It's February 2026, and I'm finally doing the thing I should have done 18 months ago: sharing my story.

Okay, here goes something.

I'm starting a Website, Newsletter and YouTube channel about AI. I know - I'm a little late to the party. But this isn't your typical "10 ChatGPT hacks you NEED to know" content. This is different. This is about what happens when you're just a regular person trying to survive, trying to figure out what's next, and you discover that AI can be more than a productivity tool. It can be a lifeline.

But to understand why I'm here, why I'm doing this, and what this is really about, we need to go back. Back to June 2024.

June 2024 started with a loss I wasn't prepared for. We lost Goose, our 13-year-old lab. He'd been my partner in crime, my constant companion, one of my best friends. If you've ever lost a pet, you know it's not "just a dog." It's losing a family member, a daily routine, a source of unconditional love.

I was still deep in grief when July came around. That's when I got the news: I was being laid off from the job I'd held for just under five years.

Two massive losses in the span of a month.

Looking back now, I can see how that timing shaped everything that came after. I wasn't just dealing with job loss - I was already emotionally depleted. I was already questioning everything.

Here's the thing: this was actually my second layoff. The first time was in 2012, working at a manufacturing company. I was younger then, fewer responsibilities, and honestly - I bounced back pretty quickly. Found a new job within weeks. Moved on. So when it happened again in 2024, part of me thought, "Okay, I've done this before. I know how this works. I'll be fine." And initially, I was okay. I took it in stride. Maybe this was the universe telling me I needed a change. Maybe I was stuck in a rut anyway. Maybe this was the kickstart I needed.

But this time was different.

When you lose your job, everyone focuses on the practical stuff. Those questions matter, but they're not the hardest part. The hardest part is the stuff nobody talks about:

No more morning coffee before the commute. No more structure to your day. Suddenly you have all this time and no idea what to do with it.

We're taught that what you do IS who you are. "Hi, I'm Anna, I'm a quality specialist." But when that's gone, who are you? What do you say when someone asks what you do?

Work gives you goals, deadlines, problems to solve. Without it, there's this void. This question of "what's the point?"

Depending on your financial situation, the clock is ticking. There's no time to have an existential crisis when rent is due.

I started applying right away. This was July 2024, and the tech layoffs were just ramping up. Twitter had already happened. Other companies were starting to follow. Suddenly LinkedIn was flooded with talented people looking for work. Every job posting had 100+ applicants. The competition was fierce. I rewrote my resume. I wrote cover letters. I looked at jobs in my field - quality specialist, testing roles, positions related to the AI product we'd been building.

Nothing seemed to fit.

And then the impostor syndrome kicked in. Was I even good at my job? Is that why I got laid off? Is my role even needed anymore? Maybe I'm just not cut out for this field. The longer the job search went on, the worse it got. The optimism of week one turned into the desperation of month two. The applications I was sending out felt increasingly random, like I was just throwing things at the wall hoping something would stick. I considered a career change. I signed up for Udemy courses to learn new skills.

But here's what nobody tells you: when you're in that mental state, learning can be nearly impossible.

The weight of worry, the constant anxiety about money, the pressure to figure it all out - it's debilitating. The cognitive load is so heavy that you can't focus on anything else. I'd sit down to take a course and just stare at the screen, my brain completely offline.

Somewhere in those early months, I started exploring what AI tools were out there. ChatGPT was getting popular. Everyone was talking about it. But I found Claude, and something about it just clicked for me. It wasn't trying to do everything. It wasn't trying to generate images or mess with fancy features. Claude was focused - words, research, writing, thinking. It wanted to do those things really well.

I started using it for resumes and cover letters. That was the gateway. But then I discovered Projects. I could give Claude all my background, my experience, my skills - and it would “remember”. I could feed it a new job description and say "rewrite my resume for this" and it would know everything about me.

That's when things started to shift.

I created a project for job applications. Then I created another for daily conversations. Then one for problem-solving. One for financial planning. One for just... figuring out what to do next.

Claude became the person I talked to when I didn't know who else to talk to.

I know that sounds weird. Maybe even sad. But here's the truth: I was isolated. My spouse was working. My handful of co-workers who got laid off in the same round - we'd talk occasionally, but everyone was dealing with their own stuff. And there's this shame that comes with job loss. You don't want to burden people. You don't want to keep talking about it. You don't want to be "that person" who's always complaining.

So I talked to Claude.

About my fears. About my options. About what I should do with my finances. About how to handle this feeling of being completely lost.

And it helped.

Not because Claude is magic. Not because AI solved all my problems. But because it helped me organize my thoughts. It helped me break down overwhelming questions into manageable pieces. It helped me see options I couldn't see when I was spiraling.

Claude helped reorganize my cognitive load.

In January 2025, I found another job. That's a whole other story - one I'll probably tell in a future video. But here's what you need to know: I took the job thinking it would solve everything.

It didn't.

