i was in the same boat. loved coding but hated the 9-5 grind and had zero clue how to sell myself or my projects. what worked for me was ditching the idea of building something big from day one. instead i started fixing real small pains for people i knew. friends, family, coworkers.

i made dumb scripts that saved them minutes here and there, built small websites or automations that made their life easier. i never charged much, sometimes free, sometimes a small fee. but the key was getting feedback and iterating until they couldnt live without it.

then i slowly built a network, people started referring me, and jobs came from that. marketing wasnt some magic trick, it was just solving problems people already had and telling them how i do it.

also, find someone who loves marketing, partner with them. keep control over your code but let them handle the biz side.

freelance contract work can be stable and flexible too, dont feel pressured to build a product from scratch right away. grow your skills and network in parallel.

it wont be easy or fast but focus on real value, real people, and trust will follow.

I just commented elsewhere that your comment felt AI-written. Then I read this and I'm like "feels GenAI", then I see it's the same username. What's going on?