Making the leap
michael m
A little about me first, I'm currently a Java programmer at a small
tech company in the northwest. I primarily work on distributed
applications and have had just a small amount of web development
experience, nothing professional, mostly as side projects. But I've
got an idea for a web application which I believe will do fairly well
and generate enough revenue for a company of one or two people, maybe
half a dozen if I'm really optimistic.
It's my first foray into Rails, and I've got most of the features
working, but still needs quite a bit of polishing and most likely a
good once over by a real look-n-feel person. I'm also worried about
security since I'll be handling credit cards and other sensitive
personal data.
All this, added to having to create a company, perform customer
support, continue to grow the features, marketing, and the loads of
other things I haven't thought of yet...is there any hope that one
person can pull this off while still working at my current job ( with
hopes of going it alone when I'm sure it can fly ), and giving time to
my family, with very little up front costs. I've been reading quite a
bit about bootstrapping lately, but to really make the time has been
very difficult.
Any advice? Or do I just need to dig in and make it happen?!?
Benjamin Curtis
Here's some advice: You'll need a good helping of patience and
endurance.
I've worked on a few startup ideas in my spare time, the most recent
being Catch the Best, and I can say that the good news is that you
can do it. The bad news is that it will take much more work and time
than you originally think it will, even after you get the app
working. Since you'll have small and intermittent blocks of time to
do all those things besides building the app, such as support,
marketing, legal and accounting issues, etc., it will simply take a
while to get those things done. Be patient with it, though, and keep
executing your plan, and you'll win eventually (or find something
else more interesting to do).
Since you mentioned family, I'll make a comment about that. I too,
have a family, and you have to realize you will be spending a
significant amount of time on this side project, and since you
probably won't be working on it at work, you will be taking time away
from your family/hobby/personal play time. There's no getting around
it. You are choosing to give some of that up, and you are asking
your family to give some of that up, so do consider how much of your
time you and they can afford to give up. In my situation, my family
is very supportive and accepting of how much time my face is buried
in the laptop, and that has been critical to my being able to pursue
projects like these.
Good luck!
--
Benjamin Curtis
Founder, Catch the Best
http://catchthebest.com/
http://www.bencurtis.com/ -- personal blog
Ryan Richards
Also dont forget to start doing SEO and search engine work EARLY. Work-of-mouth is a powerful way to get your site noticed but search index rankings are critical. You may have a ton of hits when you launch but what counts is RETURNING traffic over the long-term. Some of the well-mentioned web2.0 sites don't make consistent money. I firmly believe thats because many have not done the seo work required (not including the sites that have no functional use). Ive seen many cool sites that I now use but I did not find them from search engines but by just wondering past the site one of the web2.0 directories (which is also a great place to advertise your site when its up).
I left a lead j2ee job at a big 3 consulting firm to go freelance with rubyonrails. I make less money now but wouldn't trade it for the world. :)
Ryan
Joe OBrien
training company, not a product company. We have gone from 3 to 10+ in
less than 12 months and things are continuing to grow. It's been fun,
but very time-consuming.
I wanted to mainly chime in on the family part. Something that has
taken a year for me to figure out how to balance. I would not have
been able to do any of it, had it not been for my wife's full
support. I have three kids, all of whom I love spending time with, so
figuring out a way to balance it all has been very tricky. Up front
though, my wife and I knew this would not be your typical job. It
helped that I used to travel and now do not, but it has still been an
adjustment.
This of course might not apply to everyone, but it's finally starting
to work for me. Make sure to schedule time for the family. Schedule
it just like you do anything else, an accounting appointment, a
feature release, etc... I have finally become realistic about the
time constraints I'm going to be under. Instead of striving for a 50
hour week every week and disappointing everyone when I work 80, I just
admit that it's going to be 70-80 and work around that. I try to be
creative about it. Come home after work at 5:30, have dinner and play
with the kids (no laptop in sight) and then go back to work. Or they
know that on Tuesdays and Thursdays I'm completely gone (note, these
are all just examples). Even better is the 'family night' that my
four year old looks forward to. I'm not allowed to open the computer
once I step foot inside the house until the next day. This helps even
out the weekend time that I do leave for it.
You also need to keep your sanity in mind. As Ben said above (or
below depending on your reader), you are giving up everything,
including free time. Time with your family (whether it's playing
blocks in the floor for an hour, or having dinner with your wife) can
be a release, just make sure to include it in.
Taking time from the family (at least for me) also used to mean a lot
of guilt. When I schedule time away to work and everyone knows about
it, it helps tremendously. I can admit that I love what I do, and
want to spend time doing it.
I've never worked harder in my life, but have never enjoyed myself
more either.
Good luck, and keep us posted on how it goes.
- Joe
Joe O'Brien
theedgecase.com
objo.com
On Sep 11, 4:35 pm, "Ryan Richards" <abstractr...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi, I have been working for startups doing rails for the last year and also
> try to inch my way on my own projects as I can. You have to make it happen.
