But, the real issue in working on something, for myself, that is engaging, and pushing back the "WTH are you wasting time on this for?". It's all very fleeting.
It's not like I have some other burning passion to work on instead, some "if you do this you'll make lots of money instead of those toys you make thing". I don't.
But, especially being older, it can be a trick at times to persevere, not say "F it" and fire up "distraction du jour" (HN, YT, video game, etc.).
My recent project, that I actually released, documentation, cross platform installers, and everything, took a year of calendar time (but not a year of effort, it was idle for some months). It felt good to get it out, put it in the hand of other (I think only one person has actually used it). But, that actually doesn't deter me (sure, I'd like folks to use things, that's why I finished the project to make it, ideally, easy to pick up).
But, still, there are those times when that hopelessness of "why bother" creeps in and takes the wind out of my sails.
I have the same problem. I see all these hackers out there making (something like) the millionth travel blog and sticking with it for years and somehow ending up making a decent income off of it. But I'm sitting here wondering if my potentially cool game idea that has never been done before is something that the world really needs, then I quit after about a week because of those thoughts.
Thanks, it helps to see that I'm not the only one struggling.
I've been building a business solo over the past year, reached 80% in late spring, ready to a closed invite launch and... lost all motivation. Between the fear of seeing savings go down without anything to show for it, the utterly demoralising job market during which it took 6+ months to get one solid freelance opportunity, and the constant nag that I am wasting my time and should just find a job like a normal person... meant that I completely lost steam, just staying afloat with a good freelance client, shelving the business idea for months.
Only a couple weeks ago, after seeing that my financial situation isn't getting better, and I still am allergic to a regular job, I managed to overcome the massive inertia and got back riding the wave of launching a business. I adore the freedom of working for myself, the challenge, but until I start seeing good money coming in, I'll always believe I am wasting my time and following fanciful ideas instead of just going back to trying to win the interview lottery and working for someone else on something I don't care about. It's hard.
>But, the real issue in working on something, for myself, that is engaging, and pushing back the "WTH are you wasting time on this for?". It's all very fleeting.
Similar for me. I'm generating and validating ideas at the moment, but it takes almost no time for me to convince myself an idea is rubbish, not worth exploring, or already done.
Same boat here. I've yet to find something that I feel warrants full attention. It's sort of opposite to the common SV "throw shit at the wall and see what sticks" attitude. Maybe I'm just too distractable and pessimistic.
Your scenario makes me think of The Lean Startup. It's a book but you can find podcasts, talks, etc. It's worth thoroughly understanding it as it makes it much harder to ship something people don't want, but also pushes you to engage with people earlier so you're co-building. I'm also older :P and this is the biggest idea to change my approach to this game.
I know how you feel. Persevering is a real challenge. It takes a huge amount of effort just to start work. It's easier when I get going. After getting something done, there's this feeling of accomplishment but also pointlessness and loneliness. I ask myself why I'm even writing this stuff. Will anyone care?
I suppose I should do a Show HN at some point and find out.
I feel like I would be more motivated if I were to work on something that helps people. Making money is fun at times, but (especially as a Christian) I can't ignore that voice that selfish gain is mostly meaningless.
My wife hit upon something that might be interesting to anyone reading this. I don't think any of the comments here directly put their finger upon it.
Some possibly unimportant background: my wife used to suffer from depression, but in the last 10 years that has subsided, mostly through self-guided philosophy and practical stuff. What remains is social anxiety and a life-long history of avoiding working for/with people. For reasons I won't go into she has a huge problem with authority figures, so early jobs with unfair or idiotic bosses lasted a "tableflip" amount of time. She's run a solo business for most of her adult life "to avoid dealing with people". The double-irony is:
1. There's almost no such thing as "working alone". A successful business requires interaction, and if you're solo, you need to do all of it.
2. She realized that without having to do something for someone she has zero motivation to do anything at all even though she loves what she actually does.
Without a client she thinks "why bother?". As soon as a client contacts her, off she goes like a bee. And even though she consciously realizes this, she has never found a way to trick her brain into doing work for herself. Sometimes I feel like faking a client just so she can work, because once she's going, her work is amazing and she loves what she does. She's even done free/low cost work for cash-strapped clients just so that she can work.
So what I'm saying is that she needs her work to matter to someone specific, but it doesn't matter who.
