Stalling Happens Because You Handle Research, Planning, Production, Distribution, and Sales Alone
When working solo, every step of the process becomes your responsibility.
There is no one to research the market or create materials. You are the one distributing and selling.
In a company, different departments handle these tasks, but doing it all alone inevitably leads to bottlenecks. Research and production are where people most often get stuck.
Starting a project without thorough research and publishing it before it's fully formed—many people are likely familiar with this cycle.
What you need isn't more willpower, but a division of labor. By using AI tools, you can create your own departments even as a solo operator.
NotebookLM is the Research Department, Codex is the Development Department
NotebookLM: Strong in Research
NotebookLM is an AI that answers based solely on the materials you upload.
You can feed it PDFs, text, Google Docs, Google Slides, URLs, and even clipboard contents.
Its key feature is the ability to compare multiple documents. If you ask, "Summarize the differences between Company A and Company B," it will cross-reference the materials to provide an answer.
Here is an example of a prompt I actually use:
1"Based on the uploaded materials, summarize the differences between Company A and Company B in a comparison table. Please clearly state the source pages."
Codex: Strong in Production
Codex is an AI that writes code and shapes deliverables based only on Japanese instructions.
NotebookLM's slides are sufficient for organizing and presenting information. However, in situations where you need the audience to take action—such as landing a consulting gig, introducing products via affiliate marketing, or getting sign-ups for your own service—"showing" isn't enough. This is where LPs (Landing Pages) and diagnostic tools become necessary.
By simply saying "Create an LP like this," it assembles HTML and CSS to produce an initial version in minutes.
I use this prompt template:
1"Objective: LP to increase sign-ups for [Product] / Target: People struggling with [Problem] / Section Structure: Problem -> Solution -> Results -> Pricing -> FAQ / Design Direction: Simple and trust-oriented / Technical Requirements: Mobile-first display"
While it works on the free tier, the limits are quite strict. If you use it heavily every day, it's ultimately faster to pay for it.
By passing the information gathered by NotebookLM to Codex, you can move straight into production. By separating the "researcher" and the "maker," you can complete the workflow with just these two.
Setting Up the Research Department in NotebookLM
Market Research and Competitor Analysis Flow
The process is simple:
- Upload industry reports or competitor materials to NotebookLM.
- Ask questions in natural language, such as "What is the market growth rate?" or "What are the differences from competitors?"
- Review the answers, which include citations.
Reading an entire industry report manually often takes dozens of minutes, but with NotebookLM, you can grasp the key points in minutes. The same goes for competitor analysis; there are cases where comparison work was significantly shortened just by adding sources and asking questions.
Customer Understanding and Organizing Product Ideas
By uploading inquiry logs or open-ended survey responses and asking "What are the common customer pain points?", the key issues are organized instantly.
The same applies to finding specific statements in meeting minutes. It finishes overwhelmingly faster than manual searching.
Just by laying out the gathered information, the seeds for product ideas become visible.
Operational Rules to Maintain Accuracy
A word of caution is needed here.
Using AI to research information on the web carries the risk of hallucinations (where the AI generates plausible but incorrect information), so human checking is essential.
On the other hand, if you operate based only on materials you have prepared yourself, this risk is significantly reduced.
Cross-check numbers and proper nouns against the original text. By following this one step, it will function perfectly as a research department.
Entrusting the Development Department to Codex
How to Create LPs and Diagnostic Tools
Include these five elements in your prompt:
- Objective
- Target
- Section Structure
- Design Direction
- Technical Requirements
With these, the first draft of an LP is ready in minutes. For revisions, limiting yourself to 1–3 points at a time keeps the output stable.
Diagnostic tools work the same way. As long as you decide on the questions and the branching logic for answers, they can be ready for publication in dozens of minutes.
How to Create Proposal Materials and Business Tools
For proposal materials, you can create a draft just by providing an outline in this order: Cover, Problem, Solution, Results, Pricing, Implementation Flow, and FAQ.
Keep these three things in mind:
- Conciseness (one message per slide)
- Persuasion through numbers
- A structure that preemptively addresses customer doubts
Including these three principles in your prompt ensures the first draft is high-quality enough to use.
Can You Use It Without Programming Experience?
Many people might think, "Isn't this impossible if I'm not an engineer?"
You can create apps and tools through conversation alone. If you want to fix something, just say "Change this part to that," and it will be fixed.
You don't need knowledge of how to write code. All you need is the ability to explain the desired outcome in words.
A Workflow Connecting the Two Departments
Copy the organized answers from NotebookLM and paste them directly into the Codex prompt.
Instruct it to "Convert these research results into an LP, proposal materials, and a diagnostic tool," and production begins.
Since the flow of Research -> Organization -> Production connects in one direction, you avoid the typical solo bottleneck of getting stuck during information organization.
The Minimum Configuration for a Solo AI Company
You don't need to set up every department from the start.
You can add specialized design, sales support, or analysis departments later.
Initially, you only need the two that directly link to revenue: "Research" and "Production."
As long as the Research and Development departments are running, one person can handle everything from finding a product angle to shaping it. You can worry about other departments once your revenue stabilizes.
The Era of Doing Everything Alone is Over; Return to Being the CEO
I manage multiple social media accounts as a side hustle while working as an office clerk.
While my presence here (on X) is still growing, a Threads account I operate using an automated posting system recently exceeded 2.25 million impressions in one week. Even on different platforms, the concept of systematizing "researching" and "making" with NotebookLM and Codex works just as effectively.
At my company, I use NotebookLM by having it read customer information. I've realized that even disorganized content, like notes from daily conversations, can be organized and put to use.
You don't need to handle research and production entirely with your own hands. By delegating to NotebookLM and Codex, you can move into the role of the one giving the orders.
The Minimum Action to Take Today
There is only one thing to do.
Open NotebookLM and try uploading one idea note or document you have on hand.
It doesn't need to be a perfectly polished document. Just put one in and throw a question at it; that's how your Research Department starts moving.
By the way, I also use NotebookLM at work. It's great because you can just throw information in for now and find various ways to use it later. It's also useful for personal side hustles, so please give it a try!
The prompts introduced in this article actually have even more detailed variations.
Investigation, LP creation, and proposal material templates, plus the key points for growing Threads to 2.25 million impressions, are all summarized.
If you send "Skill" to my LINE, I'll give them to you.
