roughly 20 hours building an automation that turns coaching calls into short-form scripts.
Then a dozen creators asked if they could use it. So I'm turning it into a product called Script Loop—and building the whole thing in public.
If you’re a non-dev interested in building with AI or a creator looking into grow your social following, I hope this story will show you a path forward. You can sign up to be a beta tester HERE once I go live with the prototype.
Here's the journey so far.
Why I'm Building This
My TikTok and Instagram growth (385K and 267K followers, respectively) didn't happen by following conventional wisdom. While most creators I followed preached "pick one platform and go all-in," I grew by constantly experimenting with script templates from creators in completely different niches. Jeremy Miner’s hooks for sales videos? Perfect for teaching articulation. Dan Koe’s thread structure? An ideal starting point for teaching impromptu speaking frameworks.
Instead, I believe that you should focus your creative energy on one platform, but have an easy way to distribute everywhere else. Too many creators I know have been punting on short-form, not realizing there's a simpler path—repurposing the long-form calls, podcasts, and YouTube videos they already have to drive more top-of-funnel awareness.
For me, this is especially critical now. I'm committing to posting a video every week on YouTube (follow my channel if you're interested!). But I can't abandon the 600K+ followers I've built on short-form platforms. I need a system that lets me create short-form content without burning out while working full-time.
That's why I spent built an automation using n8n and ChatGPT. It pulls coaching transcripts, matches them with high-performing templates from a wide variety of niches, and generates 5 short-form scripts. No coding experience required—just ChatGPT walking me through each step.
After sharing my automation template in The Lab community, about a dozen creators reached out asking if they could use it. That's when I realized: this isn't just my problem.
Building Script Loop in Public
I've always seen myself as a builder at heart. At Stanford, I ran an SAT tutoring business. At the NBA, I built an employee experience app. From 2019-2022, I created an AI-powered public speaking coach for high school speech & debate programs.
But I couldn't code well. Despite taking hundreds of hours of programming courses in my twenties, I felt limited by super basic front-end react sites. Every startup idea hit the same wall—I couldn't build it myself.
AI changed that. With tools like Lovable and Cursor, now I can finally build pretty solid prototypes. I may need to outsource dev work to take it home, but now it’s WAY easier for me to get user feedback on something that actually works.
Script Loop (see demo in the video above) will be a tool that:
Transforms any transcript into multiple short-form scripts — in your brand voice
Uses proven templates from creators across all niches
Generates scripts in just a few clicks (vs. the 20 hours my automation took to build)
Tracks which templates perform best
Schedules directly to your platforms
I'm following Greg Isenberg's playbook for building SaaS with an affiliate engine. Instead of chasing A-list creators, I'll partner with 100+ earlier creators (5k-70k followers) who have trust, aren't over-messaged, and know their audience. The plan: a very generous lifetime commission, white-labeled dashboards, gamified milestones, and building everything in public.
What's Next
Before I dive fully into Script Loop, I'm finishing my Impromptu Speakers Academy course—a self-serve version of my cohort program that helps managers and leaders speak clearly when put on the spot. About 250 people are on the waitlist for my 20-day blueprint that teaches frameworks through daily 20-minute exercises (I’m vibe-coding that application too by the way). It's everything I've taught in my live cohorts, now accessible to people who couldn't attend the scheduled sessions. If you struggle with rambling in meetings or going blank with executives, join the waitlist here.
I'll share a full update on Script Loop in a few weeks, including:
First user feedback from beta testers
The technical stack I'm using (simpler than you'd think)
Revenue projections and distribution strategy
Why building in public changes everything
Building a SaaS while working full-time means accepting that progress happens in spurts. But for the first time, I'm building something that scales beyond my hours. That's the real unlock I’m most excited about.
If you want to be one of the first to try Script Loop, join the beta waitlist here. I'm looking for creators who have long-form content ready to repurpose and will give honest feedback. If you join the waitlist, I’ll also give you the original n8n automation template if you want it.
Until next Sunday.
Preston
Share this post