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Ask HN: I can't do this anymore, I need help

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Re: Ask HN: I can't do this anymore, I need help

#61

Post by greenyoda »

pyrrhotech wrote: post #7

Here's the better idea. Get a 9 to 5 six figure job. It will be boring, I know. Life sucks like that sometimes. Most of us have one. Next, live like a pauper, saving 60-70+% of that income. Spend your free time doing exactly 3 things 1. working on a side project 2. spending time with your girlfriend. 3. exercise (never count this out, no matter what your life circumstances otherwise) Then just wait 5 more years. You…

The job won't necessarily even be boring. It's possible that you'll find a job working with smart people that you can learn useful things from.

Re: Ask HN: I can't do this anymore, I need help

#62

Post by DevoAKA »

kriptonic wrote: post #34
hnriot wrote: post #25

* I've lost pretty much all my friends because of the time I've spent trying to make my ideas work. I suspect that work has nothing to do with this, more likely the negativity and the real reason why you're so obsessed with work. I think work is your crutch, not your problem. * And now it's 2:31am on a Sunday evening and my girlfriend is in bed wondering why I won't come give her a cuddle, but I can't. Most people ar…

Hello. You make a lot of assumptions about me. I'm not trying to whine, I saw a problem and I'm asking for help fixing that problem in return for my time and money. Also, I have a job. Me and my girlfriend have a great relationship and I do everything I can to make sure she's happy. I have a lot more than $5000 to show for it. That's is just what I have for a side project. I don't fail at everything. I'm only 23, and…

Man, the HN crowd is always rough but I agree with the whole "look for a job" advice. Maybe just for a little while; it's not that bad, haha. You're only 23 so you have a lot of time to figure things out. Plus, you'll learn a lot from mentors there too.

Hope it works out for you :)

Re: Ask HN: I can't do this anymore, I need help

#63

Post by sitkack »

pyrrhotech wrote: post #7

Here's the better idea. Get a 9 to 5 six figure job. It will be boring, I know. Life sucks like that sometimes. Most of us have one. Next, live like a pauper, saving 60-70+% of that income. Spend your free time doing exactly 3 things 1. working on a side project 2. spending time with your girlfriend. 3. exercise (never count this out, no matter what your life circumstances otherwise) Then just wait 5 more years. You…

Don't work on the side project. Do _nothing_ .... go live life. Build skills, think, create, but don't work on an exit, how Christian.

Re: Ask HN: I can't do this anymore, I need help

#64

Post by h1karu »

Get some treez and stay blazed for a few daze to decompress, then get back to your grind. Build a product. It doesn't have to be software.

I'll give you the keys to the kingdom..

start selling webinars... paint yourself as someone who is qualified to teach WHATEVER and get people to join a free 1 hour webinar where you're going to teach them whatever.. give them a taste and then upsell them on a package of additional 2 hour long webinars. $200 package.

Start advertising your free webinars via social paid distribution channels. Once you tweak it perfectly and build up some experience you'll be able to spend a certain amount on advertising to acquire enough customers to fully book your webinars each week.

20 people per webinar shelling out $200/each.. doing it again every week with a new batch of people.. every time you do it you build up a video archive that you can to build a non-webinar based video product down the road...

People feel good about spending $$ on webinars because they can get personalized education not just a pre-packaged info-product.. all you need is a niche people care about and some life experience that you can market as being valuable.

This one 35 year old lady is selling webinars for $400 to teach people how to "leverage instagram to better market your business". That's just one example.. she didn't even have any material written down when she started selling her first webinar she just kind of learned as she went along. She's doing well because her product is about teaching small business owners how to make more money. You want your info-product to appeal to people who already have money to spend.

good luck

Re: Ask HN: I can't do this anymore, I need help

#65

Post by mercule »

sitkack wrote: post #63
pyrrhotech wrote: post #7

Here's the better idea. Get a 9 to 5 six figure job. It will be boring, I know. Life sucks like that sometimes. Most of us have one. Next, live like a pauper, saving 60-70+% of that income. Spend your free time doing exactly 3 things 1. working on a side project 2. spending time with your girlfriend. 3. exercise (never count this out, no matter what your life circumstances otherwise) Then just wait 5 more years. You…

Don't work on the side project. Do _nothing_ .... go live life. Build skills, think, create, but don't work on an exit, how Christian.

Sounds like he is building skills, thinking, and living life to me. He is failing at his current endeavor, but that is fine. Failure is good, builds character.

Re: Ask HN: I can't do this anymore, I need help

#66

Post by sitkack »

mercule wrote: post #65
sitkack wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't work on the side project. Do _nothing_ .... go live life. Build skills, think, create, but don't work on an exit, how Christian.

