
How to Pursue a Side Hustle or Startup While Working Full Time - benryon
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-07-31/how-to-pursue-a-side-hustle-or-startup-while-working-full-time
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lifeisstillgood
Most commonly is working a side hustle _without ensuring your employer does
not have some IP or other contract mechanism_ to cause problems later.

One suspects that an awful lot of open source contributions are in such grey
areas

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malux85
Just don't tell them.

I told my employer and all my work colleages I had a really boring hobby,
Chemistry (something I am actually interested in)

Then bang on about it every chance you can get. Go into elaborate detail about
the most boring parts. After a few weeks people will learn to leave you alone.

Make sure you always have an answer for "what are you doing tonight", "what
are you doing this weekend" be super excited about it, but make sure it's
really boring.

Then when it's time to leave tell them you're going travelling around Europe
and you have no idea what job you will do next.

Launch your product, and never work the 9-5 again (it's a new type of work
now)

That's what I did.

I know people are gonna say "Thats risky", "You could get sued" etc etc etc
... but you know what? Life is risky, and if you dont have the guts, my answer
to you is that this is the least of your problems running a startup : maybe
you should stay in that 9-5

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thecleaner
If you don't use company euqipment could you still get into trouble ? Like
let's assume I don't even the gitlab/github page of the project. Will that
also cause problems ?

~~~
rst
Answers to that depend on state employment law -- California has an explicit
proviso that employment contracts _can 't_ claim certain work the employee did
on their own time, with their own stuff. But most states don't, and even
California's provision has limits -- IIRC, the project has to be unrelated to
the business, and what's unrelated to Google's business these days? Or
Amazon's?

I've gotten explicit waivers from my employer for unrelated projects, which
hasn't been a problem. But people who just don't tell the boss run the risk of
legal action if they find out about it by other means -- so, at the very
least, I'd suggest a chat with a lawyer well-versed in your state's employment
laws before working on any side project of potential commercial value, with
your employment paperwork in hand (especially the Intellectual Property
assignment contracts, or their equivalent), so you have some concrete idea
what risks you're running.

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thecleaner
Is there a tool or something to check this ? Like for example what language to
look out for in employment contracts ?

~~~
rst
If anything, what you'd be looking for is the _absence_ of language
restricting claims to work done using the employer's facilities -- but
whatever's there really needs to be read in context of the whole agreement,
and the applicable state law. There's no phrase search yet that can substitute
for a lawyer with relevant knowledge.

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nickgrosvenor
I have a side hustle, www.cinegrain.com which has been very beneficial for my
regular job, lots of lessons learned from each that apply to the other. I
would strongly recommend anyone start a side hustle instead of a video game
habit, or taking up golf.

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conductr
In 2030, the normal entry level office job will require 4 year degree, MBA
from prestigious school, and minimum of 3 side hustles relevant to the job
opening. Contributors to open source software preferred.

Pay? $15 per hour. Unadjusted.

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hobo_mark
> <redacted>, 31, a social media specialist at Etsy, works from 10 a.m. to 6
> p.m.

For my education, what does such a figure do eight hours a day?

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claudiulodro
It's definitely not the job for me, but there is at least a full day's work in
social media management:

\- Responding to customers/inquiries

\- Promoting new features, successful user stories, etc.

\- Writing and scheduling social media content across multiple platforms:
Instagram, FB, Twitter, and anywhere else the company has a social media
presence.

\- Analyzing social media metrics (engagement, etc.) across post
themes/times/etc.

\- Managing aforementioned social media automation and analysis tools.

\- Most social media these days has a pay-to-boost component, and needs
optimal purchasing and boosting of posts based on metrics.

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adamnemecek
It's impossible. You'll make little progress, very slowly. You'll be very
tired and frustrated. If you have an idea, quit your job and do it full-time.
How many hours a day do you really have after work? 3? And these are the worst
hours of the day, say between 7pm-10pm.

~~~
herenorthere
This isn't a yes or no situation, there's a grey area in between. Just because
you had a bad experience doesn't mean that this is "impossible" for everyone.
You comment is loaded with so many opinions and assumptions, you do realize
that people live like, separate, different, and unique lives right? and that
they might have different experiences than you?

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adamnemecek
On a small scale, everything is unique. On a large scale, everything is
repetitive. Yes, if you have a full time job with a commute, you'll make
little progress. 10 hrs a week is very little. And again, these are terrible
hours. It's 3 hrs after work + weekends. It means literally not doing anything
besides this. How long can you sustain this? Your main job will be occupying
most of your attention anyway.

On HN, and such, people call everything a side project due to fear of
criticism. If you say "it's a side project", and people criticize it, you can
say "it's just a side project".

Statements like "everything is unique" are very obfuscatory. How am I supposed
to make any decisions? Yes, certain parameters might be different but a
universal truth accounts for this.

Instead of posting platitudes, post a rebuttal. Post a counter-example.

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sokoloff
If 7-10 PM are terrible hours for you, consider using 5-8 AM as the hours for
your side project.

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adamnemecek
I tried. I can't get up at 5am and be productive.

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camillomiller
This entire culture described in this article is so fucking wrong on so many
levels it’s disgusting. The cultural gap between American and European work
ethics has never been as wide as today. Instead of fighting for better welfare
policies and a fairer system, the answer is inevitably “hustle more”. Shame on
all this bullshit.

~~~
claudiulodro
I do it because it's a more rewarding and more difficult "game" than video
games, not because e.g. I need it to cover health insurance costs. It's like a
game with unlimited possibilities that encompasses technology, research, the
real world, society, creativity, etc. to me. I do acknowledge that it's
definitely a different situation for the person Ubering in the evenings to
help cover their bills, though.

~~~
aaronblohowiak
100%. I believe we should have universal healthcare and stronger safety net
because it will let more people play the game.

