What the hell am I doing? Take the good job or try for gusto

#1

Post by kelly_hrudey » Wed, Aug 24, 2011, 4:38 PM UTC

What the hell am I doing?

I suffer from blue skies. An absolute abundance of ever growing ideas. I have no idea where they come from, how to manage them, or what specific idea to run with. I've tried a number of different approaches, but as soon as i'm set, a new better idea with less obstacles or barriers to entry pops into my head. It's a never ending story.

The second struggle lies with job opportunities - Do I take the sweet ass job or try to launch the kick ass startup? Sweet for my resume and working with cool peeps VS hustling day and night to make cool shit.

A few months back, the startup I was working with folded shop. My heart was set on launching my own startup. A few people I admire recommended contract work and building my local network. I took their advice and started to offer my services to other local companies and agencies. Over the last few weeks, these small contracts have led to some interesting conversations with companies I used to dream about working for. It feels like a huge cross road, and each door could lead to a different place.

A lot of close friends think I'm a complete asshole (the ones with creative burnout or the ones that apply year after year to become an intern would die to work for one of these companies), stating with no direction and discipline I'm destined to fail...

Question 1 - do you have any advice or personal stories on how to navigate the deep never ending blue skies. How to focus on one or two ideas? Do I just need to suck it up and never talk about the deep sea of blue skies. There must be people out there suffering the same problem... yet people don't like to talk about it as if everyone has it figured out, understands the value of each idea they discover.

Question 2 - how on earth did you decide between the really good job at a really good company VS going balls deep trying to launch a startup with no money and too many ideas.

I sound like pompous 18 year old... Any help with my predicament is appreciated.

Re: What the hell am I doing? Take the good job or try for gusto

#2

Post by iamdave » Wed, Aug 24, 2011, 4:53 PM UTC

An absolute abundance of ever growing ideas. I have no idea where they come from, how to manage them

Notebook. Write. down. everything (And I do mean everything. What I mean by that is everything).

Your peers have some wise advice, if you find your head in the clouds with ideas and you know you have the competency to pull it off, then yes: farm out your skills, network, begin your personal brand.

People like to say "It's not what you know, it's who you know". I respectfully disagree. It's now who you know, it's who knows you. So if these contracts you've taken have resulted in positive feedback and responses from you clients, continue to build on that (hopefully it's paying you enough to survive) and establish yourself as a knowledgeable asset in their field.

Then, once you've launched a product these people will (ideally) recognize this as the fruit of your labors and will be more willing to give it a try.

Good luck young man :)

Re: What the hell am I doing? Take the good job or try for gusto

#3

Post by kelly_hrudey » Wed, Aug 24, 2011, 5:01 PM UTC

iamdave wrote: post #2

An absolute abundance of ever growing ideas. I have no idea where they come from, how to manage them Notebook. Write. down. everything (And I do mean everything. What I mean by that is everything). Your peers have some wise advice, if you find your head in the clouds with ideas and you know you have the competency to pull it off, then yes: farm out your skills, network, begin your personal brand. People like to say "…

Thx for the feedback.

Re - Notebook

How do you manage that weeks, months, or years later? Tagging stuff, categorizing, dates?

Re: What the hell am I doing? Take the good job or try for gusto

#4

Post by iamdave » Wed, Aug 24, 2011, 5:06 PM UTC

kelly_hrudey wrote: post #3

iamdave wrote: post #2

An absolute abundance of ever growing ideas. I have no idea where they come from, how to manage them Notebook. Write. down. everything (And I do mean everything. What I mean by that is everything). Your peers have some wise advice, if you find your head in the clouds with ideas and you know you have the competency to pull it off, then yes: farm out your skills, network, begin your personal brand. People like to say "…

Thx for the feedback. Re - Notebook How do you manage that weeks, months, or years later? Tagging stuff, categorizing, dates?

http://davidseah.com/blog/2011/07/toms-moleskine-emergent-ta...

