Building Forward: Infrastructure, Identity, and Hard Lessons (Phase 2)

 

Date: June 26, 2025
Author: Ronald Zinn

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In Phase 1 of building ZinnWorks, I laid the foundation — defining the vision, shaping the brand, and designing the logo with a lot of AI assistance and iteration. Phase 2 has been all about taking those ideas and putting them into motion: building infrastructure, establishing an online presence, and learning the hard way what I didn’t know I didn’t know.

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🚧 The Build Begins

Once the core identity was in place, I focused on creating the ZinnWorks website. I started with a static HTML+CSS version to get a functional landing page up quickly. Hosting it on Netlify with continuous deployment from GitHub was smooth — a major win for getting a live presence fast.

But then came the desire to embed our freshly minted logo — which introduced the next leap: React and Next.js.

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⚛️ Transitioning to React + Next.js (App Router)

I wanted to scale the site for future functionality, so we transitioned to a modern React-based framework using Next.js 15 with App Router. That turned out to be a bigger shift than expected.

At first, ChatGPT provided code for embedding the logo using React components, but I didn’t yet have a React setup — I was still working in static HTML. I spent time troubleshooting, trying to make sense of the React code until we stepped back and identified the gap.

Once the framework was upgraded and the app structured using /app routing, deployment issues cropped up — particularly 404 errors on Netlify. These were eventually resolved by correcting the netlify.toml configuration and making sure output folders matched Netlify’s expectations.

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🧱 Infrastructure Snags & Learnings

There were a few other pain points along the way:

1. GitHub Push Errors – I ran into file size issues pushing to GitHub. Turns out large binary files from node_modules were being tracked, exceeding GitHub’s limits. The problem? I didn’t have a .gitignore file set up. This was a perfect example of how easy it is to make big mistakes when you're not aware of the tooling conventions.

2. Contact Form Fails – While the site looked great, I later discovered that the contact form wasn’t actually sending emails. This has now been logged for resolution in Phase 3.

3. Tooling Setup – I registered zinnworks.com for the business and ronzinn.com for the blog. I also created a professional email (hello@zinnworks.com) through Zoho Mail, completing the minimum setup for client-facing communication.

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📣 Going Public

With the foundation live, I started publishing updates:

• Blog at ronzinn.com — where I’m documenting every step of the journey, including this post.

• LinkedIn — including visual content like the logo evolution carousel and shorter updates for broader engagement.

These updates aren’t just about marketing — they’re about accountability and building in public.

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💡 Lessons from the Field

• Framework assumptions matter. Don’t copy/paste code without knowing the context it was built for.

• Default setups (like .gitignore) exist for a reason. If you’re missing them, your life will be harder.

• Public doesn’t mean perfect. Going live with some flaws is better than waiting indefinitely for perfection.

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What’s Next (Phase 3 Preview)

Phase 3 will focus on:

• Fixing the contact form and adding basic functionality to internal tools

• Creating MVP demos for our first AI services

• Adding internal pages and content for ZinnWorks’ core offerings

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Thanks again for following along. If you’re building something too — or thinking about it — I’d love to connect. Let’s learn in the open and make AI work for real.

— Ronald Zinn
Founder, ZinnWorks

Laying the Foundation: Vision, Strategy, and Brand

 

Documenting Phase 0 & Phase 1 of building ZinnWorks

When I set out to build ZinnWorks, I wasn’t just starting a business — I was launching a real-time experiment:
What happens when you use AI to build an AI-driven business, from the ground up?

The goal wasn’t to create hype or chase trends. It was to solve real problems with practical AI tools — and to build every part of the business with intention, utility, and a human touch.

In this post, I’ll walk through the first two foundational phases:
🔹 Phase 0 – Strategy & Market Fit
🔹 Phase 1 – Brand Identity & Positioning

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🔹 Phase 0: Strategy & Market Fit

Before writing a line of code or registering a domain, I took a step back and asked:

Where does AI actually make people’s work better — not just noisier?

The answer: In everyday workflows. In the tasks that drain time, attention, and energy.
Most businesses (especially small ones) are intrigued by AI, but unsure where to start. And most AI tools either feel too generic or too technical to implement effectively.

This is the gap ZinnWorks is here to fill:

🧩 Practical, workflow-focused AI solutions built for real business needs.
🛠️ Simple enough to use. Powerful enough to matter.
🧠 Built with AI, not just about AI.

This isn't a product-first business. It’s a problem-first one. And that mindset will shape every tool, post, and conversation moving forward.

Welcome to ZinnWorks: AI Built for Real Work

Date: May 15, 2025
Author: Ronald Zinn

Welcome to ZinnWorks — a project built from the ground up with one bold idea: that artificial intelligence can (and should) be used to build practical solutions for real work.

This isn’t just a company. It’s a working experiment — and I’m documenting every step.

The Vision Behind ZinnWorks

After more than 15 years in IT project management and cybersecurity, I’ve worked in environments where tech often gets over-complicated, underutilized, or misaligned with business needs. I saw an opportunity: what if we stopped chasing the flashiest tech and started using AI as a real-world problem solver?

ZinnWorks was born from that idea. My goal is to create, test, and deploy AI-powered tools that solve actual problems — the kind that small businesses, solopreneurs, and growing teams deal with every day.

Building the Business with AI — Literally

Here’s the twist: I’m using AI to build every part of this business.

• 💻 The Website — Designed and developed with help from AI prompts and code generation, including content layout, site structure, and styling decisions.
• 🧠 Branding & Strategy — From naming to messaging to positioning, AI helped me refine the voice and direction of the brand.
• 🎨 The Logo — Collaboratively generated with AI tools, iterated based on feedback, and polished into a clean, minimal mark that fits the ZinnWorks aesthetic.
• 📄 Content & Copy — Blog posts (like this one), landing page copy, and documentation are all co-written with AI, saving time while improving clarity.
• 📦 Tools & Products — The AI-assisted development doesn't stop with the website. I’m actively building AI-powered tools to help real people automate, streamline, and scale their work — and AI is helping write the code for those, too.

This project is a proof of concept: I want to show what’s possible when AI becomes part of your creative team — not just your toolkit.

What to Expect from This Blog

This blog is where I’ll share the entire journey — the experiments, the failures, the breakthroughs, and everything in between.

You'll find:

• 🛠️ Practical tutorials and tool breakdowns
• 🧩 Use cases and business ideas AI can actually power
• 🗒️ Behind-the-scenes looks at how I'm building ZinnWorks
• 🧠 Thoughts on the responsible, grounded use of AI
• 🤝 Invitations to collaborate and co-create

Why This Matters

AI isn’t just for tech giants or researchers anymore. It’s accessible, affordable, and shockingly capable — if you know how to work with it.

ZinnWorks is here to demystify that process and prove that AI can empower anyone — not just coders or engineers — to build something real.

Whether you’re a founder, freelancer, side-hustler, or just curious about what AI can do for your work — you’re in the right place.

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Thanks for reading, and welcome aboard. Let’s build something real, together.

— Ronald Zinn
Founder, ZinnWorks