3 ms·

So here's the Math for me. I recently dropped my nice fat full-time contract so that I could either "go full time on my business" or "retire", depending on how

So here's the Math for me. I recently dropped my nice fat full-time contract so that I could either "go full time on my business" or "retire", depending on how you want to interpret it. Before: One of those Google/Facebook/Twitter "Total Comp" numbers that nobody here believes whenever Bay Area salaries are discussed. Upwards of 40 hour weeks, though I did drop down to 4 day weeks for the last year because, hey, I can live on only 80% of a fairy tale number that nobody would believe if you told them. After: Normal Bay Area Developer money, of the sort that the other half of that discussion above make. Or maybe a bit less. But the "Hours" side of the equation is where it all gets made back up. I just spent 3 months traveling through Southeast Asia with the kids, Rock Climbing, Surfing, Getting Married, Riding Elephants and Building Sand Castles. The biggest work week I had involved maybe 10 hours in front of the computer. Realistically, I could coast along like this indefinitely (thus the "retired" interpretation of my current situation above), but more likely I'll go back to 5-20 hour weeks building out features in the existing products and shipping the next one. That's what you're buying with all this "Entrepreneuring". The ability to replace your old income with a new one that doesn't necessarily require you to work full time for it. If you like doing things other than sitting a cubicle discussing where to go to lunch, I'd highly recommend looking in to it.

culturestate 11y ago
> That's what you're buying with all this "Entrepreneuring". The ability to replace your old income with a new one that doesn't necessarily require you to work full time for it. I cannot possibly agree more strongly with this. While I still have an internal fire that wants to put a couple more commas in my bank balance, the ability to experience life however and whenever you want to is, once found, not easily let go. My wife (a teacher) and I live abroad, and the nature of her work means she has effectively ~90 days of paid vacation (not including weekends) each year. I'm not certain what our life would be like if I were still an executive, but I'm sure that our relationship wouldn't be as strong without the shared experiences that come from being able to take advantage of that time in a meaningful way.
votr 11y ago
This is my goal. Do you have suggestions on how to get started? Experience and skills-wise, I have no problems. I currently build low-latency trading systems for a bank, but I'm also adept at web work as well.
- tim333 11y ago
  Dunno but jasonkester has a blog with some info http://www.expatsoftware.com/articles/ http://www.expatsoftware.com/articles/
Swizec 11y ago
> That's what you're buying with all this "Entrepreneuring". The ability to replace your old income with a new one that doesn't necessarily require you to work full time for it. Time is the limited resource, not money. You can always get more money, but you can never get more time. Many (most?) people forget that.
- brahmwg 11y ago
  Cue the reference to the "time vs money for happiness" thread that was on HN a while ago. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10860517 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10860517
BenjaminTodd 11y ago
Quick aside - all the figures in the paper are per hour earnings figures.
dharma1 11y ago
Good stuff. I'm looking at doing something similar. Is your current gig your own product? Is it profitable or investor funded?
bsbechtel 11y ago
I would add to that that, if you are the sole owner of a business, once that business generates enough cash to live on, the excess earnings gives you much more financial flexibility and options than a venture backed startup would. Typically, the founders have to wait 3-5 years before getting any money out of the business in a venture backed startup, but if you are the sole owner, you can choose to keep 100% of your earnings for your own personal pleasure, reinvest 100% of your earnings at your current rate of return (generally 1.5-2x for young companies), or choose somewhere in between. I think a lot of young entrepreneurs don't realize how valuable that flexibility really is, especially once you get married and have kids.

culturestate 11y ago

> That's what you're buying with all this "Entrepreneuring". The ability to replace your old income with a new one that doesn't necessarily require you to work full time for it. I cannot possibly agree more strongly with this. While I still have an internal fire that wants to put a couple more commas in my bank balance, the ability to experience life however and whenever you want to is, once found, not easily let go. My wife (a teacher) and I live abroad, and the nature of her work means she has effectively ~90 days of paid vacation (not including weekends) each year. I'm not certain what our life would be like if I were still an executive, but I'm sure that our relationship wouldn't be as strong without the shared experiences that come from being able to take advantage of that time in a meaningful way.

votr 11y ago

This is my goal. Do you have suggestions on how to get started? Experience and skills-wise, I have no problems. I currently build low-latency trading systems for a bank, but I'm also adept at web work as well.

tim333 11y ago
Dunno but jasonkester has a blog with some info http://www.expatsoftware.com/articles/ http://www.expatsoftware.com/articles/

Swizec 11y ago

> That's what you're buying with all this "Entrepreneuring". The ability to replace your old income with a new one that doesn't necessarily require you to work full time for it. Time is the limited resource, not money. You can always get more money, but you can never get more time. Many (most?) people forget that.

brahmwg 11y ago
Cue the reference to the "time vs money for happiness" thread that was on HN a while ago. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10860517 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10860517

BenjaminTodd 11y ago

Quick aside - all the figures in the paper are per hour earnings figures.

dharma1 11y ago

Good stuff. I'm looking at doing something similar. Is your current gig your own product? Is it profitable or investor funded?

bsbechtel 11y ago

I would add to that that, if you are the sole owner of a business, once that business generates enough cash to live on, the excess earnings gives you much more financial flexibility and options than a venture backed startup would. Typically, the founders have to wait 3-5 years before getting any money out of the business in a venture backed startup, but if you are the sole owner, you can choose to keep 100% of your earnings for your own personal pleasure, reinvest 100% of your earnings at your current rate of return (generally 1.5-2x for young companies), or choose somewhere in between. I think a lot of young entrepreneurs don't realize how valuable that flexibility really is, especially once you get married and have kids.