Faceless: From Immigrant to $1M/Year

Nick Buzz

• Background and origin story
  • Grew up in a lower-middle-class family in India; his father was a police officer who wanted him to pursue engineering, medicine, or finance
  • Was passionate about art and drawing from a young age, seeing it as a way to express himself
  • Woke his father at 1 a.m. to announce he would pursue animation instead of engineering; his father dismissed the idea and told him not to come back crying if it failed
  • Determined to prove his father and himself wrong, he committed to making a living through design
• Pivotal moments and turning points
  • Competed in roughly 200 logo design contests in India; after six months with no earnings, he finally won a contest and earned about $200, which convinced him design could be a career
  • Enrolled in a college affiliated with a university in Toronto, Canada, at age 17, seeing it as an escape from the doubt of family and friends
  • Arrived in Canada with almost no money, no plan, and no professional network; struggled to land work as a teenager with no experience
  • On his first day of university in 2016, a developer found him on Dribbble and referred a client who paid him $3,200 for two days of work; that client stayed with him for three and a half years, generating roughly $80,000–$90,000 per year in freelance income
  • Despite high freelance earnings, out-of-state tuition kept him in the red; he had no social life, no friends, and could not afford basic expenses
  • Landed an internship at Facebook (Meta) through a university recruiting session; the role paid $8,000 per month and brought social respect, but he found it creatively restrictive and unfulfilling
  • By the end of 2022, with a baby on the way and only two months of savings, he decided to leave Meta and pursue entrepreneurship full-time
  • Chose to remain anonymous online to avoid family scrutiny, protect his personal life, and because he is an introvert who suffers from migraines
• Business growth, current status, or exit details
  • Started posting design roasts on Twitter (X) by quote-tweeting others’ landing pages and offering constructive critiques, which built him an audience
  • Launched a design kit of 50 landing pages priced at $9, which validated that people would pay for his products
  • Progressively raised prices for landing page designs from $50 up to $300, peaking at around $6,000–$7,000 in a single month
  • Burned out from juggling 10–12 projects simultaneously, working 16–20 hours a day with no focus
  • Partnered with fellow designer Alex to launch Baked, a monthly design subscription agency
  • Baked initially struggled to find clients willing to pay premium prices; a single lead discovered Nick through a small UI post and became the first paying client at approximately $4,317 per month
  • Baked’s monthly recurring revenue grew rapidly: $24,000 in the first month, then $48,000, $94,000, $110,000, $120,000, $160,000, before flattening around $100,000–$120,000
  • Nick and Alex ran Baked as a two-person team until December, when Nick took time off for the birth of his child; they later began hiring one full-time employee and several part-time freelancers
  • Currently earns approximately $1.2 million per year while remaining completely anonymous online
  • His father later expressed regret for doubting him; his parents now know he makes money but are not involved in the details

Products and Offerings

• Design kits containing pre-built landing pages sold at low price points ($9) to validate demand
• Custom landing page design services with prices scaled from $50 up to $300 per page
• Baked, a monthly recurring design subscription agency offering ongoing design work for a flat monthly fee
• Design roasts on Twitter (X) used as a marketing and audience-building tool

Metrics and Financials

• Freelance income from a single long-term client: approximately $80,000–$90,000 per year
• Peak monthly revenue from multiple concurrent projects: approximately $6,000–$7,000
• Baked’s monthly recurring revenue trajectory: $24,000 → $48,000 → $94,000 → $110,000 → $120,000 → $160,000, then stabilized around $100,000–$120,000
• Current annual income: approximately $1.2 million
• Baked’s first client paid approximately $4,317 per month
• Nick left Meta with only two months of savings and a baby on the way

Strategy and Growth

• Used design roasts on Twitter to build an audience and demonstrate expertise without revealing his identity
• Validated product-market fit by launching a low-priced design kit before scaling to higher-ticket services
• Progressively raised prices as demand and reputation grew
• Consolidated from 10–12 scattered projects into a single focused business (Baked) to avoid burnout
• Relied on organic Twitter content and word-of-mouth rather than paid advertising
• Maintained anonymity to avoid external pressure and stay focused on the work

Tech Stack and Infrastructure

• Used Dribbble as a portfolio platform to attract early freelance clients
• Built and marketed Baked primarily through Twitter (X)
• Operated Baked as a lean team of two founders, later scaling to one full-time hire plus part-time freelancers

Lessons and Advice

• Never doubt yourself, even when results are not immediate; trust the process and believe in what you are doing
• Avoid spreading yourself across too many projects; focus is essential to building something meaningful
• Starting with an anonymous or faceless account is a valid approach; be authentic and engage with people rather than just pushing marketing content
• Build a community around your work and tell your story in a way that draws people in
• You can always reveal your identity later once you feel ready; the anonymity is a tool, not a permanent requirement
• Take the leap yourself; no one else will do it for you