𝐈 𝐝𝐢𝐝 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐬𝐨𝐥𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐫.

I built an app.

Not an agent, not a workflow — a real, functioning web app with a database, authentication, navigation, quoting logic, and scheduling. From scratch.

No coding background, no bootcamp, no formal training. Just me.

And a MacBook that moves slower than Monday mornings.

And ChatGPT, who had to put up with more “WHY IS THIS NOT WORKING” messages than any human would have tolerated. But we did it.

The idea started simple:

Create a small app to support my husband’s side-hustle passion — something to keep track of clients, quotes, and scheduled work without the chaos of texts and paper planners.

The actual build?

Let’s just say it had… character.

⸻

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐣𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐞𝐝 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞:

• Figuring out GitHub and realizing it’s not a place, it’s a whole ecosystem.

• Discovering Git is different from GitHub (why? just why).

• Getting my computer to talk to a cloud repository without melting down.

• Wrestling with Safari cache like it owed me money.

• Watching Supabase suddenly update API rules and break everything for a day.

• Fixing folders I didn’t know existed because the app “couldn’t find itself.”

• Deploying, failing, redeploying, fixing, unfixing, refixing.

All while having no idea what half the vocabulary meant.

But I never considered scrapping it. I’m stubborn that way.

⸻

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐈’𝐦 𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐝 𝐨𝐟:

I didn’t suddenly become a programmer.

I stayed exactly who I am:

A curious, persistent, figure-it-out-as-I-go learner who asks questions until things make sense.

ChatGPT wrote the actual code — but I made the choices, solved the puzzles, retraced the mistakes, and kept going even when nothing seemed to work.

The grit was mine.

⸻

𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐰?

The app works.

I can:

• Add clients

• Edit details

• Generate quotes

• Send them out

• Track scheduled work

• Protect admin functions behind a password

It’s simple.

It’s clean.

It’s functional.

And it supports something that matters to our family.

⸻

𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐞’𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐢𝐠𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐨𝐧:

AI doesn’t replace people who think creatively — it accelerates them.

You don’t need to be technical.

You don’t need to know the jargon.

You don’t need to be fearless.

You just need:

• A real problem

• A willingness to learn

• And the grit to fight through the moments where everything you try triggers another error message.

Now, go build something.Va