How a late-night side project turned into a browser-based cash machine
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1. The Midnight Problem That Sparked It
It started on a random Tuesday night. I was managing freelance projects and constantly jumping between dashboards — checking payments, invoices, and client messages. I had 10 browser tabs open, 4 spreadsheets, and zero patience left.
So I did what any JavaScript developer would do at 2 AM — I decided to automate the pain away.
My goal was simple:
- Track new client requests automatically.
- Pull income stats from APIs (Upwork, Fiverr, PayPal).
- Get alerts directly in my browser when new work came in.
That’s when my small JS side project became a money-maker.
2. The Idea: A Personal Freelance Dashboard
I wanted something lightweight — not a bulky CRM or dashboard that needed a backend. So I built it all using vanilla JavaScript, fetch(), and localStorage.
The plan:
- Fetch API data from freelance platforms.
- Display it with Chart.js.