I thought she was nuts, but after 20+ years of working for various companies I took a 6 month break from work. I had all sorts of plans for things I'd hack on. I finished nothing, except for the raspberry pi arcade cabinet for my nephews.
We all know that startups need to get their product into customer hands. We think that the client's excellent feedback will knock the product into shape. But I think it might just be the fact that you have a customer who needs you to deliver. Having worked for a few early stages startups that had no clients yet, this effect is visible.
A crucial point the post misses is the distinction between motivation and discipline.
Ultimately it's easy to work on things when they are fun and exciting; but motivation will only last for so long... once that happens it's the discipline that needs to take over for you to keep progressing forward.
In our industry, it's also very easy for the undisciplined person to succeed. You get a new job, it's exciting and the problems are new and motivating. After a few years the shine wears off, it becomes boring, you understand all the problems and they start to seem tedious. You find it difficult to really engage. But fortunately, the demand for software developers is so great that you can easily find a new job, and the cycle repeats.
Discipline is another way of saying habit. If you have no motivation to workout but you have the discipline, it's because you've made it a habit. It doesn't help to make a distinction because discipline is not something that is separate from motivation.
You get motivation to do something, run on that motivation as long as you can and hope it lasted long enough to make it a habit.
It's investing in your future self while the going is good. Like, build that habit while you're motivated because it will go away and you'll be left with it as a habit.
I can have discipline, if I'm doing something for a purpose. Losing weight, getting a job, etc. My problem I always lose what the purpose of my solo project is. Or, I shoot so many holes in my own idea that I can't imagine it being useful to anyone.
>Working solo has its difficulties. For one, my income is somewhat tied to my productivity, and my productivity highly correlates to my state of mind.
Since going back to being primarily a maker after organizing my days around being a manager[1], and being an avid runner, I've redefined my relationship with "motivation" in a way that can be summed up succinctly by author Brad Stulberg: "You don't need to feel good to get going. You need to get going to feel good." I know that I am long-term very motivated, but day to day or hour to hour, "motivation" is a tricky word, because my energy and creativity waxes/wanes.
Agree with the author that structure is the most important thing for me to work around this. Even though makers dream of an open schedule, on the days where I'm off my usual routine, it's really tough to prioritize all the many things always on my plate. It's even tougher trying to decide to peel myself away from work to go for a run that I know will help me focus better after. Making the decision can be emotionally and mentally taxing, whereas if I rely on the default that I just go out for a run as soon as I wake up, the rest of the day just flows from that without the decision fatigue. Time-blocking or even just very simple structure like the OP has has been really effective for me. This includes a hard stop time each day even if it feels like I'm on a roll— my younger self would often borrow against my future energy, and that seemed to rarely work out in the medium-to-long term.
> This is combined with a lack of co-workers. Comrades in the trenches, if you will. And finally there's the ability to not do anything, which can be quite nebulous and dangerous if not managed.
For anyone who is a solo-creator struggling with this, "body-doubling" is a term from the ADHD/neurodivergent community that simply means "doing a task in the presence of another person". Surprisingly, they don't have to be working on the same task to help you feel like you have "comrades in the trenches". If you're interested, check out Flow Club in my bio.
You don’t think yourself in another emotional state, you act yourself into one (act as in you do stuff not act as in acting like an actor).
This is what I found combatting my social anxiety by approaching people on the street. Even after a decade of doing it, I am still as socially anxious as ever but simply giving some genuine compliments to a few fellow pedestrians loosens me up after half an hour (in Europe).
Good advice. Re: body doubling, I think I would benefit a lot from that, but I hate having a webcam turned on all day with strangers. Or even a microphone. I feel these body doubling apps focus too much on neurodivergent extroverts, and it's a damn shame.
Honestly, if I need strangers around, I'd rather work in a coffee shop, but ideally I just want something no more intrusive than an IRC chat to shoot the shit while the code is compiling.
Still crossing my fingers for body doubling that less intrusive.
After 10 years remote I’ve rented an office space to force myself to go in to work. If I don’t go then it feels like I’m wasting money. If I go and don’t work it feels like I’m wasting money. So far I’ve gone almost every day for the last 4 months and worked hard to justify the expense. I’ve done my best work because of it. Would recommend giving it a try.
> I'm not on traditional social media so don't have that eating away at my attention, but Hacker News is pretty good at derailing my day.
