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Part time Entrepreneur, fulltime Employee

sdk.org.nz

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Re: Part time Entrepreneur, fulltime Employee

#21

Post by tom_ilsinszki »

gridspy wrote: post #14
hugothefrog wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I definitely would be. Any techniques you've developed for switching contexts would be greatly appreciated..

Check Hacker News, email, etc. Remind myself that I'm going to be a huge startup soon. Choose what excites me the most and bite of a tiny chunk. If I'm having real trouble, I'll promise myself to do 30 minutes and stop if I'm not making headway. Most nights I continue after that for some time.

I found that envisioning myself as a 'huge startup soon', or very successful in the near future is damaging. It's far more productive to focus on solving the most important problems, and not on the prize.

Re: Part time Entrepreneur, fulltime Employee

#22

Post by tom_ilsinszki »

gridspy wrote: post #11

Proud to see my blog post on HN. It has been a tough slog working full-time while spending every other waking moment on Gridspy. It doesn't help that I spend every waking moment thinking about it, even when I should be applying myself to my full-time job. Biggest challenges: 1) Starting work again at 7pm after dinner, and sticking with it as long as possible 2) Stopping at 10:30pm so I'm not dead after 2 days 3) Taki…

I'm inspired. I don't have a family yet, so if you can do it, I can do it... Good luck!

Re: Part time Entrepreneur, fulltime Employee

#23

Post by sruffell »

donaq wrote: post #17
patio11 wrote: post #4

This is totally doable, although I don't envy him for trying to do it while also having a wife and kids. If your life situation allows you to play WoW, your life situation allows you to run a business. Heck, my business is considerably less complicated than the guild I used to run. I managed to cut my headcount by 39 and my hours by 75%. (You may have to stop playing WoW. Apologies in advance, but trust me, the loot…

You could play games like Jade Dynasty, which has botting integrated into the game. So you could do work while the game runs in the background.

Even better: http://idlerpg.net

Re: Part time Entrepreneur, fulltime Employee

#24

Post by gridspy »

tom_ilsinszki wrote: post #21
gridspy wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Check Hacker News, email, etc. Remind myself that I'm going to be a huge startup soon. Choose what excites me the most and bite of a tiny chunk. If I'm having real trouble, I'll promise myself to do 30 minutes and stop if I'm not making headway. Most nights I continue after that for some time.

I found that envisioning myself as a 'huge startup soon', or very successful in the near future is damaging. It's far more productive to focus on solving the most important problems, and not on the prize.

I actually see "Huge startup" as "3-6 months runway, 3 employees." I use that to justify short term sacrifices, but I find the work itself the best motivator.

Re: Part time Entrepreneur, fulltime Employee

#25

Post by mattlong »

holograham wrote: post #5

+1 Even college grads can follow some of this advice. Come out of school ladened with debt is no picnic and sure going straight to a startup sure seems like a sexy idea but even Paul Graham admits most startups fail. Sure valuable experience, and new contacts help ease that but there are alternatives. I would prefer to go into business for myself once I am debt free and on solid footing (not waiting because I am scar…

But are you really going to be able to walk away from a comfortable life and good salary some years down the road to try something risky? The longer you get used to having disposable income and the freedom to do whatever you want outside of 9-5 knowing you'll have a job to go back to tomorrow, the less likely you'll be willing to take the plunge.

I landed a good job right out of school. I soon after (i.e. a few months) left that job to pursue my entrepreneurial dreams because it would have been many times more difficult to leave after being comfortably employed for a few years and fully out of debt.

I'm not saying this scenario never happens, because clearly it does. But there's a reason the stereotypical startup founder is a 20 something fresh out of school or a drop out living on Ramen.

EDIT: grammar

Re: Part time Entrepreneur, fulltime Employee

#26

Post by pxstock »

Wonderful read. Your story could be mine. I completely understand all the things you’re saying. I know what it feels like to have two small kids, a job, a mortgage, having to get up at night to feed a baby and dreaming of having your own succesful business. I have been developing my own sites for the last decade, without ever being really succesful (in terms of money). I’ve been working at my own computer from eight in the evening until I can’t keep my eyes open. Almost every night, and many saturdays and sundays. Sometimes in the middle of the night, when I can’t sleep (which happenes quite often :-).