Sounds like he is building skills, thinking, and living life to me. He is failing at his current endeavor, but that is fine. Failure is good, builds character.

Failure is excellent, wish I failed in bigger ways as a child, it gets more expensive as you age. Continuing to work on side projects is a still a sure way to burnout. Side projects of pure personal enrichment (exercise, art, etc) are what repower a person for greatness.

Re: Ask HN: I can't do this anymore, I need help

#67

Post by xerophtye »

thekenwheeler wrote: post #14

You're trying to force it. That's not going to work. Stop. Get a job. A job that you like. Then just be good at it. Better yet, be the best at it, and make sure it is something you are passionate about and talented in. It really is that simple. Nobody wants to invest in somebody with a bunch of failed entrepreneurial ventures. But if you sit back, take a check, work on cool shit and build an impressive body of work,…

>Nobody wants to invest in somebody with a bunch of failed entrepreneurial ventures. But if you sit back, take a check, work on cool shit and build an impressive body of work, well then perhaps people will be more willing to invest in you.

Exactly. If your ideas aren't working right now, why not work on some other guy's?

I can see that you're willing to let someone else handle all the business side. So why not not join some start up that you believe in, and provide your tech skills to help realize their dream. In the mean time you can learn how they did the business side. This will also alleviate you from your financial troubles (though do you really have them? considering your $5000...)

And then some time in the future, someone will provide their business skills to help realize your dream.

Either way, it's time to get a job.

> go bang your girlfriend and give her a massage.

Yep, she deserves that for sticking with you through all this.

Re: Ask HN: I can't do this anymore, I need help

#68

Post by jkaljundi »

hisyam wrote: post #47
pyrrhotech wrote: post #7

Here's the better idea. Get a 9 to 5 six figure job. It will be boring, I know. Life sucks like that sometimes. Most of us have one. Next, live like a pauper, saving 60-70+% of that income. Spend your free time doing exactly 3 things 1. working on a side project 2. spending time with your girlfriend. 3. exercise (never count this out, no matter what your life circumstances otherwise) Then just wait 5 more years. You…

What about us who live in developing nations and get paid less than USD1000 per month working as a dev? Saving money is hard over here.

In many developing nations you can save a lot even from a $1k salary. If not, dedicate some time to freelancing, either locally or via elance/odesk. Shoot let's say for $40k per hour and do 2-3 hours per evening of that, plus some time on weekends. 20 hours = $400 per week, $1600 per month additional. Do that for a year and you will have money to live on saved funds for 1,5 years.

Re: Ask HN: I can't do this anymore, I need help

#69

Post by [deleted] »

Skovy wrote: post #24
thekenwheeler wrote: post #14

You're trying to force it. That's not going to work. Stop. Get a job. A job that you like. Then just be good at it. Better yet, be the best at it, and make sure it is something you are passionate about and talented in. It really is that simple. Nobody wants to invest in somebody with a bunch of failed entrepreneurial ventures. But if you sit back, take a check, work on cool shit and build an impressive body of work,…

You sir, deserve my upvote for making me laugh on HN.

[deleted]

Re: Ask HN: I can't do this anymore, I need help

#70

Post by jakejake »

kriptonic wrote: post #34
hnriot wrote: post #25

* I've lost pretty much all my friends because of the time I've spent trying to make my ideas work. I suspect that work has nothing to do with this, more likely the negativity and the real reason why you're so obsessed with work. I think work is your crutch, not your problem. * And now it's 2:31am on a Sunday evening and my girlfriend is in bed wondering why I won't come give her a cuddle, but I can't. Most people ar…

Hello. You make a lot of assumptions about me. I'm not trying to whine, I saw a problem and I'm asking for help fixing that problem in return for my time and money. Also, I have a job. Me and my girlfriend have a great relationship and I do everything I can to make sure she's happy. I have a lot more than $5000 to show for it. That's is just what I have for a side project. I don't fail at everything. I'm only 23, and…

The truth is that overwhelming majority of businesses fail. Entrepreneurs are not usually excited to brag about their failures publicly so we mostly see the hopeful beginning of all these ventures and not the sad, quiet ending. Though you do get occasional post-mortem stories here on HN (which I think are nice for balance) it is easy to forget about those and get a false impression that you are failing and everybody else is constantly succeeding. If you measure your own experiences against it you can wind up feeling stressed and depressed.

If you do think that the entrepreneurial spirit is something that is burning inside you, and not just peer pressure (of sorts) then I would say, just keep dreaming, keep working and don't dwell on failed projects. Find a personal itch that you would like to scratch. Good luck to you!

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