

Ask HN: Full Time Job + Startup. HOW?? - quizbiz

I've been working on a startup ever since January and things were moving rather quickly through the school year. But ever since starting with a paying internship, things have been in a stall. I can't get any serious work done.
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jamesbritt
It's tough. Best advice I've heard, and which works for me when I can apply
it, is to pick a set time of day and religiously devote it to your start-up.

I know some comic artists with day jobs, and pretty much every one of them
gets up way early and gets drawing before going off to work. If they try to
leave it until later life just butts in and it never happens.

Part of this is realizing that you'll have to do without certain things. You
will not be able to watch every movie, every TV show, every spots event, etc.
you might like to because there just isn't time. (And if not entertainment,
then other things.)

It's a sacrifice, it's work, it's hard. If you can, try to arrange your
project so that you hit useful, appreciable milestones fairly often. Divide
your goals into small, manageable tasks. If you can see progress you'll find
more motivation to continue.

And give regular updates here on HN so we can cheer you on.

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burgernmayo
Thanks for this tip about doing it before rather than after work

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jamesbritt
If that works for you.

Some find it better to do stuff late at night. But a common theme I hear is to
be consistent, make it a habit.

Chances are you'll _want_ to do it, but the more automatic you can make it the
less likely you are to skip out or find excuses ("reasons", they say) to not
stick to a plan.

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dstein
Don't kid yourself. Side projects can be done in your spare time. But a true
startup will require full time dedication.

~~~
glimcat
Many good companies start out as side projects that grew to the point of
crowding out the full-time job. The odds of it happening are lower than if
your startup is your full-time job - which already gives low odds - but it's
much higher odds than if you're not working the side projects.

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rick888
I think it's better to save enough money for 6 months to a year, and then
quit. This is what I did.

When you work a regular job, it's very difficult to switch your thought
process from work to startup. Not to mention the fact that you will pretty
much have no free time left over (which I need to be healthy and happy).

I tried to do both..and it just didn't work for me.

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darylteo
I'm in the same boat. Graduated last year, started on my project 3 months ago,
and I've barely just got a working prototype up now.

You just have to bite the bullet... work 9 to 5. Then get home, and work some
more. Then work weekends.

I've tried several strategies to get myself to be more productive

\- block reddit and HN (didn't last long).

\- block out all external distractions;use headphones, loud music of choice.
For music, try to stick to ambient stuff (classical, techno, things without
lyrics). I find that songs with lyrics distracts my train of thought as well.

\- have a good environment to work. If you're comfortable you'll fall into the
zone a lot easier. Although, if you want to change it up a little, try and
find a local coworking meetup group.

\- anytime you are not working, be thinking of your business. Your startup has
to be your life and soul if you want to go all the way. e.g. when you're
showering, sitting on the toilet, commuting, walking or having lunch, before
you sleep. On the way home you should be thinking about what you want to
accomplish tonight, and aim towards that as soon as you get back.

\- talk to people about it. If you're talking to people and they're not
convinced, that means: a) your idea sucks and you're deluding yourself, b)
your idea may have potential, but you are not confident about it enough to be
able to convince other people, or c) your idea is great, but other people
don't see it <\-- this rarely ever happens. But ultimately, by talking to
people, you face objections. Objections are the number 1 crucial factor in
selling; you cannot sell someone a product if they don't tell you what they're
worried about. So talking to people lets you build up a portfolio of
objections that you can counter with solutions, and you'll grow more confident
with your idea. More confidence = more enthusiasm and productivity.

Sure your work is going to take a hit... but if you're already working on
being self-sufficient, I doubt your job is the last thing you're worried
about. (Here I am writing Access VBAs, and Excel macros...)

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theitgirl
I am in a similar situation. The start up bug bit me in May. I had several
ideas. I picked the one I thought would be easiest.

I thought I would get my beta version out by now but it's been hard. Some
changes that I have made that have helped me:

\- I do not work more than 40 hours at my work anymore..even if it feels like
it's the end of the world. Surprisingly, this has made me more focused at
work. I do the same amount of work in a shorter amout of time.

\- As other hackers have mentioned, I set up a scheduled time to work on my
start-up. Initally, I began with working on the weekends but I was too
distracted by other fun things that I could be doing. The times that work best
for me are during lunch breaks and before/after work during weekdays.

\- I made it clear to my husband that I will be busy during the weekdays but
free over the weekends. This way he had no major expections of me over the
weekdays. I think getting him Starcraft 2 also helped :P (j/k)

\- I wanted to read books about how to start a business, google analytics,
etc..I pretty much paid fines to the library without going though a chapter.
Then I discovered audio books. I listen to them on my drive to work. I
finished 4-hour work week in 2-2 weeks and am onto to another one.

Lessons learned for the future:

\- Don't spend too much time designing the site...just get a template that has
worked for others.

\- Don't have deadlines at the end of the summer. I noticed that I am more
busy over the weekends in the summer.

\- Don't venture into new technologies if you already have skills that you can
do with.

Sometimes, you just have to do both. You'll figure out the way that works best
for you. Hang in there.

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staunch
_"If startup failure were a disease, the CDC would be issuing bulletins
warning people to avoid day jobs."_ \--
<http://www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html>

This quote matches my personal experience as well as the experience of
friends. If you _really_ want to do a startup then do everything you can to
work on it full time. Nothing will improve your odds more.

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keeptrying
Yeah its tough. Try to at least validate the market your going after. Ie get
10 people to say they will buy your product without actually coding it or
coding very little of it.

IF you can do this then you can quit and start it fulltime.

Yes this is much harder than it sounds but by doing so you would have de-
risked your business as much as you can by doing it part-time.

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PonyGumbo
I've been working nights and weekends on a project since December, and will be
launching within the next two weeks. I know it's a cliche, but you just have
to make time. It's like exercise - sometimes you have to wake up at 6am to get
three miles in.

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petervandijck
Most tips are about working harder.

One thing that can make all the difference is to work less. Cut features
ruthlessly. Spend less time on things. Cut down to the bone of what's
important to prove your concept, not all the other stuff.

~~~
polyfractal
In the same vein, perhaps hire one of those "virtual assistants" to help you
with all the mindless little things that creep into life (making reservations,
data entry, etc). Probably money well spent if time is your limiting factor.

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fezzl
I'm not exactly sure that you're ready to do the startup thing, with behavior
like taking up an internship.

~~~
jarrettcoggin
Maybe I'm just not understanding your comment fully, but how does this apply
to his/her situation?

People need money to live (ESPECIALLY after college), which usually entails
getting a job, and an internship can be a good way to get your foot in the
door (it's how I did it). It's common knowledge that it can be at least a year
before a startup reaches ramen-profitable. There are multiple companies that
the founders were doing other work while hashing out the idea for the startup.

So, again, how does your comment apply?

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donnaware
ya gotta "burn the boats". I have done several side projects and could not
keep up. while you are working 20hrs/wk or maybe 40 if you are a super hero,
someone else somewhere is working on a competitive project full time and
spending probably 3 times as much time as you. so they win.

