💡 I had no idea how to build a full-stack app—until I found this framework.

Before using Brandon Hancock’s Claude 3-Step Workflow, I didn’t know what files I needed, how full-stack development worked, or where to even begin. Thanks to this structured approach, I went from zero knowledge to building and deploying a real Football Team Management App.

This blog post breaks down how I used Claude’s AI capabilities to plan, structure, and build my app from scratch. It wasn’t just about efficiency—it was the reason I could build it at all.

🚀 Read my full journey and how this method can help you too

💡 Building an app is one thing, but making it work in the real world is a completely different challenge.

At 47, with a background in sales and marketing, I never thought I’d develop and deploy a full-stack web app. But with the help of AI, I built a Football Team Management App to solve a real-world problem—organizing youth football teams. While development took just six weeks (~100 hours), deploying it to the cloud was a two-month battle (~150 hours) filled with unexpected challenges.

From debugging database connections to struggling with Cloud Run deployment, this journey was full of frustration, persistence, and hard-earned lessons. Now, in March 2025, the app is live and in use. In this post, I share my experience, key takeaways, and why sticking through deployment struggles is what separates ideas from real-world solutions.