Monday. Day 7. My husband — on a business trip — tells me he secretly tried to subscribe to the newsletter. And it didn’t work. “Nothing happens. I click the button and … nothing.”
Plot Twist: I’m Not Just Building an App
The last few days I’ve been writing here about my app, about Claude and ChatGPT, about hangover coding and session limits. But the truth is: I’m not just building an app.
I also have to make sure abendsaufdemsofa.com — on the side & in the evenings — actually works. The website. The blog. The newsletter sign-up. All the pages I’ve built with my co-founders over the past weeks. This isn’t a side job. This IS the whole job.
Build the app, maintain the website, write content, run social media, send newsletters — and on top of that, still be a freelancer for my 2 current projects. Welcome to my Monday.
The Man on the Couch
But back to my husband. My biggest fan. I love you — that needs to be said here.
He witnesses this project every single day. All of it. The breakthroughs, when I scream “YES! It works!” late at night. The meltdowns, when Claude produces the same bug for the third time & the limit is burned again — because I don’t always let my ghostwriter handle things consistently. And the moments when I want to close the laptop and say: “Why am I even doing this?”
I think sometimes he’d rather be on a different couch. When my co-founder issues get intense. But right now he’s on a business trip and has a week off from us.
But you know what he does instead?
He takes over the beauty routine. Every evening. He massages my feet on the couch. He sets up the scented candle on the table. He brings us tea — yes, “us,” as if Claude were also a person who needs tea. And he gives encouraging words to me and the AI.
He talks. To the AI. Encouragingly.
If that’s not support, I don’t know what is.
And then — yesterday — he tried to sign up for the newsletter. The “Sofa-Brief.” Because even though he witnesses the whole drama live on the couch, he still doesn’t want to miss anything. My husband.
Welcome to the Tech Corner
And there it was. My first real website bug, live-demonstrated by my biggest fan on the couch next to me.
The newsletter sign-up was broken. Not a little broken. Properly broken. Click “Subscribe” — nothing happens. No error, no confirmation, no nothing. Just … silence.
For the techies out there: The newsletter sign-up was using ml('subscribe', ...) — the MailerLite JavaScript call. Problem: without a proper form reference, it does exactly nothing. No error in the console, no redirect. Just: nothing.
The fix: hit the JSONP endpoint directly. Sounds complicated, but it’s basically: “Send the email address straight to MailerLite, skip their JavaScript library entirely.”
One line of code. One. That was the entire fix.
And this is the point where I think: keeping this website running, fixing bugs, debugging newsletter forms — that’s just as much part of “building an app” as the actual code. It’s just not as glamorous.
Nobody posts on LinkedIn: “Today I fixed a JSONP endpoint!” But that’s exactly what real founding looks like. The boring stuff. The invisible fixes. The moments when your husband sits on the couch and shows you that something doesn’t work that you should’ve tested ages ago.
WHY Am I Even Doing This?
Phew. The question.
7 days of app development. 6 evenings on the couch. App questions, website bugs, co-founder limits, hangover coding. My husband massages my feet and gives the AI pep talks. And here I am asking myself: Why?
Because it feels right. Somehow. Despite everything. Despite the broken newsletter forms and the 90% warnings and the days when nothing works at all.
Because I’m a woman who sits on the couch in the evenings and builds something. Not because she has to. But because she wants to.
And because next to me sits someone who brings me tea and gives the AI encouragement. Even when he’d sometimes rather be on a different couch.
- Test your own website. Better yet: let your biggest fan test it. They’ll find the bug you’ve been overlooking for weeks.
- Your support system is gold. Whether it’s a partner who brings you tea or a friend who texts “Keep going!” — you need someone who believes in you. Even on the off-days.
Right. Newsletter is fixed. My husband just signed up. First subscriber who shares his own couch with the founder. If that’s not a milestone.
Until tomorrow. Or the day after. Both are fine. You know how it goes.
* A little evening inspiration every Tuesday?
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“The one building the couch app — her husband tried to sign up for her newsletter and it didn’t work. He sits next to her every evening, massages her feet, brings the AI tea and gives Claude pep talks. And then he finds the bug. First subscriber who shares his own couch with the founder.”
Every Tuesday on your couch: the Sofa-Brief
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