Got laid off, built a side project, now it makes more than my old salary

12 months later update. March 2024: Lost my $95k CS job. April 2024: Started building a simple workflow tool. September 2024: First paying customer ($29/mo). October 2025: $9.2k MRR. I'm not rich. I'm not a unicorn. But I'm independent and I sleep better. The hardest part wasn't the code or the marketing. It was convincing myself I deserved to charge money for something I made.