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How to start a company with no free time

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Re: How to start a company with no free time

#3
This post had some great advice. Her fourth point really resonated with me. This is something I've struggled with a lot when asking for help from friends and family.

>People are really bad at being helpful. Even when people ask to help you, they usually don’t follow through with it or do it in a way that is actually helpful. A lot of people would ask me how they could help me with Winnie and I’d say things like “I’d love your feedback on the app!” and I’d hear back… nothing.

>It turns out “give me feedback” isn’t actionable enough for most people. Now when someone asks me how they can help I will give them something very specific to do.

Re: How to start a company with no free time

#4
post #3

This post had some great advice. Her fourth point really resonated with me. This is something I've struggled with a lot when asking for help from friends and family. >People are really bad at being helpful. Even when people ask to help you, they usually don’t follow through with it or do it in a way that is actually helpful. A lot of people would ask me how they could help me with Winnie and I’d say things like “I’d…

If you're ever working with a volunteer organization this is also important. I'm president of a small (all-volunteer) nonprofit. It doesn't really work to delegate general tasks or responsibilities except with a few individuals who are exceptionally motivated.

Much better for most people is to give them very specific assignments with deadlines.

Re: How to start a company with no free time

#6
For those with babies on the way like the author and reading material to get through for business, I found that a text to speech app like @voice with a good sounding voice like the AT&T voices, plus a Bluetooth earpiece helps a lot. Baby needs a bottle? Earpiece on, start listening. Baby needs a walk in the buggy? Same. Baby wakes in the middle of the night and needs to be in your arms for a while to get back to sleep? Same. Helped me to get through a couple of books a month I couldn't have otherwise read. Obviously has to be relatively easy to understand material.

Re: How to start a company with no free time

#7
post #5

I have a related question for the author or anyone: How do you keep your energy up to code in the evenings on your own project, after a full day of coding at the office?

I'm struggling with this same problem, compounded by having a 6 month old child with a mother who works nights.

Re: How to start a company with no free time

#8
post #5

I have a related question for the author or anyone: How do you keep your energy up to code in the evenings on your own project, after a full day of coding at the office?

Any time you have to work hard for a long period of time, the trick is to take scheduled breaks. You don't need a long break either, just like 5 minutes every 30 minutes throughout the day will keep your energy up a lot. I'll come home, eat dinner while watching something fun, then get back using that pattern.

Marty Lobdell has a good talk about this on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IlU-zDU6aQ0&t=1s

I think for me the other thing is -- don't make it bigger than it is, like don't psych yourself out. Yes, it's hard to work from morning to night, but it's just hard, not impossible.

And I think being physically good--eating right, sleep enough, and exercising, yes it's tired advice but that's how you get "energy".

Re: How to start a company with no free time

#9
Sara Mauskopf, if that's you in the bottom pic, then can you please invest in some ergonomic keyboard and mouse? Laptop keyboards and trackpads are very bad for hands in the long term.

Your employees and you should all be working with keyboards and mice on nice big monitors. Ergonomics is an easy win to grab, so do it! Get the Microsoft ergonomic keyboard or the Advantage Kinesis if you want the best.

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