> If you wait for the perfect time to do it, well...it never will :) Benjamin
> also made some very good points about family. My wife and kids have been
> very understanding but there have been times when its been a challenge.
> There are many days I work 20 hours straight. Sometimes thats for the
> primary projects for clients. The startup environment can be very demanding
> but it has put me in the mindset of whats actually required to launch a
> site.
>
> Also dont forget to start doing SEO and search engine work EARLY.
> Work-of-mouth is a powerful way to get your site noticed but search index
> rankings are critical. You may have a ton of hits when you launch but what
> counts is RETURNING traffic over the long-term. Some of the well-mentioned
> web2.0 sites don't make consistent money. I firmly believe thats because
> many have not done the seo work required (not including the sites that have
> no functional use). Ive seen many cool sites that I now use but I did not
> find them from search engines but by just wondering past the site one of the
> web2.0 directories (which is also a great place to advertise your site when
> its up).
>
> I left a lead j2ee job at a big 3 consulting firm to go freelance with
> rubyonrails. I make less money now but wouldn't trade it for the world. :)
>
> Ryan
>
> >http://www.bencurtis.com/-- personal blog
gadgetNate
work for a big company and have only dreams and no practical advice to
toss in. But I wanted to say that "side project" and "family" don't
necessarily have to be in conflict with each other. Find something
your family is interested in doing and do it together. It could be
something that pulls you all together in a new way.
I have one example that I read about and a personal example that I
can share with you. Last week I saw an article about http://www.kiva.org/.
The story as I understand it is the wife wanted to go to Africa and
learn about micro lending and the husband wanted to go to Silicon
Valley and be an internet entrepreneurial. After a few months of
living apart, with a lot of strain on their marriage (or at least I
imagine), they come up with the idea of using the internet to empower
microlending like www.prosper.com does for personal loans.
Now the personal example: I have been trying to learn Hindi for the
past 10+ years, but I could never commit myself to doing it everyday.
At the same time, I really wanted a side project that could eventually
turn into something. Well, I have three Hindi speakers that live with
me (wife, mother-in-law, father-in-law), and so there really was no
excuse not to learn. So, I decided to create a daily learn Hindi
podcast. I'm also trying to create some rails applications to help
people learning Hindi (quizes, teaching tools, directory of resources,
etc.). (http://www.ISpeakHindi.com).
So, I think family can be a real asset. The side venture could be
something to pull you all together in a new way. Won't work for
everyone or everything. But at least something to consider.
Nathan
> > >http://www.bencurtis.com/--personal blog
Chris Anderton
extremely well paid job at a Consultancy firm and setup a development
company in a similar vein to Joe. We've worked hard and been lucky and
grown from me to 3 - so not quite Joe's stellar growth but it shows
there's a range of success out there! I got home one day after years
of talking about it and announced i'd resigned!
Firstly, i spent years trying to get things going while still in
employment - but it was never enough and work commitments would often
get in the way of progress (pesky job!). I think there are two kinds
of people in the world (well, possibly more, but for the purpose of
this point, there are 2): those who talk about starting their own
business and those who do it. I got fed up with talking about it and
took the leap.
Secondly, about getting things perfect. Again, trying to get something
perfect before going ahead and doing something with it is another
hanging point. Look around, and you'll see that the people that make
megabucks don't wait for perfection, they go with what they've got and
aim for perfection at some point in the future (if at all!). It sucks
if you're a perfectionist, but sometimes you've just gotta do it. I
think the rush you get from getting something out there or progressed
will inspire you and reinvigorate you for the next phase of a project.
Third, the family front. I am really bad at this. I admit, i'm a
workaholic and haven't yet worked out how not to be. If my fiance and
pooch didn't remind me they were here then i would be sat at my desk
working - i'd eat there, sleep there and never move apart from client
meetings. This is bad and needs working on - there is a balance that
many people find, but i'm just not there yet. You need the support of
your partner before you take the leap and also once you've taken the
leap. I'd say this is key to success - without it the conflict that
would likely ensue would scupper any chance of success.
Fourth, use the community. I notice you say you're concerned about
handling credit cards, etc - if it's something you're not sure about
how it works then ask. Most of us will already have dealt with these
issues or be approaching them ourselves.
Fifth, define success. I think you also need to set some realistic
goals of what you want to achieve. Without these goals, how will you
know when you have succeeded? How will you know if you have failed?
I'd say this is another key point, as you need to have a contingency
plan for dealing with failure, and a reward plan for when you succeed!
I'm not talking over-engineered corporate mumbo jumbo here, just basic
bullets about what you want to achieve.
In summary, you need to make a choice - are you a talker or an action
man?
michael m
continued to forge ahead on the product (although progress is being
measured in millimeters, but progress it is), and I also used some
local resources by talking with a SCORE counselor. He gave me a ton
of info on the biz side, getting a license, ideas for a comprehensive
biz plan, creating a cash flow diagram to estimate inflow and outflow,
and a host of other topics. If any of you are looking for more
information about starting a business I'd highly recommend visiting
your local SCORE office, and it's free!