One Year Independent: What I've Learned
A full year since leaving Meta. Reflections on independence, what I built, what I learned, and what's next.
Evyatar Bluzer
2 min read
September 2024 to December 2025. One full year of independence. Time to reflect.
What I Built
Products shipped:
- TrustedChat (multi-LLM consensus AI)
- SwingTrade Pro (trading analysis tool)
- WhatsApp Formatter (Chrome extension)
- Synthetic Market Research system
- Multiple Telegram bots
- Instagram automation projects
Consulting delivered:
- 8 client engagements
- Spatial AI, multi-agent systems, perception architecture
- Mix of strategy and hands-on technical work
What I Learned
About Independence
- Freedom requires discipline
- Loneliness is real; combat it intentionally
- Income variability is stressful until you have runway
- The best part: choosing what to work on
About Building
- Distribution is harder than building
- Ship fast, iterate based on feedback
- Users will surprise you
- Simple products that solve real problems > complex ambitious things
About the AI Moment
- Multi-agent systems are powerful but complex
- Prompting is a skill worth mastering
- AI tools dramatically increase output
- The frontier moves fast; continuous learning required
Financial Reality
Income sources:
- Consulting: 60%
- Products: 30%
- Other (teaching, advising): 10%
Not where I want to be (prefer products higher), but sustainable.
Energy Assessment
Energizing:
- Building products from scratch
- Solving novel problems
- Working with AI capabilities
- Direct user feedback
Draining:
- Business development / sales
- Administrative tasks
- Scope creep in consulting
- Isolation during long building stretches
What's Next
2026 focus:
- Scale one product to meaningful revenue
- Reduce consulting to 20% of time
- Write more (this blog)
- Build community around what I'm learning
The goal: products that generate income without my constant attention.
Gratitude
Thanks to:
- Early product users who gave feedback
- Consulting clients who took a chance
- The AI community sharing knowledge openly
- Family supporting this unconventional path
Year two begins. Let's see what happens.