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Ask HN: 9to5/Consulting/Startup, where are/were you most happy?

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Re: Ask HN: 9to5/Consulting/Startup, where are/were you most happy?

#2

Post by patio11 »

Let's see: 6 years in 9to5, 4 years in small business, 5 months in consulting (and these overlap). I really enjoy consulting for the intellectual challenge, and the money is lovely, but hands down working on my products makes me happiest. The quality of life improvement versus 9to5 (or, ahem, 10to27) is impossible to overstate.

Re: Ask HN: 9to5/Consulting/Startup, where are/were you most happy?

#4

Post by michaelhalligan »

Personally I seem to be reasonably happy when I'm consulting 2 hours a day and working on my new startup 6-10 hours a day. However, I'm happiest when I'm spending 4 hours per day down at the swimming pool flirting with my cute neighbors. That's what I mostly do since selling my last company, I highly recommend it.

Re: Ask HN: 9to5/Consulting/Startup, where are/were you most happy?

#5

Post by thibaut_barrere »

I've never been so happy as I'm today :)

I'm currently doing consulting and bootstrapping projects with my wife as co-founder, living in the country-side of france in a cheap place, with our son.

Startup are really not my dream actually: I worked for one in my early days. 9to5 jobs really appear "cluttered" to me (ie: lot of time wasted on low value stuff, where you could really benefit from that time with family or hobbies).

Re: Ask HN: 9to5/Consulting/Startup, where are/were you most happy?

#6

Post by sosuke »

Currently I'm doing the 9to5, consulting and working on more than one personal venture. I couldn't be happier with all the work and challenges but I think along with a few other comments here I'd enjoy just working on my ventures more and some consulting.

Re: Ask HN: 9to5/Consulting/Startup, where are/were you most happy?

#7

Post by jaddison »

9-5: people are happy here because there very little pressure (in a typical job) - if you think there's pressure, then you haven't been in the initial stages of consulting or worse, in bootstrapping your startup for the first time.

Consulting: once you get out of the mindset of feeling you always need steady income (getting sporadic client payments, having to follow up with clients, etc), this is actually pretty comfortable. You have a lot of freedom to define your life's activities. Just be sure to charge appropriately and know what you need to live on.

Startups: starting a startup is very different than just working in one; working as an employee (even with equity) in a startup may seem hectic at times, but in the end, everything isn't sitting on your shoulders when all is said and done. Being a founder has the additional burdens of a business - including dealing with incompatible partners/founders. Its easy to walk away when you're an employee - harder when you're a founder.

I've done all three (any two of the above at the same time) and can say that I would be happiest in a functional startup (rather than dysfunctional!) - just be sure to choose your partners well. I'm reasonably happy doing consulting work at the moment, but I don't feel particularly challenged, which is why I'm looking to dive back into the world of startups again.

Re: Ask HN: 9to5/Consulting/Startup, where are/were you most happy?

#9

Post by BTBurke »

I have a 9 to 5 right now. It's a good job and I feel like it's important work, but I'm also starting something on the side. There's something about picking your own problem, finding your own solution, and building that into a business that just beats working for someone else.
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