In this episode, we interviewed Anfernee Tan - a Singapore-based solopreneur and systems builder who helps one-person businesses work less and earn more by pairing simple systems with AI, through his newsletter and community, Solopreneur Code
Anfernee has helped more than 35,000 solopreneurs and professionals put AI to work, and also delivers corporate AI workflow training for enterprise teams in Singapore - he believes the path to freedom runs through systems, not hustle
His core argument: a one-person business rarely fails from lack of effort, it fails from lack of infrastructure - so build the operating system first, then teach the tactics inside it
Key takeaways:
Systems beat tactics - a solo business fails from lack of infrastructure, not lack of effort, and systems hold the work together when motivation runs out
AI doesn't fix a broken process, it just runs it faster - collecting tools like Pokémon changes nothing until you wire a few models into one repeatable workflow
Review the week from data, not memory - his agent compares seven days of activity against the prior fortnight and tells him what actually shipped versus busy work
The default one-person setup becomes one agent, not a pile of chatbots - and the solo operator with a well-built system will out-ship small teams
🔗 Connect with Anfernee
Who are you and what do you do?
I'm Anfernee Tan, a Singapore-based solopreneur and systems builder. I help one-person businesses work less and earn more by pairing simple systems with AI, mostly through my newsletter and community, Solopreneur Code.
What problem did you see that everyone else was missing?
Everyone was selling solopreneurs more tactics. More tools, more hacks, more hustle. Nobody was handing them a system.
From my personal experience, a one-person business rarely fails from lack of effort, it fails from lack of infrastructure. I watched thousands of capable people burn out because they ran their business on willpower and memory instead of repeatable systems.
So I built the operating systems first, then taught the tactics inside them. Systems hold the work together when motivation runs out. That shift, from chasing tactics to building systems, is what actually changes results for solo operators.
AI doesn't fix a broken process, it just runs it faster.
Walk us through one concrete way your work changes what companies actually ship
Take my content engine. One newsletter becomes a full week of platform-native content without a team.
Here's the real version. I capture the idea in a Notion mind dump. Claude drafts the newsletter from my notes and voice files. Notion AI, running as my custom agent NOVA, refines it inside the page. Once the newsletter ships, one trigger phrase turns it into X posts, threads, LinkedIn posts, and Pinterest pins, each rewritten for the platform instead of copy-pasted.
What used to take me two full days now takes about two hours, and the quality went up, not down. The agent handles the grunt work. I keep the judgment, the voice, and the final cut.
What's the most common thing senior leaders get wrong about AI?
They collect tools instead of building systems. I call it collecting AI tools like Pokémon. They buy the subscriptions, watch the demos, then wonder why nothing changed.
The tool is the easy part. The system is the workflow around it, the inputs, the steps, the standards, the place the output goes.
AI doesn't fix a broken process, it just runs it faster.
The people who win pick a few models, wire them into one repeatable workflow, and treat AI as an accelerator, not a replacement for thinking. Start with the work you already repeat. Automate that first. Then add the next layer only when the friction shows up.
Within 12 months, the default setup for a serious one-person business won't be a pile of chatbots, it'll be one agent with skills wired into their workspace, doing real work in the background.
What's in your AI stack? The one tool you rely on every week?
My core stack is Notion as the operating system, Claude for deep writing and research, and Perplexity for fast sourced research. Notion AI runs on top as my custom agent, NOVA, with its own instructions and modes.
The workflow I rely on every week is my Nova, My Week reflection: it pulls my Notion activity from the last seven days, compares it against the prior two weeks, and tells me what actually shipped versus what was busy work.
It catches the projects I keep starting and never finishing. Most people review their week from memory. I review mine from the data, and it changes what I prioritize next.
What does your work actually look like day to day?
It's quieter than the content makes it look. I start with a daily brief at 8am that lists my top three priorities and one nudge.
Mornings are protected for deep work, usually writing or building a product. I publish two newsletters a week, Thursday and Sunday.
A lot of my time goes to editing, not writing, and to cutting scope rather than adding to it. Some weeks I'm running corporate AI training.
Where is your field in 12 months - one specific prediction?
Solopreneurs stop collecting AI tools and start running agents.
Within 12 months, the default setup for a serious one-person business won't be a pile of chatbots, it'll be one agent with skills wired into their workspace, doing real work in the background.
I'm already living this. My agent drafts, reflects, repurposes, and briefs me every morning.
The gap will widen fast between operators who build an agent around their business and those still pasting prompts into a chat window. The solo operator with a well-built system will out-ship small teams. That's the bet I'm putting my own time and money on.
Where should readers find you, and what should they read first?
Start with Solopreneur Code on Substack.
Read the Start Here guide first, then subscribe, it's the fastest way to see how I think about systems, AI, and building a calm one-person business.
From there, join the Solopreneur Mastery Club if you want the community and deeper implementation. And if you like a daily hit, my AI Daily Telegram channel covers what's actually useful in AI for solo operators.
AI Central Voices is where the AI Central team sits down with the founders, executives, and builders shaping AI - going behind the scenes of how they operate, what they're betting on, and where the industry goes next.
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