How relatable!
"
- Coffee and a walk with my partner
- Gym for about an hour
- Journal and write
- Work block 1 (about 3 hours)
- Lunch and chill
- Work block 2 (also about 3 hours)
"
> For one, my income is somewhat tied to my productivity, and my productivity highly correlates to my state of mind.
What it highly correlates to is your health - mental and physical. I have a friend / colleague who is a successful creator. YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. He does well. But the stress is endless.
Being solo, pardon the cliche, but he's like a rat in the social media platforms' wheel. There's no room for error (i.e., getting sick). Even his "vacations" are driven by what content he can create. The wheel never stops.
From time to time we chat about his "business model". To me it's not sustainable, or it is until it isn't, and then the bottom comes up fast. I've suggested he start to think of himself less as a recording artist and more as the record label. That is., to somehow try to figure out how to be less dependent on being the only rat running (for dear life) in the wheel. He agrees. But in no time at all, he's gotta get back on the wheel. There's no exit other than to shut down, which is no exit at all.
The focus is admirable. But it can also be blinding, and perhaps eventually unhealthy. For as successful as he is, I wouldn't trade places with him.
A youtuber I follow took a week off recently after several years and apologized a lot for it, even though his followers encouraged him to do it. He was frightened about loosing his user base
I absolutely love being a solo developer when I have the right client/gig. Unfortunately, finding those opportunities can be difficult.
I enjoy the cyclical development pattern where I spend a LOT of time - not quite gamedev crunch time, but occasionally close - building the first main production iteration. Then I get to relax a little and balance adding features and reducing debt. And finally I reach a maintenance and support phase which typically requires very little time and effort. That last phase is when you'll find me traveling, "living the good life".
But even during the early intensive phases, having the freedom and authority to decide what tools to use, where to physically work from, and even what time of day to work is of such value that the heavy workload is less painful than big company in-office alternative scenarios.
As for routine, exercise is indeed a big benefit and contributor toward success. Some office work situations have good workout opportunities, but many do not. And if the daily commute takes a lot of time, then exercise is one of the things that tends to get cut or squeezed down to a level where it doesn't provide much benefit.
I relate to this so hard. It can be really, really tough building software by yourself. I am planning on launching a much reduced version of something I have been working on soon just to get it out the door so I can iterate on it. Luckily I have a somewhat close friend who is doing the same thing who I can talk to about it.
Having a schedule helps, but sometimes I just sit down with the best of intentions, get brain fog and say fuck it and lose a day.
One of my best "tricks" is if I feel like I am facing a wall on something, to work on a different task, even perhaps a non coding one that I know I have to get done at some point.
I can't remember who said it recently during the SAG strike - but they're fed up with being called a "creator"; the corporate-invented term is tiresome, non-descriptive, and feels devaluing - emphasizing their output, not their craft or them as a person.
I think it’s interesting that the author has the following mindset about non-solo jobs: “You're going to work. The choice has been made. The structure around that work, and the underlying purpose are set by others and you just need to make it happen”.
This is not always the case. For example, I work in a midsized consulting firm at a fairly senior level. While I have a line manager, he’s only there to give me corporate news and policy. He not only doesn’t tell me what to do, he often doesn’t know what I’m doing.
What happens is there are a pool of account executives who I have grown to know over the years. We talk regularly, and if there is something I could work on (pre-sales or a project), we talk and figure if I’m a good fit and have bandwidth. Unless I have almost no work I can be choosy about what to work on. Yes, clients and the account guys can mold my deliverables, but I have a lot of sway in that as well.
This also lets me figure out my own hours, within constraints if engagements of course. Since I have kids in school, this gives me great flexibility to schedule work around family, instead of vice-versus.
So while what the author describes as regular jobs may be common, it is not the only model.
It may not be your boss/manager setting it, but your work structure is still being dictated by others (e.g. "within constraints if engagements of course").
You can put this to the test by just ceasing all work on your current projects, without telling anyone, and seeing what happens.
This is really enticing. Any chance you've written more about your career path somewhere? Or any other reading you would suggest to get a better sense of the work you do and how to seek it out?
Until you reached the level and experience you're at now, your jobs probably were more similar to what TFA describes. All those years leading up to where you are today probably had less freedom.
The problem is that many of us didn't have the fortune or wisdom to park in one company long enough to reach that high level. Or we did and got bored, and left for new challenges.
