

Unnecessary Monsters - Ways Bootstrapping could be made easier - sunils34
http://blog.sunil.is/post/34247472333/unnecessary-monsters

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patio11
A lot of these are mitigated if you're a "self-employed consultant" who just
happens to have one particular client which indefinitely defers invoices. (I
use this _very_ frequently in Japan, which makes Tulsa look like Silicon
Valley in terms of tolerating novel employment options.)

~~~
spitfire
I don't quite follow you here. Can you explain this more explicitly for me
Patrick?

~~~
patio11
Landlord: "I need to see your last two paystubs."

Me: "I am a self-employed consultant, so my income doesn't come with a pay
stub. Would running my credit or a letter of reference from the bank be
acceptable as an alternative?"

or

Wife's Family: "What is it you do exactly?"

Me: "Well-regarded software companies in Tokyo, the US, and Europe pay me to
advise them on selling more software."

WF: "But you're not working right now. Are you... Between employers?"

Me: "... In general, I have a lot of flexibility in how I arrange my affairs,
and I thought I'd rather come to a family outing than work today."

or

Government Official: "What is your employment?"

Me: "I'm a self-employed engineering consultant as attested to by this blue
folder of official forms issued by the last 32 departments I had this
discussion with."

GO: "That isn't permitted under..."

Me: "3rd page."

GO: " _reads_ But your taxes..."

Me: "Starts on 5th page, continues through 9th, previous years are in the next
pocket."

GO: "So things are pretty much in order?"

Me: "Well, 32 offices say yes, and who am I, one little voice with no
authority to override all of their decisions simultaneously, to say
otherwise."

GO: "Ok, we're done."

Me: "Can I get your stamp on this certificate? I think you'll find it costs
200 yen."

~~~
spitfire
I see your point.

I was thinking more in a softer sense, where that might not work. Around here
people are /very/ conservative 17% retirement population, 20%+ work for govt,
a large chunk of the rest for large govt owned businesses (crown corporations)

~~~
mechanical_fish
You could try telling people that you build software for the government. All
it takes is one contributed bugfix to the right open-source project and you'll
be telling the truth.

If they ask for details just tell 'em. E.g.: "Well, [federal website X] is
built on an infrastructure that was assembled by a big team of developers from
around the world, and I'm one of them."

~~~
spitfire
I have a better solution. sell to and deal with people who care about getting
things done, rather than "who" you are. Problem solved.

------
tsukiyake
> Most entrepreneurs have similar beginnings: They do well in grade school, go
> to a great college in which they do well, get a great job, quit that job,
> and try to start something on their own. When they start something, it’s the
> first time in their lives that they stray from the beaten path.

Really? I'm kind of surprised to find this in an article supposedly about
bootstrapping. I mean, if you live in SV and you worked at Google and saved up
for a few years and now you're "bootstrapping" a start-up, you actually
already _have_ an angel investor: yourself.

I did horribly in grade school (spent all my time on the internet instead of
studying), went to a crappy college, dropped out (spent all my time dicking
around with coding projects instead of studying), got a string of horrible
jobs (the majority of which were minimum-wage and didn't even marginally
involve technology -- O, to live in the US, let alone SV), and now I'm trying
to start a start-up because it's the only thing I feel any sense of engagement
toward.

I'm "bootstrapping" in the sense that I highly doubt anyone would ever invest
in me. No cofounders, no "workspace", just me, my laptop, an EC2 micro
instance, and some combination of {Erlang, HTML5, Objective-C, Stripe}. Wish
me luck.

------
scott_meade
Purchasing your own insurance is the easiest way to ensure continuity of
coverage and ensure you are not choosing your life's work based on the
inconvenience of changing medical coverage plans.

