CostHowMuchTry it →

No BS. Just receipts.

What work really cost me.

Every app here started because the job market kept saying no. These are true stories. Company names are left out.

  1. Fired for honesty#1

    I left an honest review. Then I was let go — right before my second child was born.

    I wrote a truthful Glassdoor review about where I worked. Soon after, I was out. My family was about to grow, and my paycheck was gone.

    Cost to my life: A job, a paycheck, and peace of mind at the worst possible time.

  2. Unpaid homework#2

    Interview after interview made me do hours-long case studies. For free.

    Company after company asked for real strategy work — the kind consultants bill thousands for — as a "test." Then came silence, or a form rejection.

    Cost to my life: Countless unpaid hours of my life, gifted to companies that never hired me.

  3. Too experienced#3

    They kept hiring cheaper and younger.

    Year after year, more roles went to people with less experience, because they cost less. Experience became a line item to cut.

    Cost to my life: Countless applications, and years of experience turned into a reason to say no.

  4. "We'd never sell"#4

    They told me to my face they'd never sell to an agency. They sold to an agency.

    I believed leadership when they promised the company's direction. Then it was sold to exactly the kind of buyer they swore they'd never sell to.

    Cost to my life: Trust. And the future I'd planned around their word.

  5. Stolen on stage#5

    My blog's content was taken while I was presenting it at a conference.

    I stood up to share my own ideas and found them already being passed around as someone else's work.

    Cost to my life: Credit for my own thinking.

  6. No upside#6

    Almost no job pays you for the profit you create.

    You grow revenue, cut costs, build the thing — and the upside goes to someone else. A salary, maybe a bonus. Rarely real ownership.

    Cost to my life: Every hour that made someone else rich instead of me.

  7. So I built this#7

    These apps are vibe coded. Rejected countless times. Built hoping someone acquires them so I can retire.

    No funding, no team, no BS. Cost How Much, Knewed, Affense, Sale Defend and Perksto were built with AI, nights and stubbornness. That's the truth.

    Cost to my life: Countless hours. Still counting.

Now see what things cost your life.

Count my hours →