*Is it possible to earn money even if there's no job?*

This is the question I've been wanting to know the answer to for the past few years.

I may not know the answer now, but I'm getting a glimpse of the answer as I slowly traverse the path of being a solo developer.

# Let's go back in time

<div style="width:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:100%;position:relative;"><iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/3ohhwiSbK4IdpTIB0Y" width="100%" height="100%" style="position:absolute" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/time-endless-history-3ohhwiSbK4IdpTIB0Y">via GIPHY</a></p>

I left my 9-5 job when I was 25 years old to chase this somehow nearly impossible dream of mine.

*Earn money even if I'm not working in the corporate world.*

It seems doable, I thought.

# The first step I did

The first thing I did right off the bat was learn how to build a game.

Wow! I didn't even know building a game at that time was so freaking hard. But I still did it.

I learned how to build a game using Unity from some guy on Youtube named [Brackeys](https://www.youtube.com/@Brackeys).

![Legend of Labot: The Golden Pearl](https://cdn.akamai.steamstatic.com/steam/apps/1753160/extras/mossy5.gif?t=1645146814)  
*A boss battle from my game, Legend of Labot: The Golden Pearl.*

I successfully shipped that game on [Steam](https://store.steampowered.com/app/1753160/Legend_of_Labot_The_Golden_Pearl/). Although there are a lot of bugs, somehow, people are still buying it. I guess it's not bad after all.


# I moved on to the next step

I realized I couldn't get rich building a game. You see, it took me nine months to build a simple 2D action-styled platformer game.

That's not all; I can't draw. Some of the assets I used are free. And so, I thought, let's switch to web development.

In web development, I don't need to draw. I only need to program a website, so I thought.

According to my previous research, a blogging website has the highest earning income and the largest traffic across the internet.

Therefore, I decided to build one.

## What the heck did I get into?

<div style="width:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:90%;position:relative;"><iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/S3thLnRWEpRwq6iDIO" width="100%" height="100%" style="position:absolute" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/metadigital-meta-web-design-digital-S3thLnRWEpRwq6iDIO">via GIPHY</a></p>

I thought it would be a breeze to learn web development. It was one of the most heartbreaking realities I faced while learning HTML, CSS, and the God-forsaken JavaScript.

While I can't deny that some web development concepts are easy to grasp, but the deeper I delve into this field, the more I realize how challenging it is to learn.

However, it was absolutely fun and I enjoyed learning and building web applications.

# How did I learned web development?

I stuck to one online course for almost two years in order to learn how to build a blogging website.

The online course I'm referring to is [The Odin Project](https://www.theodinproject.com/). It's free, it has complete learning materials from beginner to advanced web development, and, personally, it's the best web development course on the internet.

I built a variety of simple projects, including:

- [A personal portfolio](https://naknamu.github.io/)
- [An online calculator](https://naknamu.github.io/calculator/)
- [A shopping cart](https://naknamu.github.io/shopping-cart/)
- [Tic Tac Toe](https://naknamu.github.io/tictactoe/)
- [A landing page](https://naknamu.github.io/landing-page/)
- [A library website](https://naknamu.github.io/my-library/)
- [Weather App](https://naknamu.github.io/WeatherApp/)
- [Todo List App](https://naknamu.github.io/mytodos/)
- [A CV builder app using React](https://naknamu.github.io/cv-builder/)
- And many more.

This is my github profile for reference: https://github.com/naknamu.

# Fortunately, I was able to build a blogging website 🎉

<div style="width:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:95%;position:relative;"><iframe src="https://giphy.com/embed/dyYOjf4hSYLuFPt4lm" width="100%" height="100%" style="position:absolute" frameBorder="0" class="giphy-embed" allowFullScreen></iframe></div><p><a href="https://giphy.com/gifs/yes-happiness-yay-dyYOjf4hSYLuFPt4lm">via GIPHY</a></p>

After months of rigorous study, both in front-end and back-end development, and combining them to achieve full-stack proficiency, I successfully built this website from scratch, using various web development technologies. Yay!

I noticed that I have posted numerous blogs since the initial deployment of this website, which I consider a positive development.

The more high-quality blogs I can publish, the greater the chance I have of attracting traffic from Google, and, naturally, the higher the likelihood of generating substantial revenue.😁

# What am I doing right now?

Right now, I switched again to a different field, `Generative AI`. 

*What is Generative AI?*

Generative AI is where you use Artificial Intelligence to generate different kinds of data like images, audio, text, video etc.

I'm having fun generating images using AI, so I thought, why not share it with everybody?

I then established a [YouTube channel](https://youtube.com/@AIisaWeeb?si=Fnlq85sr0skAq50J) that features AI-generated images.

Hopefully, this will bring another source of good income.🤞

## Wrapping up

It's been four years since I left my last job, and even now, I continue to chase my elusive dream.

But I believe, and I know that I can achieve this dream at the right time and place, and by divine right.

Thanks for reading. Comment below about your personal journey of chasing your dream. Cheers!