So I been building my startup for around **14 months** now. No fancy VC money, no tech bros, no big network. Just me, my laptop, and a dream that kept feeling smaller every week. In the first **6 months**, I literally made **$0 revenue**. I was eating instant noodles every other day trying to stretch my savings. Friends started asking me, “so when are you getting a real job again?” That hit hard. By month **10**, I had around **$1,300** left in my account and honestly….. I was ready to quit. I thought maybe I’m just not “founder material.” But then something weird happened. I got an email from a customer. Just one person. They said: “Hey,, your product helped me save 2 hours of work every day. Please don’t stop building this.” That message hit me like a truck. One person actually cared. So I doubled down. I started working 14–16 hrs a day, talking to users, fixing bugs, doing support, learning marketing on YouTube. Slowly, things started moving. Now, after **14 months**, I’ve crossed **$8.2k MRR with** [my startup](http://broadwaycrown.com) (monthly recurring revenue). Still small, but it feels massive to me because I remember when even $1 felt impossible. If you’re in that dark phase right now , where nothing makes sense, and you’re questioning yourself every day , please don’t give up too early. Sometimes the “turning point” is just one more week away. Keep building. Keep believing. And remember: every “overnight success” probably cried themselves to sleep at least a dozen times first. TL;DR: Failed for 10 months straight. Almost quit. Got one message that changed everything. Now doing $8.2k MRR and finally feeling like maybe I’m getting somewhere.