One Year of Building After Work: Lessons from Shipping 4 Apps

In the last year, I built and released 4 small apps while working full time. I did this in the evenings and on weekends. It was exciting, but also very tiring. I learned many real lessons from this process. I want to share some of them as a simple story.

First, I learned that it is very hard to do everything alone.

When you work solo, you are the developer, designer, tester, support, and marketer at the same time. At the beginning, this feels possible. After some time, it becomes heavy. You move slower because you are always changing roles. One day you write code. The next day you try to design. Then you answer emails. It is possible, but it takes a lot of energy.

Second, I learned that the real challenge is not building. The real challenge is reaching people.

I spent many hours improving features and fixing small details. But if no one sees your product, these things do not matter much. A good product is important, but people must know it exists. Sharing, writing, and talking about your app is as important as coding. This was a big mindset change for me.

Another important lesson was about time.

If you work full time, your free time is limited. Some days I only had 1–2 hours to work on my apps. Because of this, I had to use my time carefully. I stopped trying to build big features in one night. Instead, I focused on small steps. Small progress every day helped more than big plans.

I also learned that avoiding overload is almost impossible.

There is always something to do. A bug to fix. A feature to add. A new idea to try. After some time, you can feel very tired. Sometimes I felt like I was always behind. I started to accept that I cannot do everything. Some weeks I build more. Some weeks I rest more. This balance is important.

In the end, shipping 4 apps in 1 year did not make me perfect. But it made me more realistic. I learned my limits. I learned what matters and what does not. And I learned that finishing and sharing something is better than waiting for it to be perfect.

I am thinking about writing a longer and more detailed blog post about this journey, with real examples and mistakes I made.