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What inspires me is fear. Fear that I'm stuck in a dead-end job that won't give me any options or marketable skills. That I won't be able to pay for my childr

by phugoid 12y ago

What inspires me is fear. Fear that I'm stuck in a dead-end job that won't give me any options or marketable skills. That I won't be able to pay for my children's education, that I'll be a burden to them when I retire. And most of all, the fear that if I get hit by a bus today I leave them with nothing. That drives me to work harder, keep improving my skills and stay on the lookout for projects that will make me valuable on the developer market and maybe bring in revenue.

joeyspn 12y ago
Resonates here... the fear of reaching the last years of my life and look backwards to see that my existence didn't have a purpose, a meaning...
Sakes 12y ago
I'm in a similar boat. Mine is driven by an eccentric fear of how the economy is changing and assumptions of what it will look like in 10 - 20 years, coupled with a pessimistic view of human nature (but not people, just the way non reflective people behave). I'm trying to financially secure my son's future.
notduncansmith 12y ago
As much as I'd like to chalk my motivation up to ambition, I'm just as scared as you are. That's what keeps me working on products in my (limited) free time. We'll make it though.
mackraken 12y ago
Spend the money on a good term life & a disability insurance policy. You'll sleep better.
LukeFitzpatrick 12y ago
For all the guys that are stuck on inspiration, try reading Sam Altman's series on: http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec10/ http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec10/ I personally use this as a way to brainstorm new ideas on marketing for my projects. This is a piece I wrote on Quora, covers 20 startup topics with links to articles. It's a basic summary of what I leant from the business side of startups: http://www.quora.com/What-should-you-do-if-you-want-to-be-an-entrepreneur-but-have-no-background-in-business/answer/Luke-Fitzpatrick-2?__snids__=825019213&__nsrc__=1&__filter__=all http://www.quora.com/What-should-you-do-if-you-want-to-be-an... I'm focussed on trying to make a successful startup. I think it really helped when my daughter (7 months old) was born, kind of pushed me to work away from my shitty day job. My site will be ready in 1-2 months, if you're any good at UI/UX PM me and keep in touch, and maybe we could do a trade, you could have a look at my design, and I can teach you the marketing side - and, more importantly why I did things this way.

by phugoid 12y ago

joeyspn 12y ago

Resonates here... the fear of reaching the last years of my life and look backwards to see that my existence didn't have a purpose, a meaning...

Sakes 12y ago

I'm in a similar boat. Mine is driven by an eccentric fear of how the economy is changing and assumptions of what it will look like in 10 - 20 years, coupled with a pessimistic view of human nature (but not people, just the way non reflective people behave). I'm trying to financially secure my son's future.

notduncansmith 12y ago

As much as I'd like to chalk my motivation up to ambition, I'm just as scared as you are. That's what keeps me working on products in my (limited) free time. We'll make it though.

mackraken 12y ago

Spend the money on a good term life & a disability insurance policy. You'll sleep better.

LukeFitzpatrick 12y ago

For all the guys that are stuck on inspiration, try reading Sam Altman's series on: http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec10/ http://startupclass.samaltman.com/courses/lec10/ I personally use this as a way to brainstorm new ideas on marketing for my projects. This is a piece I wrote on Quora, covers 20 startup topics with links to articles. It's a basic summary of what I leant from the business side of startups: http://www.quora.com/What-should-you-do-if-you-want-to-be-an-entrepreneur-but-have-no-background-in-business/answer/Luke-Fitzpatrick-2?__snids__=825019213&__nsrc__=1&__filter__=all http://www.quora.com/What-should-you-do-if-you-want-to-be-an... I'm focussed on trying to make a successful startup. I think it really helped when my daughter (7 months old) was born, kind of pushed me to work away from my shitty day job. My site will be ready in 1-2 months, if you're any good at UI/UX PM me and keep in touch, and maybe we could do a trade, you could have a look at my design, and I can teach you the marketing side - and, more importantly why I did things this way.