I like it, I've done it... but you've really got to take Sunday off. Working seven days a week can only last a month or two before you start dying.
Bootstrapping - the secret work week
11–20 of 42 posts
Re: Bootstrapping - the secret work week
#12This is really ground breaking stuff. You mean to tell me that instead of enjoying my friends and family and experiencing all that life has to offer, I can simply work on my Web app? Whoa.
Seriously though, why sacrifice so much for a mere 'side-project'? Either get a better/bigger idea and make IT your full-time work, or find a 40hr./week job that is fulfilling to you.
There is no other side project that will be as rewarding in the end as living your life freely with your family and friends. This is the last thing you should be sacrificing.
Re: Bootstrapping - the secret work week
#13Have you thought about working part time? Work 20 hours instead of 40 hours for your day job. Trying to keep up with this kind of schedule is really detrimental to your health and you can't buy your health with any amount of money. Don't forget, building a company is not just about having a good product, it's also about networking and communicating with your potential users.
Re: Bootstrapping - the secret work week
#14This is really ground breaking stuff. You mean to tell me that instead of enjoying my friends and family and experiencing all that life has to offer, I can simply work on my Web app? Whoa. Seriously though, why sacrifice so much for a mere 'side-project'? Either get a better/bigger idea and make IT your full-time work, or find a 40hr./week job that is fulfilling to you. There is no other side project that will be as…
You're making the mistake of assuming your values are universally held by everyone else. They aren't. Some people really enjoy building something, even if that means not spending as much time with family/friends. Different people have different values/priorities and are in different parts of their lives (i.e someone with kids spends significantly more time with their kids than someone without kids).
You seem to be implying that the only value someone could get out of building something is a full time job. That's not true at all. There's value in learning and getting better at building things. There's value in enjoying what you do and taking pride in building something you're proud of, even if it never makes a dollar.
Re: Bootstrapping - the secret work week
#15This reminds me of part-timing graduate school!
It's a hellish experience, full of not being able to do other things with my life including maintaining my health and expanding my life outside of the computer screen!
Re: Bootstrapping - the secret work week
#16Assuming you are doing this to create a business and not for... fun. Work smarter instead of longer. Sign up for the Micropreneur Academy they have a lot of great articles for working smarter http://www.micropreneur.com
It boils down to stop trying to do everything yourself. Put a dollar value per hour on your time and aim for $75 - $100. Then you realize doing something yourself is NOT free but extremely expensive. Then you can look into outsourcing (programming, virtual assistant, copy writing, etc) with a more open mind. Once you are doing that you are making much more effective use of your time and you will not need as much time to get more done than you are now.
Following this (especially points 6-8) worked really well for me http://sivers.org/how2hire.
It took me a really long time to get this and actually do something about it. It's very liberating and exciting to see completed work come back.
Re: Bootstrapping - the secret work week
#17A few meta-comments if the author comes here: - Chrome complains about resources served as non-ssl - I could not find your name on the site (I just wondered who was being the service) Hope this helps!
Thanks. It's me (name, email in my profile) and I'm still working out some kinks on the site... because i use Disqus for the comments they are being served non-ssl which is causing the error... I have to fix that.
Re: Bootstrapping - the secret work week
#18Assuming you are doing this to create a business and not for... fun. Work smarter instead of longer. Sign up for the Micropreneur Academy they have a lot of great articles for working smarter http://www.micropreneur.com It boils down to stop trying to do everything yourself. Put a dollar value per hour on your time and aim for $75 - $100. Then you realize doing something yourself is NOT free but extremely expensive.…
How much does it cost? Their page doesn't say.
Re: Bootstrapping - the secret work week
#19I did this while working for a startup in the late 90's. I built the site in 6 mos of hacking away from 8p to 2a every day. My days usually went: arrive at work at 10am, leave at 7p. Eat from 7:30-8. I worked, my wife read or watched tv. She went to bed around 11, I came in around 2a.
After 6 months she was pretty pissed about the schedule. But after 7 years of bootstrapping, we sold our "side project" for over $10 million and she's pretty happy about it now.
Re: Bootstrapping - the secret work week
#20I do love the morning work hours. I've been getting up a bit early lately to work on stuff and I love it.
That being said, I prefer more work life balance. I do suggest looking at how much coding you are doing and make sure you aren't doing too much. One of the biggest mistakes I made with my last startup was thinking coding would make us successful. I should have spent more time measuring and selling and not pivoting every time we received criticism or a "better idea."
Good luck!