Ask HN: Am I just a wantrepreneur?

Yes, but leading with that statement suggests it is "gospel," not "the right answer for some people who can't split their focus."

Get domain expertise in something other than programming and make things to solve real business problems for people that aren't technical. Alternatively, partner with people who aren't technical. There are a million developers working on programming tools / knowledge aggregators and very few are ever successful because the community wants everything to be FOSS and they won't pay you. Far fewer people are working on annoying, unsexy, everyday business problems because the problems aren't interesting and the developers lack the domain xp to know that the problems exist or the scope of the problems. Non-technical business people are also very ready to pay money for simple solutions to real problems.

You're a wannapreneur if:

- You talk to people about your ideas, but never build anything

- You build something without first talking to people

- You build something and never try to sell it

If you build something that people say they'll pay for and then they don't actually pay for it then this is problematic, but also normal and doesn't make you a wannapreneur. At that point it's just part of the struggle.

This is a great process for becoming a nice-cashflow side project, but I doubt there's enough people searching for linux commands for this to ever be huge.

Not saying this isn't a great idea, just saying that it's wise to hedge expectations and not expect this to be a get rich quick scheme.

I think if you wanted to turn it into a larger business, the next step would be to determine an adjacent niche that your readers would also like. E.g. maybe a lot of software engineers at tech companies read linux-commands-examples.com, so you could sell them "new hire 1-sheets" for basic linux commands or something. Could help to get more in depth analytics on who's using your product there.

I can relate. Here is how I would/do handle this situation...

1. Use my own time to learn new things while building a startup. This means I get less fatigued after s day job.

2. Focus more on solving a passion problem than being an entrepreneur. I’ve found I’m a lot happier building the right solution to a problem than figuring out how to make it a business. I won’t taint the right solution by putting business needs first.

3. Learn to enjoy the act of creating than the art it produces. This means you’ll sustain being in ‘the dip’ for longer.

4. Listen to audio books and mix it between entrepreneurship/startup topics and self decelopment. Some of my biggest improvements to happiness have come from books that help me enjoy the moment more.

5. Do one thing at a time and focus on doing it well. A fox can’t chase two rabbits, so you can’t chase building 5 parts at once. No. 3 and 4 help me do this.

6. Consider finding a cofounder who can do the bits you don’t enjoy. They should also be obsessed with solving the same problem.

7. Don’t let imposter syndrome get to you. Some people let it affect them, others don’t even consider it. It has nothing to do with ability. Learn to enjoy learning, and explore No. 4 to build your resilience to feeling anxious and how to deal with other people in a more enjoyable way.

8. Be okay with the discomfort you are felling and believe that a set of actions can solve it. You just need to experiment with different actions and see which ones fail and which ones succeed. You have a lifetime to explore this.

I was in your shoes for the past 10 years. I get distracted too easily. Since then I found a great couple of co-founders, we’ve released a beta but are completely obsessed with the problem area we’re solving. We love what we are doing and aren’t in a rush, but are hungry for success. You too can get there, it won’t happen overnight so thinking in terms of smaller wins is the best approach. The big wins are a product of lots of smaller ones.