I work from home and I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with my kids. I've built a successful startup and am launching another without compromising anything. It IS possible and our breed of entrepreneur is more common however underrepresented in the startup community.
The lifestyle business bullshit (2009)
21–30 of 38 posts
Re: The lifestyle business bullshit (2009)
#22Some people don't realize the implications of hours worked on effective wages. If you work more for the same income you are giving yourself a pay cut, and worse a free time cut. If you work less then you are giving yourself a raise, and increasing your free time as well, a double whammy. Most people have trouble thinking like this though. They lose themselves in their work, filling up their time with trivial and meni…
There are still many menial jobs that cannot be automated (not cost effectively). Encouraging people with menial jobs to seek higher effective wages increases everyone's cost of living. Until robots can do all the menial work, and build themselves too, a lot of people are going to have shit jobs. I don't see any way around that. Philosophically, is it better to have more people each doing X hours/yr of menial work, r…
Automation is only one way to get things done faster. In truth, many jobs would take less time if people would just stop wasting so much of it — no automation required. As they say, work expands to fill the time available.
Re: The lifestyle business bullshit (2009)
#23I think the main point is, 37 signals runs a bit like a lifestyle business - agile, low stress, no overtime; because that's what they think is the most profitable way to run a software business. Even if they wanted to do overtime, or were in a more cut-throat niche (i.e. taking on Facebook) they would run their shop the same way..
They aren't doing things the way they do because they think it's glamorous, or because it's easier.
Re: The lifestyle business bullshit (2009)
#24(2009)
Re: The lifestyle business bullshit (2009)
#25I have read on here several times that many entrepreneurs want to squeeze their entire working lives into a few short years, banking on the big payout that will set them free. 37signals, on the other hand, was in business for a long time before Basecamp was even released to the public. It has been a slow road, relatively speaking. I respect what 37signals has done. It is the way I would want to build my own business.…
But perhaps one could argue that this resulted in those hours being more productive because they were more spread out. So assuming what you're saying is true, they could have gotten more productivity out of the same number of hours as another business that condensed its work more.
Re: The lifestyle business bullshit (2009)
#26I've said it before, and I'll say it again.
The only people who use "lifestyle business" as a way to downplay, minimize or trivialize a business are often people who have the "lifestyle" and are saying it to people who don't have the "lifestyle".
The best lifestyle to me? Being free of time and obligation to bills to truly chase any crazy idea you want and any funding that may or may not come it's way.
There's a lot to learn from building any business seen as a lifestyle business, namely, you pick up the end to end business skills you didn't have to go big.
The alternative? Get funded and pushed out when you don't have the business chops to grow.
Go hard or go home? Get real, I want to create great things forever, sustainably, not try, fail and go back to finding a job. The part of being successful that makes you a well rounded person is non-neogotiable. Maybe folks here are still in their 20's with no real other responsibilities or obligations or priorities. This is my second internet boom and I can say as much as I've enjoy every second, I enjoy living for a living just as much.
Re: The lifestyle business bullshit (2009)
#27Lifestyle businesses are awesome if it is your business (ownership as in equity, not 'responsibility for all the bugs'). Be careful if you are joining someone else's lifestyle business and make sure you know what you are getting into. Depending on the person, there can be nothing worse than only being employed to maintain the founder's lifestyle with no plans for growth, company or career-wise.
Re: The lifestyle business bullshit (2009)
#28I work from home and I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with my kids. I've built a successful startup and am launching another without compromising anything. It IS possible and our breed of entrepreneur is more common however underrepresented in the startup community.
"I work from home and I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner with my kids."
That's crazy impressive. I tried working from home and was only ever productive if I worked till early in the morning. Daytime productivity was terrible with 2 little kids detracting me... perhaps my house is just too small.
Re: The lifestyle business bullshit (2009)
#29Some people don't realize the implications of hours worked on effective wages. If you work more for the same income you are giving yourself a pay cut, and worse a free time cut. If you work less then you are giving yourself a raise, and increasing your free time as well, a double whammy. Most people have trouble thinking like this though. They lose themselves in their work, filling up their time with trivial and meni…
There are still many menial jobs that cannot be automated (not cost effectively). Encouraging people with menial jobs to seek higher effective wages increases everyone's cost of living. Until robots can do all the menial work, and build themselves too, a lot of people are going to have shit jobs. I don't see any way around that. Philosophically, is it better to have more people each doing X hours/yr of menial work, r…
I don't think it isn't that we can't build robots that can do menial work (mcdonalds casheers, farm laborers, road workers) it is that the investment to get the return is not worth the cultural wall to replacing dead end depressing work for people who would otherwise have no jobs due to limited education or drive for excellence.
Re: The lifestyle business bullshit (2009)
#30[deleted]