I've been full time, self employed for 12+ years, starting when 2 years into university.
In that time I've started up several businesses. Freelancing, contracting, consulting, products. Some have gone further than others. Some had business model limitations (finding people), others had limitations of my interest.
One thing: All made money. Why? I was too young to get credit. The only way I got to do what I loved was to find a way for it to make money, sustainably.
12 years later, what do I have to show? Money made. Money spent. Worked hard. Lived Hard. Partied hard. There was no middle, only extremes.
In getting there, I starved and managed my last x dollars more times than I count. Little by little, I rid myself of desire for almost all material, social and other desires.
What hurts me to say the most is this. This suffering was avoidable in many ways looking back.
Software startups have two main challenges. First learning business in general, and two, learning what they are made of as people.
The only thing I needed to develop in my self is maintaining a high work ethic (avoiding burnout) and developing a focused pursuit of finding and doing the right things.
That doesn't require playing all-in hold em poker with your life.
Here's the thing: The act of building a business that doesn't make money itself, seems to me, to be a violation of what a business is meant to do -- make money.
If we as creative, creating, innovators expect to sustainably create for a long time, we have to do this for the long haul. Right now, the culture seems to be give it your all or get out of the way. The best financial successes rarely have done it like this, though. Apple bootstrapped. Microsoft bootstrapped.
If I have to love what I do, I have to spend time enjoying it and loving it.
Being absorbed to the point where my body, energy, relationships all suffer is akin to saying I'll hold my breath long enough until I reach other side of the pool while under water. How many drown, how many don't?
How much innovative energy and people have been sacrificed to find the fraction of a fraction?
How much innovation has been lost where it's needed?
Here's my challenge, can we lay down our egos, our need for glory and making a success "worth it all", to start solving problems that pay for our time to give us the real freedom to pursue the big ideas without suffering?
For me, the quality of my relationships is my wealth. I became broke because of startups. No time, making, or creating memories.
Now I'm taking it back and launching a few ideas a year as products. They make money, growing slowly. I know the idea that I'm to give my all to will come on my path as long as I keep my work ethic up, keep a focused pursuit of recognizing what I need.
Until then, living for a living is as important as startups.
In that time I've started up several businesses. Freelancing, contracting, consulting, products. Some have gone further than others. Some had business model limitations (finding people), others had limitations of my interest.
One thing: All made money. Why? I was too young to get credit. The only way I got to do what I loved was to find a way for it to make money, sustainably.
12 years later, what do I have to show? Money made. Money spent. Worked hard. Lived Hard. Partied hard. There was no middle, only extremes.
In getting there, I starved and managed my last x dollars more times than I count. Little by little, I rid myself of desire for almost all material, social and other desires.
What hurts me to say the most is this. This suffering was avoidable in many ways looking back.
Software startups have two main challenges. First learning business in general, and two, learning what they are made of as people.
The only thing I needed to develop in my self is maintaining a high work ethic (avoiding burnout) and developing a focused pursuit of finding and doing the right things.
That doesn't require playing all-in hold em poker with your life.
Here's the thing: The act of building a business that doesn't make money itself, seems to me, to be a violation of what a business is meant to do -- make money.
If we as creative, creating, innovators expect to sustainably create for a long time, we have to do this for the long haul. Right now, the culture seems to be give it your all or get out of the way. The best financial successes rarely have done it like this, though. Apple bootstrapped. Microsoft bootstrapped.
If I have to love what I do, I have to spend time enjoying it and loving it.
Being absorbed to the point where my body, energy, relationships all suffer is akin to saying I'll hold my breath long enough until I reach other side of the pool while under water. How many drown, how many don't?
How much innovative energy and people have been sacrificed to find the fraction of a fraction?
How much innovation has been lost where it's needed?
Here's my challenge, can we lay down our egos, our need for glory and making a success "worth it all", to start solving problems that pay for our time to give us the real freedom to pursue the big ideas without suffering?
For me, the quality of my relationships is my wealth. I became broke because of startups. No time, making, or creating memories.
Now I'm taking it back and launching a few ideas a year as products. They make money, growing slowly. I know the idea that I'm to give my all to will come on my path as long as I keep my work ethic up, keep a focused pursuit of recognizing what I need.
Until then, living for a living is as important as startups.