Even though the lack of succes is at times wildly dissapointing, especially when seeing friends having good academic careers (a path I could have chosen), and even though I feel tired at almost any moment of any day, I’m not complaining. Not once. I cannot help but go on with the next application, and the next and the next. It’s my dream, and one day I will succeed.

I currently have two things in the pipeline, for which I have the same high hopes again - even though the odds are against me :-)

I hope you do well. Instead of just talking about the things you could do (like many people), you act. And you work long days. You deserve your succes, and I hope you will have your deserved succes one day, hopefully just as me.

Ah, and perhaps most importantly: I found your post to be very motivational. Keep it up!

Re: Part time Entrepreneur, fulltime Employee

#27

Post by gridspy »

sruffell wrote: post #23
donaq wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could play games like Jade Dynasty, which has botting integrated into the game. So you could do work while the game runs in the background.

Even better: http://idlerpg.net

I prefer http://progressquest.com/

Re: Part time Entrepreneur, fulltime Employee

#28

Post by angelbob »

scorpioxy wrote: post #10
nkh wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would love to hear about any techniques you have for overcoming mental fatigue at the end of your work day when you still have business work to do. Did you work on your business before the work day started? Or something different?

Seconded. It seems to me that whenever people tell you to keep your day job while trying to start a business, their day jobs are not related to programming.(so IT, analyst...) I would love to read something about how your code all day for your day job and then code all night for your business. That info, coming from somebody who has done it before would be a very interesting read. (Another interesting thing would be…

I haven't started a business in spare time, but I've put similar amounts of time into various open-source, unpaid projects.

I'd second the guy who said, "do something you really care about." I find that programming stuff that motivates me at home makes it much easier to keep writing the grind-work code at work.

Of course, there's a lot of stuff in starting a business that sucks. I'd say to try to arrange your work so that you're writing code you like when you're already feeling pretty burnt out, and doing more "normal" business tasks (write documentation, set up servers, do paperwork) when you're more energetic.

Writing code to refresh yourself isn't perfect. And starting a business is a lot more than just coding. But it's a hack that can help a fair bit, especially in the more coding-heavy sections of starting up.

Re: Part time Entrepreneur, fulltime Employee

#29

Post by dugmartin »

markkoberlein wrote: post #3

There should be a support group for over 30 startup founders that have families, bills, and full-time jobs. My advice to any one trying to do this is to be patient and find a time management system that works for you. Also, get used to the hours between 8pm and 2am. Those hours can be your best friend and worse enemy.

Hi, 38, married, 2 kids, full time job and a mortgage here.

My hours are from 4:30am to 7:15am, 30 minutes at lunch and 30 minutes making the next day's todo list before bed.

Even though the time I can commit is short I'm much more productive now than I was at 28 working crazy hours.

Re: Part time Entrepreneur, fulltime Employee

#30

Post by robryan »

mattlong wrote: post #25
holograham wrote: post #5

+1 Even college grads can follow some of this advice. Come out of school ladened with debt is no picnic and sure going straight to a startup sure seems like a sexy idea but even Paul Graham admits most startups fail. Sure valuable experience, and new contacts help ease that but there are alternatives. I would prefer to go into business for myself once I am debt free and on solid footing (not waiting because I am scar…

But are you really going to be able to walk away from a comfortable life and good salary some years down the road to try something risky? The longer you get used to having disposable income and the freedom to do whatever you want outside of 9-5 knowing you'll have a job to go back to tomorrow, the less likely you'll be willing to take the plunge. I landed a good job right out of school. I soon after (i.e. a few month…

Agree with this, I think their would be more people that regretted not doing a start up straight out of uni than their would be people in start ups regretting not going into work.

If you don't have a great deal yet you have everything to gain and little to lose.

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