[Lessons] Year 2025 in Retrospect

This year was my first as an indiehacker.

I now consider myself one of the builders trying to make a living with their own projects.

Yet I made zero dollars online from any of my businesses. stil a 9-5’er.

I’m hoping the lessons I learned in 2025 will prepare me to break this barrier in 2026.

Maybe even a day zero. If you can’t sell it, you better be prepared for disappointment if you’re just focusing on coding.

I used to wait a long time before shipping my projects, sending out that newsletter, writing that blog post.

This has changed in 2025 and I ship as soon as possible, iterating progressively and polishing it live in production.

It is more rewarding as I sometimes get more feedback on my work and get to improve things not just on intuition.

I realized I can’t attach my ego to the outcome of my work (too much). There’s a lot of things outside my control.

I, then, focus on what I can shape: my work, my commitment, my consistency!

It’s been a humbling year for me, trying to build and ship projects and earn my first dollar.

Although that hasn’t come to fruition, I still have my eyes on the prize; that I no longer want to be 9-5’er.

I don’t want to put my eggs in someone else’s basket. I want to earn my own freedom.

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These are the gems I take with me as I walk into the next year.

I have high hopes but one thing is extra clear to me: I want to live a life of no regret.

One last thing. I didn’t send out the newsletter last week because I was busy finishing the last few touches of Puppeteer MCP, my latest project.

If you want a hosted platform for AI browser automation, you can find this MCP server on Apify in the following link:

— Meysam