
Ask HN: Have you started a business because nobody wanted to hire you? - ccdev
Also, how did that turn out? Did your business become profitable to the point where it replaced the need to look for a job?<p>I&#x27;m curious if you&#x27;ve ever been driven to start a business simply you had little or no alternative choice for making a living.<p>The business could be any kind of legitimate enterprise big or small. Doesn&#x27;t need to necessarily be software or tech related, could be something from more traditional trades or disciplines.
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ryanjmo
I’m trying to find a job right now and it isn’t going well. I have my PhD in
computer science and I’ve run my own bootstraped company before and took it to
over a million in profit for a couple years. I want to find a job as a
engineering manager or something similar, but the feedback I’m getting is I
don’t have enough corporate experience for that type of job, because I’ve just
been doing my own thing for so long. I could find a job as a programmer, but I
really don’t want to. After running my own company, I just like management
better. And I know I wouldn’t enjoy programming for someone else for 8 hours a
day.

So, I’m currently starting a tech business, but it is just going to take a bit
to get started and it may not work. So in the mean time, I’m going to work on
starting a plumbing company. I live in an affluent community and I think I can
get the plumbing business to $400k-$500 a year, with just myself and a van.
I’m going to just hire a plumber to take calls with me until I get comfortable
going on calls on my own. I apprenticed this fall with a plumber; I like the
work way more than programming and got an idea of how much I could expect to
make. Which is way more than I could make programming for someone.

Thinking back on it, as my PhD was finishing up, I was having trouble finding
a job, which was one of the things that pushed me to start my own thing
anyway.

So I guess not being able to find a job and starting my own thing is something
I have done a few times now. It is way more motivating to start something when
you have no other good choice.

~~~
Aromasin
I've been incredibly tempted to do an electricians apprenticeship, so it's
cool to hear someone from an academic background that's actually done
something similar and gone into a trade. My study was Electrical and
Electronic Engineering so I imagine the career swap would be trivial, but it's
a large time investment.

How did you find the time to do it? To become a licensed electrician in the UK
apparently takes about 4 years, and I'd earn pittance until qualifying so
that's the only thing stopping me currently. I assume plumber would be as
similarly stringent.

~~~
LastManStanding
I had a roommate who had both and EE degree and was a licensed electrician. He
could get a high paying job with just a phone interview. All the more amazing
because he was a felon who served five years for drug smuggling and would
reveal that in the interview right off the bat.

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ham_sandwich
A famous anecdote along these lines are the whatsapp founders.

I haven’t done so personally yet but it’s starting to look like I might
consider this route.

Several years ago, I would have leaned toward a SaaS business targeting some
super niche vertical, not to make 1000x VC style rocket-ship returns of
course, but as a way to bootstrap into a nice business. I get the sense most
verticals with a TAM worth going after are now very competitive.

Interested to see if people see opportunities in non-tech routes.

~~~
alehul
Another famous anecdote would be Elon Musk, who tried to get a job at Netscape
in the '90s and failed [1], and claims that he created his first company
because he couldn't get a job at any existing internet companies.

[1] [https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/18/how-elon-musk-tried-to-
get-a...](https://www.cnbc.com/2018/06/18/how-elon-musk-tried-to-get-a-job-at-
netscape-in-the-1990s.html)

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dazc
I worked in construction for 20 years. I thought I was doing the right thing
by going back to college to advance my career but it didn't work out like
that.

I only got half-way on my route to becoming a surveyor since I simply could
not afford the time away from work. So I found myself in a situation where I
was better qualified than my boss but not so well qualified that there were
many alternatives other than looking for similar work elsewhere.

By then, at the age of 40, I was, in the eyes of potential employers, over
qualified for the roles I was applying for or just too old. So I gave up.

After a spell of unemployment while tinkering around with different ideas I
fell into web development and started earning a bit of money. I figured I may
as well pursue this since there wasn't anyone around at the time to tell me
not to. After struggling for a few years I got to the stage where I was
earning as much as I was in my previous career so stuck with it.

Some years later I have a lifestyle business that enables me to travel
whenever and wherever I like and work whatever hours I want to (within
reason). I don't earn a huge amount of money but I do earn enough to live on
and save for my retirement.

I'm reasonably happy with the way things worked out.

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superflit
I did.

It was 2012. I was kind of 33.000 USD in debt, wife pregnant with the first
baby.

Trying to interview at significant companies (Dell, HP, Atlassian, etc.) none
was given me nothing.

One friend of mine who had access to the HR feedback said I was too confident
and I should try to appear less skilled as the manager was kind of afraid.

The situation was so bad I had a google spreadsheet with places I sent resume,
results and etc. Kinda my personal job analytics.

(checked the spreadsheet now...that was depressing)

No money, no jobs, a kid on the way and wife declared:

\--- "It is very disappointing having to pay the bills for you."

Then I got one call from a person willing to do consulting, they had some
problems with their billing system.

Solved the problem and watched them work thinking about how I can help them
more. I saw two employees matching online payments with the billing system.

That struck me... The whole process was old and archaic and prone to errors.
So I propose to them do a payment processor.

They had that idea before, and another specialist told it will cost 300K and 1
year to make it, so they are not sure about all that investment.

Well, I offered: 1\. I do for you in 2 months; 2\. I want X% of payments 3\.
If I fail, you don't pay anything; 4\. Honesty

Now we are on the 3 years going strong, and I think I will expand it more. I
am not rich but I can pay some bills, and my customers are pleased.

Six months ago I asked my customer: "When was the last time you had a billing
or payment problem?"

And he really paused and realized that it was long ago.

Got my Cheque and sent a cake to their team. Win-WIn

Tl-Dr; Being a loser is a TEMPORARY stage keep fighting and looking for
opportunities to serve and help your customers make more money.

