I absolutely see your point, and agree to an extent. However, I was on this exact journey a decade ago and a few free sites (for local charities and orgs) to establish a presence genuinely helped attract paying clients. Obviously I set some firm boundaries that any support would come at a cost and that both established expectations and got a few, admittedly small, income streams going off the bat.

Solo Web dev is very competitive. It’ll take a while before you are able to get paying clients, especially if you’ve not got a portfolio already. Be prepared to do a fair bit of free work first.

Yeah, awake. Stood in a giant freezer wearing only shorts, socks and a mask. It’s a way to enhance healing by encouraging white blood cell production via shocking the system through lowering skin temp rapidly. Very good for muscular issues, arthritis, etc. I just did it once for fun, but I could really go for a bulk set sessions… getting old.

I know you said indoor temperatures don’t count, but my low is kinda fun: -110c for three minutes (cryotherapy). Outdoor was 48c (local thermometer said higher) in northern Western Australia.