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Ask HN: Best resources on starting a lifestyle business?

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Re: Ask HN: Best resources on starting a lifestyle business?

#51

I've been running a bootstrapped, lifestyle software business since 2005. I've linked to some articles you might find relevant here (for free!): https://successfulsoftware.net/starting-a-microisv/

I nearly read your whole site after clicking this link. Thanks for creating/sharing.

Re: Ask HN: Best resources on starting a lifestyle business?

#52

Not exactly a resource but more of an advice - learn software development. Unless you are familiar to some extent, you will always be dependent on a competent software engineer, and that will make it much harder to build a lifestyle business. Second advice, use Ruby on Rails or Django as a web framework and don't follow after the complexities of JS and other newcomers. Phoenix (Elixir) is awesome but that will requir…

Phoenix is just as easy as Rails to get started and now with LiveView, easier than needing to know Ruby and JavaScript. It’s a secret weapon for indie hackers.

Come on. I am a huge phoenix/elixir fan - I am procrastinating from elixir dev writing this very comment - but this is not even close to true. It is a big learning curve. It's absolutely worth it, IMO, but there is no way it is as easy to get started with as rails. Not even close.

It's my framework of choice and a secret weapon indeed but let's not pretend it's rails-easy. It's just not.

Re: Ask HN: Best resources on starting a lifestyle business?

#54

Not exactly a resource but more of an advice - learn software development. Unless you are familiar to some extent, you will always be dependent on a competent software engineer, and that will make it much harder to build a lifestyle business. Second advice, use Ruby on Rails or Django as a web framework and don't follow after the complexities of JS and other newcomers. Phoenix (Elixir) is awesome but that will requir…

As a JS developer, I second this. I love node, react and typescript, but they're great tools to build very complex web apps — think Figma or an in-browser IDE. If you're building a typical CRUD app and don't have a VC-backed budget, just use a Django or Rails.

I’m a TypeScript developer. Don't understand why it requires complexity? You can just as easily build crud APIs in TypeScript.

Re: Ask HN: Best resources on starting a lifestyle business?

#55
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want to hijack this thread, but what does Django do? I ask, cause I have a service that is a Rust backend (kind of specialized in what it does) + a SolidJS frontend... But I've seen a potential area for growth, I didn't imagine at first, and that would be stuff like user profiles, authentication, and managing stuff. And I really don't want to cut all this more "CRUD" like stuff in Rust and an SPA. I don't kno…

Nothing against Django, just suggesting another option: Laravel offers the same "out of the box" tools that Django does. Django is built with Python, Laravel with PHP. Someone will be along in a moment to start the flame wars about why one or the other or both totally suck , but for your purposes it's most important to choose the language and approach that will be most comfortable to you.

Also PHP has Laravel Spark[0]. They basically bootstrapped a SaaS but for a price. Not sure if it's worth it, but it's from the guys who made Laravel, and everyone only has good things to say about that so...

[0] https://spark.laravel.com

Re: Ask HN: Best resources on starting a lifestyle business?

#56

Earlier quoted context omitted.

discuss.bootstrapped.fm is well worth a look. I miss Joel's Business of Software forum (I was one of the moderators) - sadly I don't think that is still available.

That’s a shame! I was wondering why it wasn’t available when trying to link to it the other day.

I think they stopped supporting the software that the forum was running on. Maybe someone has some huge text dump somewhere?

Re: Ask HN: Best resources on starting a lifestyle business?

#57

Lifestyle businesses are underrated in my opinion. They are also more achievable than a multi-million exit, especially if a lifestyle business is the planned goal. A lifestyle business does have particular challenges however. Specifically, moving it from a stage two to stage three business as described in Scale by Finkel and Hoffman: https://www.amazon.com/Scale-Seven-Proven-Principles-Busines... A stage 1 business d…

I have run a lifestyle software business for 19 years and I'm still at what you call 'stage 1'. I can afford a decent lifestyle, can go on holiday for several weeks (with laptop) and (mostly) like the work I do day-to-day. I have no plans to progress to 'stage 2'.

Re: Ask HN: Best resources on starting a lifestyle business?

#58
post #53

While lifestyle businesses are the first step in their process to free your own time to swing for something bigger, check out the Microconf channel on YouTube. Covers all the angles including for non technical founders.

Why would you have to 'swing for something bigger'? Having a low stress, enjoyable and profitable small business is enough for some of us. https://successfulsoftware.net/2013/11/06/lifestyle-programm...

Re: Ask HN: Best resources on starting a lifestyle business?

#59
post #20

What’s “lifestyle” in this context? I can think of a couple of meanings, but the first thing I’d recommend is a lawyer to figure out your language, privacy policy, exposure if using certain terms. For example results, quality, etc would need legal documents to basically say ‘results may vary’ based on jurisdiction.

Lawyers are very expensive and small startups generally don't have a lot of cash. Better to base EULA, privacy policy etc off boilerplate IMO. Unless maybe you are doing something unusual or potentially hazardous e.g. software controlling medical equipment.

Re: Ask HN: Best resources on starting a lifestyle business?

#60

I’m enjoying being a member of Ramen Club https://ramenclub.so/

What do you like about it? It feels like a lot of money for potentially little value?

the value is the community - it's a bunch of low-ego high-motivation folk all building and sharing their own journeys. if you already have a large relevant community around you or don't value connecting with peers so much then it might not be for you (nothing wrong with either of those).
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