
Lifestyle programming - FollowSteph3
http://successfulsoftware.net/2013/11/06/lifestyle-programming/
======
yesimahuman
Strange that this dropped off the page so quickly, I think it's an interesting
post.

I'd like to add that it's quite possible to have a high growth company that
does not take on institutional investment. My company is neither a Lifestyle
business (I also hate that term, I think it's an awesome thing) or a VC-backed
startup, but we have lots of users and are making really nice revenue.

The costs have gone down so much, that I think the reason people still think
fundraising is required is because they can't afford to live or hire in SF
without it, and there is a lot of pressure by successful investors for young
founders to make the "big" bets.

My goal is to have an id software, 37signals, MailChimp, Atlassian, GitHub,
Campaign Monitor, etc. kind of company. Now _those_ companies are/were fucking
cool. Plus, they've actually stuck around for more than a few years!

~~~
hermitcrab
Lifestyle business, micropreneur, microisv, indie. None of them are great
terms. I am still waiting for someone to come up with a better term for what I
do.

~~~
patja
I've always been fond of the label "living the dream."

~~~
Sheepshow
Sounds completely unobtainable. Lifestyle at least sounds like a choice that a
person could make, and have control over.

~~~
vinceguidry
Most of the people I know who use that phrase are being somewhat sarcastic.
Most notably the helicopter pilot from Germany I knew who was getting paid
absolute shit because until you make a certain number of flight hours, your
options are extremely limited and you have to take a second job to make ends
meet. Every time I said, "What's up?", he said "Living the dream, man!" then
proceed to complain about all the shit he has to put up with. He loves flying,
but the "dream" is anything but.

~~~
Sheepshow
Poe's law strikes again!

------
dbecker
For those interested in this path, it's worth checking out Rob Walling's book
"Start Small, Stay Small: A Developer's Guide to Launching a Startup."

I found this book especially insightful.

~~~
handzhiev
Ditto, great book. Rob's blog is also full of interesting stuff.
(softwarebyrob.com)

~~~
QuasiAlon
and the podcast startupsfortherestofus.com

FollowSteph3 reminds me a little of Mike from the podcast. While Rob Walling
realizes he needs to hire freelancers etc. in order to sustain the business
and make it work in a reasonable time frame, Mike took a few solid years to
bring in other people. He wanted to do it all by itself. I've been listening
to the podcast for a few years and you can see how Rob built one solid
business and just launched another one in the same time frame Mike barely did
one.

~~~
FollowSteph3
I wouldn't say barely did one ;)
[http://www.followsteph.com/2013/08/07/landlordmax-2012-2013-...](http://www.followsteph.com/2013/08/07/landlordmax-2012-2013-fiscal-
year-10-year-anniversary-and-a-10th-record-year/)

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disdev
Nice write up.

I wonder if this is something that's more common with certain life
circumstances.

For example... I'm married and have 2 kids. I had a corporate job for the
first 10 years of my marriage. I traveled a ton and completely missed out on
their lives. When I changed jobs, it was a bit of a shock for all of us.

Now, we recognize that it's not what we want anymore. I work for a small
software company that is ridiculously low-stress, but even now I wish I could
spend more time with my family and be a little more free to take off and go
camping with the kids if we felt like it.

------
gdonelli
AMEN: “A man is a success if he gets up in the morning and gets to bed at
night, and in between he does what he wants to do.” ― Bob Dylan

------
clauschr
Totally agree - it's a great lifestyle. +1: It works for me too - have been
doing it for 7 years now.

~~~
codeboost
Could you share a bit more information about how well it works for you ? Are
you making an income comparable with a 'decent' corporate job (eg. 100K + a
year) ?

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CmonDev
"But really, how much money do you need? Is money going to make you happy? How
many meals can you eat in a day? How many cars can you drive?"

House and decent education for kids is a major expense.