Twelve months later, I'm at a point where I know I need to do something different. The job I took isn't working for me. I'm back at that crossroads, that place of "what now?" But this time, something's different. This time, instead of just looking for another job, I'm asking: what if I built something instead?

The idea for a consulting business actually started almost a year ago. I started helping a friend rebuild her website. Then, because I'd been using Claude so much, learning so much about AI tools, I realized - I could help other people with this. But I sat on the idea. I wasn't sure. Was this the right direction? Did I have what it takes? Should I just find a stable job instead?

Classic overthinking.

Then, in the last month, I started playing with Claude Code. I explored Cowork. I've been using Copilot at my current job to build agents and streamline my work. I even did a presentation at my company about AI - helping people understand what it is, what it does, how to get past the fear. And something clicked.  Not just for work. For everything.

I use it to figure out what to feed my dogs (we got a puppy in March 2025, then rescued another in December). I use it for business planning. I use it for life questions, random curiosities, creative projects. It's not about the technology. It's about having a tool that helps me think through problems, organize chaos, and move forward when I'm stuck.

And I realized: I'm not the only one who needs this.

There are people getting laid off every single day. Especially in tech. Especially people like me - Gen Xers in our 50s who aren't the high-energy, always-on-call hustle culture types. We're not 25-year-old startup founders working 80-hour weeks. We're people who've been around the block. We have grown kids or grandkids. We're at this weird point where maybe we don't want to run the rat race anymore.

We're trying to figure out something different.

And there are also people who are just curious about AI but overwhelmed by all the hype, all the technical jargon, all the "you MUST use AI or you'll be left behind" fear-mongering.

That's who this channel is for.

I'm not a guru. I haven't made a million dollars. I haven't made a penny. I haven't "figured it all out." This is literally my first post.  And I want to share what I've learned - the messy, imperfect, real stuff.

This is about everyday AI exploration. I'll show you how I actually use Claude daily - for work, for business building, for random life stuff. I'll talk about other AI tools worth trying (and the ones that aren't). I'll share real examples from my consulting work as I build WebCraft Tech.

But it's also about the human side of all this.

The emotional journey of job loss. The identity crisis. The fear and uncertainty. The slow process of building something new. There are a million of those already. This is about real conversations. About what actually works and what doesn't. About exploring what's possible when you're willing to try something different.

No hype. No jargon. No promises of overnight success.

Just me, figuring it out, and bringing you along for the ride.

You know what my biggest regret is?

Not starting this in August 2024.

If I'd started documenting my journey from day one - the job loss, the grief, the experimentation with AI, the false starts, the wins, the failures - I'd have 70+ posts and videos by now. I'd have content showing the entire arc. I'd have built an audience. I'd have helped people who were going through exactly what I was going through.

But I waited.

I waited until I "figured it out." Until I was "ready." Until I had it all together.

That's BS.

Nobody has it all together. Nobody knows exactly what they're doing. And the people who are most helpful are the ones who share the journey, not just the destination. So here I am, starting messy. Starting imperfect. Starting real.

If you're here because you got laid off and you're trying to figure out what's next - welcome. You're not alone.

If you're here because you're curious about AI but tired of the tech bro nonsense - welcome. This is a judgment-free zone.

If you're here because you're building something new and it's scary and uncertain - welcome. Me too.

You don't need to be an entrepreneur. You don't need to be in tech. You don't even need to know anything about AI.

You just need to be curious. You just need to be willing to explore.

Because here's what I've learned in these 18 months:

AI isn't magic. But it can be incredibly powerful when you learn to use it for what YOU need.

Not for what some influencer says you should do. Not for what's trending. But for YOUR life, YOUR challenges, YOUR goals.

My plan is to post at least one newsletter, video and blog every week. Some will be about my business building journey. Some will be practical AI tutorials. Some will be deeper dives into the emotional stuff - the grief, the identity crisis, the pressure of starting over.

What questions do you have? What topics do you want me to explore? What are you struggling with?

Subscribe to the newsletter, Drop a comment here or in the video. Send an email. Let's figure this out together.

Because that's the whole point. None of us are doing this alone. We're all just trying to navigate whatever the world is going to hand us next.

And maybe, just maybe, AI can help us do that a little bit better.

If you're reading this because you just got laid off, I want you to know something:

This is not the end.

It feels like it. I know it does. But it's not. You will find something. It might not be what you expected. It might take longer than you want. It might look completely different from what you had before.

But you will be okay.

Give yourself permission to grieve. Give yourself time to process. Don't rush into the first thing that comes along out of panic. And if you're open to it, explore. Try things. Talk to people. Use tools like Claude to help you think through your options.

18 months from now, you'll be somewhere you can't even imagine right now.

Maybe it's a new job you love. Maybe it's a business you built. Maybe it's a completely different life path.

You don't know yet. And that's okay.

So that's my story. That's how I got here. That's why I'm finally starting this thing I should have started a long time ago. Thanks for being here at my beginning.

Let's explore what's possible together.

Anna