Hi everyone,
I am looking to connect with 3 other committed No-Code builders who are serious about turning their skills into a business but want a "team" to practice with first.
I’m currently at the Beginner/Intermediate level. While I feel confident visualising workflows and fairly confident building them in Airtable, I still feel that ‘imposter syndrome’ when it comes to the logistics of client delivery - managing permissions, handling live updates, and ensuring I don't break a production base. And I also still have a lot to learn on the technical side.
The Proposal: I’d like to form a small, consistent collaborative group where we can build a portfolio project together in both Airtable and SmartSuite.
My suggested structure for the group (open to discussion!):
- The "Mock Client" Approach: Instead of just building in a vacuum, we could buddy up. We act as a “Client” for one another. This allows us to safely practice what I personally consider the nerve-wracking parts of the job: quoting (proposal), onboarding, setting permissions, and deploying "add-ons" to a live database without breaking it. This is my particularly want and need.
- Timeframe: Initially this is intended to be a one-project project lasting approximately 4-6 weeks. However, if we all collaborate well together, this could be an ongoing collaborative group.
- Shared Output: Throughout the project, everyone is expected to share their work openly - their builds, their approaches, their mistakes, and their solutions. At the end, all completed bases and solutions are shared across the group for everyone to use freely: portfolios, case studies, social content, client demos, whatever you need. There may be multiple versions - that's a feature, not a problem.
- Dual-Platform Build (optional): We tackle one specific use case (e.g. an ATS or CRM) and build it in both tools to compare features.
I want to be clear: I'm not positioning myself as the expert in this group. I'm looking for peers at a similar level who want to figure this out together - not a mentor or a teacher.
I've put together a full project proposal with more detail on how I imagine this working. You can read it here. I'm completely open to other ideas and happy for the group to propose and vote on the final project and structure.
Who I’m looking for:
- Level: Beginner to Intermediate – not total beginners please.
- Mindset: You want to learn the business of No-Code (scoping, handovers, maintenance), not just the formulas. You need to be committed to showing up and to be fully collaborative - sharing your knowledge, project progress and outcomes, freely and transparently.
This group only works if everyone comes in willing to give as much as they take. For this one project, I'm asking everyone to commit to full transparency - sharing what you build, what you try, and what fails. In return, you'll get the same from everyone else. If that feels uncomfortable, this probably isn't the right group.
All ages welcome.
Your commitment:
- Commitment: 1 x 1-hr live strategy call per week + sharing and updates in a group chat (platform to be agreed). The live strategy call could be any time from 9am – 8pm, UK BST time zone.
- Financial investment: At minimum, an Airtable Team subscription ($24/month, plus $24 when onboarding your 'mock client') is required — this is essential for practising real client handover and permissions. SmartSuite participation is optional: if you want to join me in a dual-platform build, a SmartSuite Team subscription ($45/month) would be needed.
About Me: I'm Chris, based in Madeira. My background is in emotional resilience coaching — I've been transitioning into no-code for the past few months, with a couple of small client projects under my belt and a lot more I need to learn. I'm serious about making this work, which is exactly why I want to build with other people rather than muddle through alone. I am hoping to find peers who are in the same boat — not ahead of me, not behind me, just in it with me. You can find me on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/flow-works
If learning in isolation feels isolating and you miss the energy of bouncing ideas off a team, let’s team up. The goal is to find builders who thrive on collaboration and want a supportive environment to practice, break things, and make mistakes safely rather than making them with a paid job. Please complete the expression of interest form.
Start Date: April 2026 – date tbc once group members confirmed