4 ms·
I’ve started a couple businesses on the side. First one, took the leap to full time after a year of very long hours. Second one, took the leap after 6 years (!)
by sigil 6y ago
I’ve started a couple businesses on the side. First one, took the leap to full time after a year of very long hours. Second one, took the leap after 6 years (!) of less intense work on the side.
In the second case I negotiated a 4 day work week. That helped me stay sane, but the one day on / six days off cadence made it hard to build momentum.
Putting in a little work on the side every day, as other commenters suggest, is probably the way to go. But it’s a different (and to me less rewarding) kind of work that can be done in small increments. Probably not deep work. Choose your business idea and responsibilities accordingly! And be patient.
- asdev 6y agoYeah I really feel like I need at least 1.5 hours to get in the deep critical thinking zone, where I can start really doing meaningful work. However, it's hard to find the time to do that
- sigil 6y agoIndeed. Consider whether you might be able to validate the idea without writing code, by outsourcing dev, or building your mvp with low-code / no-code. By validate I mean (1) people will part with real $ for something that's a pretty basic mvp, and (2) there's also a reasonable possibility of it paying your bills. At that point, take the leap (it's always a leap!), roll up your sleeves, and allow yourself to do the deep work to make it successful. If you see early indicators of a successful side business, don't wait too long to leap!