A few months ago, I had zero coding skills and zero dollars from my own online project. Today, I've crossed the $1,000 mark with my side project protooltrack.com — and I owe almost all of it to vibe coding.
If you haven't heard the term yet, vibe coding is the practice of building software by describing what you want in plain English to an AI assistant, iterating on the output, and shipping fast — without needing to master every line of code yourself. It's messy, it's fun, and apparently it works.
Here's the full story.
The Idea: ProToolTrack
I work in construction, and one problem I kept running into was tracking expensive power tools. Who has the drill? Where's the laser level? When does that compressor need servicing? Spreadsheets were a nightmare, and the existing apps felt like overkill.
So I thought: what if there was a simple, no-fuss tool tracking app for small contractors and tradespeople?
That became ProToolTrack — a web app where you can log your tools, assign them to team members, and get reminders when maintenance is due.
The Build: Pure Vibe Coding
I had dabbled in HTML back in the day, but I couldn't have built a full-stack web app on my own. So I leaned entirely into AI-assisted development.
My workflow looked like this:
1. Describe the feature, get the code
I'd open up an AI coding assistant and literally say things like: "Build me a form where a user can add a tool with a name, serial number, category, and assigned team member." It would spit out React components, database schema suggestions, API routes — the works.
2. Paste, run, break, fix
I'd paste the code, run it, inevitably hit an error, paste the error back into the AI, and get a fix. Rinse and repeat. It felt more like conducting than coding.
3. Ship early, iterate fast
I launched with just three features: add a tool, assign it to someone, and mark it as returned. That was it. No fancy dashboard, no analytics, just a working MVP.
Getting to $1,000
The money didn't come overnight. Here's how it broke down:
- Month 1 — $0: I launched quietly and shared the project in a few subreddits (r/Entrepreneur and r/SideProject). Got some encouraging feedback but no paying customers yet.
- Month 2 — $147: I added a simple $9/month subscription tier and announced it to the small email list I'd built. A handful of early supporters signed up.
- Month 3 — $389: Word started spreading in a Facebook group for small contractors. A few guys tried it, liked it, and told their crews.
- Month 4 — $464 more: By month four, I crossed the $1,000 total mark. Nothing viral, just steady growth from people genuinely finding it useful.
What Vibe Coding Actually Feels Like
Honestly? It's humbling and exciting at the same time.
There were moments where I had no idea why a piece of code worked — I just knew it did. That felt weird at first. But I got over it. A contractor doesn't need to understand the metallurgy of their drill bits; they need to know how to build a deck.
The real skill with vibe coding isn't writing prompts — it's judgment. Knowing when the AI is steering you wrong, when to push back, when to ask for a simpler solution, and when to just ship the thing.
Some lessons I picked up:
- Start with the simplest possible version. The AI will suggest features you don't need. Resist.
- Keep your prompts focused. One feature at a time. Vague prompts produce vague code.
- Don't skip testing. Use the app yourself, daily. You'll find bugs faster than any automated test.
- Talk to users early. Real feedback beats imagined features every time.
The $1,000 Is Just the Beginning
I'm not going to pretend $1,000 is life-changing money. But it validated something important: a real problem, a real product, real people paying for it.
I'm now working on a mobile-friendly version, team dashboards, and barcode scanning for quick tool check-in/check-out. All vibe coded, of course.
If you're sitting on an idea and waiting until you "know how to code" — stop waiting. The tools are here. The barrier is lower than it's ever been.
Just start vibing.
Have you tried vibe coding for your own projects? I'd love to hear your experience in the comments. And if you're in the trades and want to try ProToolTrack, check it out at protooltrack.com — there's a free tier to get you started.
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