
Ask HN: Where do you work on your side-hustle? - misterbowfinger
I live &amp; work in Chicago, and for the past year or so I&#x27;ve been working on my side-hustle when I get home from work. But, getting focused at home is a real struggle and I&#x27;m looking into other options.<p>Does anyone else have advice? I&#x27;ve thought about bringing my personal laptop to work and then working on my side-hustle after work hours, but I&#x27;m worried about the legal implications. There&#x27;s no way my day job has business conflicts with my side hustle, but I&#x27;m worried if there&#x27;s still some potential IP that I give up by working in my office.
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segmondy
Home, you need to make your office at home. WORK ONLY. You can't surf the net
and game in the same space. Once you sit down in this space, it should be work
only. You should preferable have a work only system. You must physically and
mentally separate work and play. Some people don't need this but most of us
do.

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Kagerjay
You can get some coworking space for about $100 a month, at least in my city,
for 7-8 days a month visitation

Big franchises like panera bread, McDonalds _in nicer neighborhoods_ ,
starbucks come to mind. Bookstores, coffee shops, local library, etc. Some
local independent restaurants are okay if you get to know the owner and if its
not as busy, and you get food there. Drink shops / bar areas that have board
games are good too. If you have friends that have coworking spaces / their
company workspace, its not a conflict of interest on your end. Some gyms have
some desks you can work at as well

If you have a local university or college there's plenty of empty classrooms
sometimes openly available and never opened. If you need a legitimate reason
to go on campus _(and aren 't an alumni)_, you can buy a gym membership there

If you don't need public wifi just use your internet, any place with seating
is okay.

Hotel lounges, but you won't get internet access though, but if your tethering
it won't matter. Depends how much work you are doing. Bigger chains are
better, they don't care nearly as much. So long as you don't look like a
homeless bum your good here.

I would also include golf and country clubs along with hotels, since they are
resorts too.

Additional locations are makerspaces, but that might be only at certain times
of the day. Checkout your local science center or any local museums, do a wifi
scouting and seating availability.

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misterbowfinger
Yeah I'm starting to think that I have to get a coworking space. There are
some libraries and stuff, but they don't seem consistent.

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itamarst
You can negotiate a shorter workweek, to free up more time; here's someone who
hasn't been working full time for years:
[https://codewithoutrules.com/2018/01/08/part-time-
programmer...](https://codewithoutrules.com/2018/01/08/part-time-programmer/)

~~~
misterbowfinger
Yeah, possibly...

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deepaksurti
If you are an early morning person, get up,early. Work on your side hustle for
say 1-2 hours focused. Then go to work.

Fix regular schedule will further assist in building momentum and simple next
baby step for the hustle.

And no, don’t do anything personal in work place. Separation of concerns and
peace of mind are waaay more important.

Wishing you success.

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DerekQ
Coffee shops, preferably big brand shops like Starbucks where no one cares if
you buy one drink and occupy a table for 2 hours. Do a little research into
the various coffee shops in your city and you'll find that certain ones have
secluded upstairs areas that are perfect for working.

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cik
I work on them during work hours - on my own gear, as I desire, just never in
the office. I used to feel bad about it - I don't.

The reality is that in tech, we work all sorts of hours, all over the place,
on all sorts of things. Part of the trade off is recognizing that whilst I
happily have a rather long work-week, it doesn't mean that I need to _ALWAYS_
give the best hours of the day to the corporation (and it's my corporation).

I also find that it benefits my company. I frequently bring in ideas from the
things I've been experimenting with to work. We actually rely on several of
them now.

tl;dr it's the time of day that matters a lot more than the environment.

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protonimitate
If you are not using the phone for anything business related, libraries make a
good work space. If you live in a city with a university, check to see if
their libraries are open to the public. Most are open longer than public
libraries and have better environments (although public libraries can be great
too)

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myatz
Having a desk in a co-working space helps a lot, you'll get the mental switch
and can keep your work desk setnup so that you're ready and inspired to work
as soon as you walk in. I personally can't do coffee shops for long. They're
amazing for doing one-off work tasks, sending emails and can help if you feel
like just being out every once in a while, but I like knowing I have a setup
ready in a dedicated space when I have to do more serious work.

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nikk1
College libraries are sometimes open to the public. They're usually a bit
nicer than regular libraries. My favorite place to go is a local coffee shop.

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partisan
Don't work in your office for all of the obvious reasons. Go anywhere else.
Try different coffee shops around your office or home neighborhood. I think
that a coffee shop provides the right level of distraction for doing work when
your brain is tired after working a long day.

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iNate2000
Library

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Random_Person
My bed. I'm mostly a hermit when left to my own devices and I have absolutely
no problem being productive at home... so, in my bed with my laptop and some
background noise and I'm all set.

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chad_strategic
Part of the fun of a side hustle is doing it at your day job.

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troycarlson
Sometimes I'll get up really early and put in a quality hour or two at a
coffee shop before starting my 9-5.

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adriansky
I go to Starbucks to work on my side projects

