Chapter 17

The Shift Away from Client Work

By the middle of 2018, it became clear that the plugin business had the potential to sustain us full-time.

For years, I had been locked in the client work grind—late nights, endless revisions, and the constant chase for premium pricing. I thought the answer was to charge more, to win high-paying clients who could justify the endless hours I was putting in. But something wasn’t right. No matter how much I charged, I was still drained, still dreading the work. It took a while, but I finally saw what was happening—I was moving in the wrong way, even if it was in the right direction.

The truth was, I didn’t want to do those services. I kept trying to sell development work because I thought that’s where the money was. But deep down, I didn’t want to fulfill those contracts. It was a remnant of my old employee mindset—the idea that I had to do work I didn’t enjoy just because it paid well.

The best-case scenario was that I’d land a high-paying client, but then I’d be stuck doing work I wasn’t passionate about. And that wasn’t freedom—it was just another kind of trap.

This realization was the big aha moment for me. I didn’t want to keep trading hours for dollars, especially not in a field that didn’t excite me. What I wanted was to build something that could grow on its own—something that could give me the freedom I had been chasing all along.

As I began this shift, there was a nagging thought in the back of my mind—the idea that what I was doing wasn’t a “real job.” Society has this way of defining what counts as a real job: something stable, with a steady paycheck, benefits, and the kind of work that fits neatly into a box. For a long time, I bought into that idea too. I thought that to be successful, I had to follow that traditional path. But the truth is, that path wasn’t for me. And it wasn’t until I broke away from that mindset that I started to see the possibilities of what my life could be.

This shift wasn’t sudden. It was a gradual, intentional move away from client work and towards products that could generate income without me being directly involved. I started focusing on the plugins we were already selling and doubled down on SEO, making sure our solutions were easy to find for anyone searching for them. I documented everything, turning each challenge into a resource that could be reused, shared, and ultimately monetized.

Then, in early 2019, I stumbled upon a reminder of what was possible. I logged into an old affiliate account and found $444 sitting there—commissions from sales I hadn’t even been actively promoting. It was a lightbulb moment: passive income wasn’t just a dream; it was real, and I could make it work for me.

This shifted my approach entirely. I began focusing more on building passive income streams—whether through our plugins, affiliate marketing, or other digital products. I stopped taking on new clients, freeing up time to invest in these growing revenue streams.

For the first time, I wasn’t just chasing after clients or trying to justify my worth with higher prices. I was building something that aligned with my values and gave me the freedom I had been seeking. And as this new approach took shape, I noticed the impact it had on my personal life as well—less stress, more time with my family, and a renewed sense of purpose.

Of course, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. There were still moments of doubt—wondering if this new direction would really sustain us in the long run. But I kept at it, refining the process, learning from each challenge, and growing more confident in the path I had chosen.

By the end of 2019, I had achieved something I’d been dreaming about for years: My online business was earning $10,000 a month, consistently. And the best part? I wasn’t burning out. I had created a system that worked for me, not the other way around.

More importantly I was immersed in a kind of freedom I’d been nurturing for years—freedom to live on my own terms, to spend time with my family, and to work on what truly mattered to me. I’d broken free from the remnants of my employee thinking and built something that could grow beyond me.