I built a personal website/blog to capture my writing and outdoor adventures. I have Google docs full of writing and I text impactful quotes to myself while hiking. I post on LinkedIn and plan adventures and all of it lives in different places, fragmented, waiting to be gathered somewhere.
I wanted one place. For me and for anyone who wants to join along. I’d heard Claude Code was helping non-technical people build things. I wanted to try it for myself. I have zero programming knowledge. While this is Mike Brevoort’s realm, I asked him not to help 😅. I wanted to figure it out, to bumble through it. That’s how I learn.
Day one was frustrating. I was on the web browser version instead of the app and I couldn’t figure out why Claude Code wasn’t working. With limited time, I gave up for the day.
Day two I found the app (duh!), figured out terminal, added Git, and didn’t stop for hours. I used Claude Code the whole way through. Plain English. IT support without the eye rolls.
I also wasn’t happy with how it looked. I write. I do not design. I only know what doesn’t look right. So I went to Dribbble for inspiration and added a design skill to help bring it to life. Ha!
Yes, I still say thank you and celebrate wins letting it know — this was EXACTLY what I was thinking, perfect, thank you! Claude may be a tool but I’m still me and I’m AMAZED. It doesn’t get tired of my silly questions and many iterations.
When it came time to publish, I asked Mike to walk me through creating a GitHub repo and getting it live on Vercel. I could have figured it out with Claude too but by then I wanted him to help me publish it. He loves celebrating my wins and especially loves watching non-technical people discover the joy of creating something themselves.
I now have a website with a complete about section, an outside section beginning with my TRT planning, elevation charts, gear checklist, day by day trail planning tool. Sections for Writing, leadership and culture. My People, family, motherhood, adoption. Still dialing in and editing, but ready to share.
I understand the mantra of clapping for yourself. But that’s never really been my thing. I like to bring people along. Cheer more people on. Not just in outdoor adventures but in becoming better leaders, continuing to learn, and figuring out hard things.
Check out my site. But I really want to encourage you to dive in.
You can do hard things.
Check out my site: jeanie.brevoort.com