~~~
jobapplsk
> One friend of mine who had access to the HR feedback said I was too
> confident and I should try to appear less skilled as the manager was kind of
> afraid.

I just got reject from an interview even though I passed multiple technical
interviews. I was more annoyed because they found people more junior to
interview me (the job was to be their team lead). The third interviewer was
asking such a simple question, I didn’t even understand what he was asking for
10 minutes until I realise I was over thinking it (it was a poorly formulated
question that wasn’t well thought out). It was a question I didn’t expect
because at my level, they shouldn’t be asking those questions. I would have
expected that question for a boot camp graduate. So I already knew, their
level was below par. And the interviewer felt so smart for stumping me.
Needless to say, I wasn’t disappointed when they rejected me, but more
relieved I dodged a bullet.

~~~
superflit
" And the interviewer felt so smart for stumping me. Needless to say, I wasn’t
disappointed when they rejected me, but more relieved I dodged a bullet."

I got 3 interviews like that. On the last one when I openned the door and
there was two guys looking at their hipchat channels talking about our
interview in the middle of the interview it was clear it was a fail.

I try no to blame others so I can be more on charge of my destiny.

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darrenwestall
Absolutely. I wanted to move away from the technical side of business as I
really enjoy the commercial aspects too, but once you’re a CTO, it’s very hard
(and unusual) to become a CEO in an established business.

Now I get to do a bit of everything I enjoy.

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thisisrajat
Realizing the amount of value you can create as a programmer working for a
company is an eye-opener.

I've worked at a startup making millions of dollar in revenue every quarter.
Realized that I was just making someone else rich and got paid in pennies.
Quit the job and took the plunge.

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charlie0
I'm starting my own software consulting business. I only have about 1.5 years
of experience (full time), mainly self taught. I just recently started to go
look for clients and realizing that after learning programming, now I have to
learn sales, lol.

~~~
hluska
If cold calling scares you, but you feel like you have to do it, feel free to
reach out. My email is in my profile and I’d be glad to help you work on a
script. You can even practice on me if you want.

Good luck! Sales can be a lot of fun and your programming mind will help you
figure out a good sales system.

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chrisbennet
I started consulting. Now it would be really hard to go back to doing a single
aspect when as a consultant, I get to do many (GUI/computer
vision/graphics/embedded).

~~~
anitil
What sort of customers? That's a similar set of skills to me, but I am
struggling to see a path to consulting.

~~~
chrisbennet
Small companies and a couple of big ones.

The golf ball vision project was a small company, like 6 people. Another
vision one is for a tiny medical startup. The laser product was for a large
company. I’d worked for the director like 10 years earlier. The radar graphics
is for a medium (50?) sized company.

3drocketsurgery.com

I get the gigs mostly through friends.

~~~
anitil
Interesting, thanks

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avichalp
I am thinking about it a lot lately. I have worked with a high growth startup
(outside SV) for 2 years. And another year with a SV based but slightly less
growth startup in early stage. Last year I emigrated to EU for a new job.
After few months I din't like the job. I stared looking for a new job and I am
getting lowball offers from everywhere. I am thinking if it makes more sense
to start my own business instead of finding that perfect job.

