A part-time job as a viable option to continue creating
While that's the goal, I can't make a project in a vacuum for the pure joy of building. And you know why.
Money is not less important than the air. But once I set breathing as a goal, I forget about building. I lose joy and stop doing things for their own sake.
And what happens? Nothing. While it might work for you, it works poorly for me.
And the problem is getting more challenging since I don't believe in "build the best thing you can and they will come" or "the universe will find the way to pay you back". There is no guarantee in the world for anything. You can work for 73 years on your dream project and still don't make a penny out of it.
There should be an answer. And the answer is not "money is a bad thing" or "I am tired of capitalism, and it sucks". This bullshit can only lead to nowhere. Money and capitalism are neither bad nor good. That's what we have.
What's the answer to the question of how I can build for the pure joy of building and don't think about breathing?
Everybody has their answer. But my options are:
- Put on an oxygen mask for a while.
- Find an area with a lot of oxygen. But it probably will be crowded, and I am not ready to fight.
- Find a niche, a small place that nobody is looking for, but that has enough oxygen for 10 or 20 people.
- Buy an oxygen bank and recharge it periodically.
- Build an oxygen-producing machine, whatever that means.
Or a combination of the options.
I need peace of mind on the financial side. I burnt a lot of money in the past year and have to refill it.
I had many propositions from friends to return to the full-time job with good benefits, but I am not sure that today it will help me progress. Once the project I am building reaches stability regarding features, development, and acquiring new customers, I can easily support it while working full-time.
My current option is to work part-time to refill my oxygen bank, so I can explore low oxygen areas without the potential risk of dying.
I'm in the very same boat my friend. My experience has beens o similar. I started building my own thing while I had a job, and I had to learn so much along the way.
Jobs are just not for me. I would rather get paid less than take a full time job with benefits, it's so strange and I can't even help the way I feel.
So every year or so, I take a job at some startup, stay in it for a few months or a year to refill my savings and then get back to what I'm doing. I teach music production and I've been lucky that it actually paid the bills for a few years. But I was never able to get it to. sustain that level of income.
We all need a reboot sometimes, and we also need financial stability. I can't even tell you the levels of stress I've been through not knowing if I'll be able to pay the rent. But that's the life we chose. Good luck to you and to everyone!
Thanks for sharing. Your story resonates with me.
Is it hard to find a job repeatedly when having many hops in a CV?
Not if you frame it in the right way. My own side business and experience takes up the biggest part in my resume. And when I get asked about it, I frame it in a way that is actually an advantage to the company I'm applying for.
I explain to them that having my own thing is better for them because it gives me extra dimension in my work and it gives me the opportunity to be more creative and test things that otherwise could not.
I tell them that to get ahead and beat the competition sometimes you need to take risks, and that's what I did when I started my own thing.
So once you frame it in a way that makes it an advantage for them to have you, it makes them more interested in you.
Thanks for sharing 🙏
I'm currently working on Squeaky full time, but most of the history of the project it was built around my day job. I think it's more conducive to doing great work, as you can take more risks whilst also not forgetting quality. It only only works if you have a good validation strategy though, and don't get too into the details. I still regularly hear of people who have spent 6 months building their project around their day jobs and not shown it to anyone, that's a recipe for disaster!
Go back to work, fill up your oxygen tank and keep it topping up in the background, then get back to doing what you're interested in, there's no shame in that!
Thanks, Chris, for your advice.
Having financial peace of mind boosts creativity for some and, for some, destroys it.