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Ask HN: I'm a solopreneur and I feel demoralised

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Re: Ask HN: I'm a solopreneur and I feel demoralised

#21

Post by wyldfire »

fairpx wrote: post #4

What helped for me is build a team around you. The moment there are others that join your mission, everything changes. I started out my service based UI design business ( http://fairpixels.pro ) as a solopreneur. At some point, I started getting the same feelings as you're describing and realised (from past projects) that having a team for support had always worked for me. If you don’t have the budget, no worries. Yo…

This response was my first instinct -- a team will help motivate you.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a solopreneur and I feel demoralised

#23

Post by kowdermeister »

I'd move to a co-working space or simply rent a small office. I did that while freelancing and startupping and never had trouble starting the day.

However don't be shy to take @dkns's advice try a professionals help, there's nothing wrong taking care about mental health too.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a solopreneur and I feel demoralised

#24

Post by bthallplz »

It sounds like you might be having a difficult time transitioning from the non-work (personal?) mindset to the work mindset. If this is indeed the case, I have found the following to help: develop a middle ground that warms you up for whichever mindset you shall transition to.

Find some topics within the work domain that interest you personally. (Maybe jot some down as you come across an idea or two while working, then set them aside for this semi-work period.) Allow yourself to look into these, slowly getting yourself interested in moving into the work mindset.

This may feel like you're further postponing work, but it may in fact lead you to start work much sooner than if you did not do this.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a solopreneur and I feel demoralised

#25

Post by tw1010 »

Getting into a habit of exercise is the obvious answer. A less conventional advice that has sometimes worked for me is to totally embrace the feeling of being somber, and binge on some of the classic sort of miserable apathetic existentialist books. Things like Albert Camus' The Stranger, Sartre's Nausia, Beckett's Waiting for Godot, and Dostoyevsky's Notes from Underground. Sometimes after I have read those works, after I have stopped trying to ignore the feeling and just went all in for a few days, do I even get bored with being miserable and then start to look for other emotions to experience, and usually they're a lot happier in flavour. Obviously this advice could also exacerbate the problem, so try it at your own risk.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a solopreneur and I feel demoralised

#26

Post by harness_up »

What you describe sounds awful. I'm sorry that you're going through that. Some of the advice already mentioned is good. I would add that everyone needs something outside of work, a social life, hobbies, etc...It doesn't sound like your business suffers if you don't start work first thing in morning. If that's the case, don't worry about it and spend the time from when you wake up on other non-work things. Things that engage your imagination, passions, and body. Then come to "work" in the afternoon refreshed. I wish you the best of luck.

Re: Ask HN: I'm a solopreneur and I feel demoralised

#27

Post by jondubois »

That's a pretty good situation to be in.

I think that maybe it's partially because you spend too much time on Hacker News. On HN, you constantly read about people who are luckier than you who complain about their lives... Then you think "Whoa; these people have way more than me and they're unhappy about it; how am I supposed to feel?" - Answer: "Depressed".

Re: Ask HN: I'm a solopreneur and I feel demoralised

#28

Post by malmsteen »

Because there's more to life than being successful and earning money: being part of a team, having successful relationships with family/friends/lovers and other factors is 90% of your happiness..

So the problem is not probably the money, nor actually the diet / exercise, it won't make you happy because you are already disciplined enough in many ways so more discipline to you will not make you more happy. Instead you should focus on these other valuable aspects of life:

- Learning to have fun

- Learning to be crazy

- Deepening your relationships.

You're depressed because there's a lack of something and clearly it's not money so i would say it's relationships / feelings maybe.. or maybe a bit of craziness ? We (SWE/maths guys) live in a world of rule and order but it's not most of the essense of life. Life is messy and cahotic and we are made to embrace it somehow... (edit: even it looks hard or if there is a voice in your head saying 'this advice is stupid')

Finally a quote that i like: "sex is like water, it only becomes important when you don't lacking of".. it's actually not only sex the same for food, personal relationships, money, family. Life is pretty much about equilibrating a few of these "basic needs". Just find what is missing to you.

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