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The turning point

How losing my job was one of the best things that happened to me and changed the trajectory of my life.

In the past 3 months, a lot has happened in my life. I have shared this only with the people closest to me, but now it's time to come out with it publicly.

Backstory

Let's start with a quick recap of the past three years. I moved to Denmark at the age of 18 to study software engineering. One year in, I got a job at a startup as a part-time front-end developer. Over time, the role transitioned to a full-stack position, bringing more responsibilities. The company had been struggling financially for a while and had some management issues, but I didn't think much of it at the time.

Me working on a laptop in the office

Fast forward to October 2023, I was in the last semester of my bachelor's degree and had been working at the same startup for a bit over 2 years. In the same year, I discovered the indie scene on Twitter and was slowly getting some traction with my second product - Buildstreak. Everything seemed to be going well - my life was stable, I had a job, I finally started to act on my entrepreneurial ambitions, and I was about to graduate.

The moment it all changed

A call from my boss one day changed everything. He told me that the company was shutting down and that I was being let go. Life just hit me in the face, but I was ready to fight back. I had a lot on my plate already - university, part-time job, and personal projects. Suddenly, I had to deal with many things I had never faced before. After weeks of phone calls, emails and bureaucracy, things began to fall into place.

I worked long hours to keep up with everything. Thankfully, I am ambitious and have a lot of faith in myself. I knew that no matter what, I would figure it out. It just added more fuel to the fire - I was ready to destroy whatever life threw at me. It was a tough and stressful time, but not for a second did I feel sad or defeated. I couldn't wait to fire back and come out a stronger person, and I did.

The aftermath

Losing my job was the turning point for me. Life was no longer stable and predictable, but I was more motivated than ever. From the outside, no one could tell that I was going through a rough time. Here's what happened in the past few months:

Me working at university on my laptop

I replaced my salary and even exceeded it, but not without significant effort. It was common for me to work 12 hour days, without any days off. Is this sustainable in the long run? Probably not. But I had to do it for a while to get things going. I was also finishing my bachelor's degree, which was a lot of work on its own.

Roadmap for 2024

At the same time, I started figuring out what I want to do in the future. Building products on the side is fun, but I needed something more sustainable. So, I thought about what I was good at and what I enjoyed doing.

After careful consideration, I decided to move into freelancing and building my own development agency. Here's why:

Freelancing will start right away, while the agency is a long-term play and won't be rushed or cut corners with. It will be positioned differently from most agencies I've seen so far, requiring more time and attention.

With that in mind, I already began working with a few clients and planning the roadmap for the agency behind the scenes, which I will share more about in 2024.

At the same time, I will still work on Buildstreak and launch fun projects in my free time. However, my full focus will be on the agency and freelancing, stepping away from the indie hacker label.

I have a long road ahead, but I'm excited to work towards a goal more aligned with my skills and ambitions. See you in 2024!