You’ve seen the posts, right? “I quit my job and made $10K in my first month!” “Built an app solo in 2 weeks and sold it for $100K!” “Now I’m sipping coconuts by the beach while my SaaS money does yoga in the bank!”

Yeah… about that.

You know what I hate about these stories? They’re like movie trailers — all the hype, none of the plot holes.

Here’s my real behind-the-scenes reel (no filters, no coconut props):

The hidden struggle:

Year 1: Full-time job + built 5 products. Nearly lost my sanity, gained dark circles.

Year 2: Full-time job + built 10 more products. Already fluent in caffeine. I wasn’t “solo.” I was half-zombie, half-human trying to code dreams into reality.

9–5: Job. 8 PM–2 AM: Products. Weekends: “Rest”? Nope. Products. Vacations: Thinking about products. Social life: Does talking to GitHub count?

Why this myth drives me nuts:

It hides the real effort. Everyone shows you the exciting launch day; nobody talks about the “why-is-this-API-hating-me” nights before it.

It makes you feel behind. You see success stories and wonder, “Am I broken?” (No, you’re just not lying online.)

It sells a fantasy. “Earn while you sleep!” Yeah, after a few thousand sleepless nights.

It attracts the wrong crowd. People expect shortcuts, then rage-quit when success doesn’t arrive with express shipping.

It downplays the cost. Health. Relationships. Stability. Mental peace. Turns out they don’t grow on YouTube ads.

My honest version: Yes, I built things solo. But I also:

Work a 9–5 job.

Said goodbye to weekends and hello to burnout.

Failed 15 times before anything worked.

Still learning, still tweaking, still not on a beach.

Was it worth it? For me, yes. Was it easy? Absolutely not.

It was messy. Lonely. Sometimes soul-crushing. But it was mine.

The real lesson: If you’re chasing the solopreneur dream, know the full story. Not the Instagram version. The real one — late nights, failed launches, silent wins.

If that fires you up, welcome to the chaos. If it sounds like torture, that’s cool too — peace is underrated.

So, which story do you want? The polished fairytale or the honest one with sweat stains?