~~~
justinsteele
Most families manage with combined incomes less than senior software
engineers. How big does the house need to be?

~~~
_random_
Their kids typically don't get a decent education. Give me a location in a
developed capital and a price bracket.

~~~
alextingle
Get yourself a proper country.

------
Symbol
Are there places where "birds of a feather" congregate? Forums, lists, etc?
I'm excited to tap the wisdom of others as I get my business off the ground.

~~~
hermitcrab
Two free forums populated mainly by people bootstrapping their own businesses:

[http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm/](http://discuss.bootstrapped.fm/)
[http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/?biz](http://discuss.joelonsoftware.com/?biz)

~~~
jpendry
The bootstrapped.fm link makes me wonder what other wonderful sites the HN
population visits, but that I have no clue about.

~~~
lucaspiller
Snap. I've been looking into doing something like this for the past few
months, and this is the first of heard of this and lifestyle.io. Guess I
wasn't looking hard enough :)

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exo_duz
So true. Reading posts like these makes me believe more and more what I
decided to do by leaving a full time job and working for myself and what makes
me happy the right decision.

I have only just started and am about to release my first startup so I'm not
at that level yet. I'm hoping to get there someday though.

------
pcunite
Wow, there are other people like me? I've been doing this for ten years full
time. We should all get together or something. Maybe help each other out. I'll
be making a move to a different type of programming or going back into the
work force because my software is pirated so much these days.

~~~
driverdan
Bootstrapped / friends and family only funded companies are the majority. You
just don't hear about them much because they don't make for good headlines.

------
th3byrdm4n
Working from home my employer's work has been drying up and I've been bouncing
between building my own software or getting a "real job"... Your article (and
software) has inspired me to do my own thing.

At least until the next article convinces me to learn more under someone
else's time ;)

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kvinnako
I also like this idea but it just seems difficult to get the business started
and making enough money to compensate yourself. Just to be sure, I don't mean
working from home for elance comes under lifestyle business.

~~~
graeme
Don't set the bar too high at first. Just aim to make "some money, greater
than zero". If it's money you no longer actively have to work for, then
congrats, you've got an income stream!

Do it again, and again, and you'll find that 1. You're getting closer to
supporting yourself from it 2. You get a better idea of how to do it again,
faster, cheaper

------
QuasiAlon
All the power to you brother.

Do you miss the human interaction one gets at the office?

~~~
hermitcrab
Not really. When I work, I work. And I get to spend a lot more time with my
family than I would otherwise. I have plenty of interaction with customers via
email, skype etc. Also I hang out online with other entrepreneurs, who are
generally very helpful and supportive. Its not quite the same as face-to-face
interaction. And I guess I don't meet as many new people as I would working in
an office. But I don't have to put up with people I don't like and I certainly
don't miss office politics!

If you are very extrovert, it might not be for you. But how many extrovert
programmers do you know? ;0)

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michaelochurch
What's utterly missing in the current environment is an avenue for the mid-
risk/mid-growth businesses to get financing. Low-risk/low-growth companies can
get bank loans, and high-risk companies have VC, but nothing's in the middle.

Something that reliably grows 25% per year isn't slow, ineffective, or
useless. Most people would be thrilled to see 25% annual income growth (or
even 10%). It is, after all, exponential growth. But that's a space that no
one will finance. These companies are too risky for bank loans or personal
funds (for most people) but VCs aren't interested in 20-40 percent per year.
What I'd like to see out of the crowdfunding trend is a viable method of
financing the mid-growth/mid-risk space.

This space is a natural fit for top programmers, most of whom succeed by
continuously growing their capability (measured in value-add potential) by 20
to 40 percent per year-- not being goofy and trendy and hoping to be noticed
by Sequoia or TechCrunch, which will probably never happen.

Here are some earlier thoughts I had on this issue:
[http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2013/03/26/gervais-
macle...](http://michaelochurch.wordpress.com/2013/03/26/gervais-
macleod-17-building-the-future-and-financing-lifestyle-businesses/)

