Building an unconventional methodology is a slow burn, and that’s the point
When you start a business, or anything really, you think about what will make things work, and you start copying other people’s ways. Watch a two-hour YouTube tutorial, try to implement it, find inspos. Nothing is wrong with this. But did it work? Maybe, when it really fits. But what if it doesn’t, because it’s too cookie-cutter and too beige, and you’re not seen enough because everyone does that?
I’m a UX designer. We are taught to care about users and have empathy, but I never really studied real humans. I was often too biased, and my decisions were saturated with my own perception, because my ego said: if I didn’t like it, how would others like it? It turned out okay. I had decent tests. But it still didn’t feel right. Something was missing, and I didn’t know what. Both in my work life and my life.
Until I met my client, Dr Miles Neale from The Gradual Path, a contemplative Tibetan Buddhism-psychology foundation that approached me to collaborate. The first project was his new course on Lam-rim, a Tibetan teaching on gradual progression. I managed everything and moderated the class, which meant I absorbed all the Lam-rim teachings into my brain.
After that I started reading Campbell and Jung, and studying humans. Not empathy as a UX must-have list item, but actually understanding humans, and trying to be more grounded. Somehow it made me bulletproof. Not biased, none of my judgements saturated. Clearer with my decisions and what I wanted.
Then I started being active, from basement rat to doing sport. Tennis, pilates, scuba diving, volleyball. This is where it gets interesting, in a way I only realised after a while.
Tennis makes me see things before they come. See the pattern, be more strategic. Then scuba diving. Did you know how peaceful it is? Just me and nothing but breath. Sometimes I need to fix something 20 metres underwater, and it gave me a mindset I carry everywhere: if I can fix things underwater, why can’t I do it on the surface? Critical thinking, calm under pressure. Pilates I picked up to fix my back pain, but it really makes me more mindful. And volleyball, I play libero. My job is to save the ball. Not attacking, more defensive, without getting enough spotlight. I implemented all of that into my work life.
All the sports I play, and all the teachings from Dr Miles and Geshe Tenzin Zopa from Gradual Path, built this mindset together. I have never done a pilgrimage, but somehow I have the mindset.
The same logic applies to how I market and build. I have no idea if there is already a real word for this methodology. I mix ancient approaches that worked hundreds of years ago, evolving and tweaking them with modern tools. It works because myth, ancient stuff, is the same thing we have now, just with better graphics. Like Phil Cousineau said, “what’s true now, it’s true tomorrow.” That’s what is always in my head.
So when I started my creative studio, this is what I built the workflow on. Understanding humans. Seeing the pattern before it comes. Staying calm under pressure. Saving the game.
And when I made Echo Omni Studio official, it was this mindset that made me brave enough to make my company legal and hire five people onto my team. Because Lam-rim taught me that reality is what my mind is projecting. If I project fear, I stay small. If I project the studio I want to build, I build it.
None of it came from a tutorial. It came from a teacher, a court, and 20 metres of water. Building an unconventional methodology is not actually hard. It’s just slow. And the slow parts, long game and that what makes it yours.
About Rinn R
Rinn R is the Founder and Creative Director of Echo Studio, a UI/UX designer, frontend developer, and enterprise product management specialist working at the intersection of design systems, web development, and digital visibility.
With five years of experience across graphic design, UI/UX, and frontend development, Rinn builds with intention across the full stack, from interface to infrastructure. Her primary tools include Nuxt, Vue, and Astro, alongside no-code platforms like Kajabi and Squarespace for client delivery. She treats SEO, AEO, and GEO not as add-ons but as structural decisions embedded in how sites are built and how content is written.