Give that a look at and check out the emergent task planner/year planner.

Disclaimer: I am not that David.

Re: What the hell am I doing? Take the good job or try for gusto

#5

Post by robfitz » Wed, Aug 24, 2011, 5:06 PM UTC

Resolve #2 by thinking about your desired daily lifestyle (as opposed to the work or ideas). Comparing grand visions is impossible, so how would you be happiest spending tomorrow?

Regarding #1: I was pretty burned out after working on my startups for about 5 years. It paid the bills for those years, but I wasn't ready to commit to anything full-time again and I was still sore from the feeling of letting down all my co-workers & investors.

So I spent about half my time doing freelance work and the other half dicking around on whatever took my fancy. For the first few months, that was going to parks, boozing, trying out new cafes. Gradually I found myself naturally interested in programming projects again, and then I realized I was slacking off on my freelance gigs to pursue one particular idea. I was staying up late with the joy of coding again.

Anyway, now that idea has turned into a fulltime startup again and I couldn't be more excited. It was allowed to grow very naturally and I avoided the mistakes of rushing into something.

Anyway, infinite runway from contract work is a beautiful thing for letting the "right" idea find you, as long as you keep about half your time open for whatever.

Re: What the hell am I doing? Take the good job or try for gusto

#6

Post by MrMike » Wed, Aug 24, 2011, 5:08 PM UTC

Been there. I'm sure most of HN has.

No one but you can decide if your best course of action is taking the sweet ass job or trying to launch a kick ass startup, or a combination of both.

It seems as though you're paralyzed by the abundance of ideas you have. Something you need to come to terms with is that an idea, for the most part, is worth only how well you can execute it. So, my advice is: Pick one idea and give it your all. If you need to have a day job to cover expenses, etc., then do it on the side, but do it. Stop talking about your idea. Stop rehashing it over and over and over. Stop abandoning it and moving on to "some better idea". Just buckle up and enjoy the crazy ride. If you keep bouncing around from idea to idea, you're never going to get your feet wet actually trying to execute on it, which means when you have that golden idea, you'll be navigating uncharted waters, versus having the ability to say "I've dealt with this issue before. I can make it a non-issue."

You'll recognize (hopefully quickly) whether or not your idea has legs and can turn into something bigger/better/etc. But you'll never know if you don't pick something and go for it. Also, recognize that there's no harm in trying something then shifting gears and going a different direction (or going after another idea). It's a part of the game. Rarely will you ever see a successful entrepeneur that executed well on the first idea they pursued, while having that first idea remain very similar to its original concept during the "light-bulb" moment. Pick the idea that will give you the most enjoyment with high potential.

So, you seem to have answered your own question in Q2. Unless you have other financial resources to sustain yourself, then taking a job and pursuing your entrepreneurial goals on the side is likely your best option. There's no harm/shame in doing that. Be aware of the agreements you sign with the company you work for -- you don't want them claiming rights to what you do after work, etc.

Re: What the hell am I doing? Take the good job or try for gusto

#7

Post by robfitz » Wed, Aug 24, 2011, 5:08 PM UTC

kelly_hrudey wrote: post #3

iamdave wrote: post #2

An absolute abundance of ever growing ideas. I have no idea where they come from, how to manage them Notebook. Write. down. everything (And I do mean everything. What I mean by that is everything). Your peers have some wise advice, if you find your head in the clouds with ideas and you know you have the competency to pull it off, then yes: farm out your skills, network, begin your personal brand. People like to say "…

Thx for the feedback. Re - Notebook How do you manage that weeks, months, or years later? Tagging stuff, categorizing, dates?

I prefer taking all my notes on index cards. Notebooks failed me BC I ended up w/ short term (meeting notes) & long term (ideas) mixed, which made it hard to sort & hard to review.

Index cards I can throw away my meeting or call notes as soon as they end and easily group everything else.