
How do YOU survive during tough times? - rrtigga
This is to startup entrepreneurs living with high rent in the Bay Area especially SF.<p>Do you sell cereal, freelance on the side, couchsurf? How do you stay afloat?
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jasonkester
This is the wrong question. A better question is "would 'tough times' affect
you at all?"

Never couple spending to income. That's a recipe for always feeling poor.
Instead, find a baseline where you can live and make sure that it lies at such
a tiny fraction of your normal income that you never need to think about
thinks like "budgeting" or "saving".

So if you're fresh out of school with your first $50k/year job, make sure you
can fit your entire life into $20k/year.

When you take that $120k/year job a few years later, live on $20k/year.

When you crack the $300k/year barrier with your RSUs from Google, live on
$20k/year.

That is how I've always approached things, and it makes life a lot less
stressful (since it removes the number one worry that everybody else has from
the equation). There were several years when I was traveling and consulting
where I'd only take one little $10k gig a year (or nothing at all), and there
was never a question of running out of money because it naturally went out the
door so slowly.

If you do what everybody else does and ramp your lifestyle up to meet your
income, you're just ensuring that you'll be in trouble if things go south. But
once you have a dozen years of accidentally saving (n-20) per year, you can
survive for years at a time with no income at all, so bumps in the road don't
feel bumpy at all.

Fix that and you'll stop needing to ask questions like this one.

~~~
lobe
The problem with that argument is that not everyone is OK with living a bare
minimum cost of living life style. Also rewarding yourself for earning more
can give you motivation to progress further.

I recommend fixing your spending at a %-age of your post tax income at a
maximum. For me it is 50%, but that is on the conservative side for most
people. I don't always spend 50%, but that is the max. I feel it is a good
compromise between preparing for the future and rewarding yourself in the
present

~~~
jasonkester
$20K was just an example. You can fix your acceptable living costs at
$50k/year if you like, so long as you know that that will always be a tiny
fraction of your income, regardless of how life evolves. The important thing
is to not set it to a percent of your current income.

Keep them decoupled. That's the important thing.

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tiredwired
Get a job at a lame startup with lots of processes and code reviews - things
that leave you with a lot of free time waiting for others to approve the
minutiae. The more designers they have the better - especially if they work
remote. That company will fail horribly but, you will have the time and funds
to work on your project.

~~~
rrtigga
Omg this is quite an answer. Wish I could meet you lol

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cylinder
If you're building a company in SF without OPM (Other People's Money), you are
making a big mistake.

~~~
benbristow
Why use an acronym if you need to explain it anyway? You've essentially just
added an extra word.

~~~
NetStrikeForce
So next time she/he uses it there won't be need to clarify. Well, it will
probably have to be repeated many times until it catches on, but I would say
that's the idea :-)

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zachlatta
Easy answer: leave SF and get to a lower rent situation if you truly cannot
afford rent.

When I wanted to cut down costs, I built some software to take advantage of
referral programs from startups and used that to get free food for a few
months. But if I found myself in a situation where I truly feared my ability
to pay rent, I'd start contracting and look into moving elsewhere.

~~~
ge96
Curious what you meant by:

>I built some software to take advantage of referral programs from startups
and used that to get free food for a few months.

~~~
zachlatta
A bunch of food delivery startups have referral programs for first time users.
There are some ways to get lots of referrals using software :-).

~~~
ge96
Oh like creating a bunch of new emails or whatever?

Proxy... I know if you're smart you can take advantage of things, like for
instance me not being smart, my credit cards fucked me, but smart people on
the other hand, they sign up for credit cards and can make money off of it.
Like $600/mo through all those signup bonuses or whatever.

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eswat
If I didn’t prepare a buffer before reaching a point where I had to think
about “staying afloat” then I’d just be more aggressive in taking on contract
work (I’m a consultant but favour my discretionary time over filling every day
with work). I’d pause my main project until I had a buffer again or do the new
work around my project.

That aggressiveness comes from reaching out to my existing network more,
stretching that network to more people and also removing things that
compromise in the contract work search (bonus if they’re also sapping money).
So things like Netflix, eating out regularly, or anything else that’s
definitely a Want but not a Need, are put on pause as well.

But this would be a lot easier if a buffer was created first so you wouldn’t
reach this situation in the first place. Or if you did then you’re prepared
better for weathering it out. You build a buffer to help you financially and
also mentally: build up a war chest with either savings or investment money
and do things that make you uncomfortable while you have the room to do so, so
they don’t make a mess of you later.

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imauld
How long have the tough times been going on and how much longer do they look
to continue? If this is a rough patch, getting a second job, selling some
belongings or renting out an extra room/space could be feasible (even renting
out your apt and staying in the office if you have one).

If the tough times look to be continuing indefinitely they aren't tough times
they are life and you have made some bad decisions about where you could
afford to live..

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ww520
Join a company that pays good salary. Save up enough to have a cushion for the
startup's tough time.

Startup is high risk business.

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usgroup
i forward project my buffer (savings) to 2 years to cover living relatively
modestly. I think it's important to not feel desperate to take whatever the
next thing is.

I fish for contract work when it's available and try to generate passive
income where possible. If you're living on $20k, the 3-4K you get from your
asset portfolio goes a long way.

If I had no assets at all, I wouldn't be willing to enter the start up game .
I'd look to ratchet up the ladder to a bigger buffer first then role the dice.

If I had to ... I'd consider taking s part-time job doing whatever and finding
a living situation that the part time job could afford (e.g. Sharing an
apartment uncomfortably). I'd spend the rest of the time on my start up or
trying to ratchet up a better living situation.

What's that saying about logistics winning wars?

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chrisseaton
> sell cereal

Huh? Breakfast cereal? Is this something people do in SF to earn money on the
side? Or is it a joke I don't get?

~~~
swalsh
It's a part of the story with AirBnB

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newscracker
Mods, please add the "Ask HN" prefix for this one. It's not a link to another
site/article.

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newsat13
Not joking: Get your spouse to sponsor your startup. Give them some ownership
of the company.

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ruler88
Freelance, or live in a car + buy gym membership to shower.

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evadne
Access to a locale with a vastly cheaper cost of living.

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babesh
Go back to school by taking advantage of student loans.