> I stay active on a Slack community of devs and creators in my country, as well as go to meet-ups and events in interesting communities
How does one find these supposed Slack groups and meetups? I live in a major metropolitan area, but the meetups I've been able to find have been underwhelming.
Check out if a university near you has a startup incubator / entrepreneurship program. They often have events, probably socialized most on their Instagram account. From expert talks, to hackathons - go to the next event. While there, tell the organizer what type of community you’re looking for, and ask if there is a group chat.
For example, I’m in a city, and there are at least 2 or 3 very active WhatsApp groups - a mix of tech devs, creative entrepreneurs (one of those groups has 800+ members). Every day - there are 2-3 events posted, talks, seminars, workshops, code jams, pitch workshops, digital marketing how-tos.
Idea: Co--working spaces often have a formal or informal group chat (often WhatsApp). You could take a tour and ask around.
Business incubators - Business incubators, often have a Slack channel (with channels like #dev, #design, #3d-printing). They often have a networking site where you can book free office hours with vetted experts / founders / engineers / executives / angel investors). The one I participate in has a Slack group containing 2,800 creative entrepreneurs, founders, investors, etc. At the co-working space, they host events, social mixers, etc. You’ll aways find some interesting people there. Find the group chat, get on it. Eventually you’ll get “dragged” into an interesting social group of startup / entrepreneurship / growth minded people. I jokingly say dragged, but what I mean is - if you go to an interesting talk on CNC routers, you’ll likely meet someone interesting there, they’ll tell you about a cool upcoming event, you book it - over time, you’re just spending more time per week with interesting people.
I know you just asked about WhatsApp groups, but I wanted to just share some of what I’ve learned, within 1 year of moving to a new city.
> When you're working solo, however, there isn't a specific thing you have to do. No pre-set route to take. If I decide to not do any work today, no-one will notice..
I believe the above statement is the single, most common denominator among all indie hackers (or, solopreneurs) and I have to admit that it is too challenging to master and get around it.
> I'm not on traditional social media so don't have that eating away at my attention, but Hacker News is pretty good at derailing my day. So is YouTube to a lesser extent.
My biggest problem is that yak shaving kills my motivation. I tend to choose tasks that will teach me something, so I don’t already know what will be entailed in building the thing. I do expect a certain amount of peripheral work, but when those peripheral tasks start getting deep and wide, it starts to feel like my goal is out of reach.
I recommend going to some meetups and meeting other solo founders/creators. I recently went to a Microconf meetup (https://microconf.com/) and met 30-40 other solo creators and had a blast.
Been working on my own, writing software since 2005. Currently having a bit of a motivation slump. But I'm sure I'll push through, the same as I've pushed through all the previous ones.
[+] [-] whartung|2 years ago|reply
But, the real issue in working on something, for myself, that is engaging, and pushing back the "WTH are you wasting time on this for?". It's all very fleeting.
It's not like I have some other burning passion to work on instead, some "if you do this you'll make lots of money instead of those toys you make thing". I don't.
But, especially being older, it can be a trick at times to persevere, not say "F it" and fire up "distraction du jour" (HN, YT, video game, etc.).
My recent project, that I actually released, documentation, cross platform installers, and everything, took a year of calendar time (but not a year of effort, it was idle for some months). It felt good to get it out, put it in the hand of other (I think only one person has actually used it). But, that actually doesn't deter me (sure, I'd like folks to use things, that's why I finished the project to make it, ideally, easy to pick up).
But, still, there are those times when that hopelessness of "why bother" creeps in and takes the wind out of my sails.
[+] [-] gagege|2 years ago|reply
What drives people?
[+] [-] sph|2 years ago|reply
I've been building a business solo over the past year, reached 80% in late spring, ready to a closed invite launch and... lost all motivation. Between the fear of seeing savings go down without anything to show for it, the utterly demoralising job market during which it took 6+ months to get one solid freelance opportunity, and the constant nag that I am wasting my time and should just find a job like a normal person... meant that I completely lost steam, just staying afloat with a good freelance client, shelving the business idea for months.
Only a couple weeks ago, after seeing that my financial situation isn't getting better, and I still am allergic to a regular job, I managed to overcome the massive inertia and got back riding the wave of launching a business. I adore the freedom of working for myself, the challenge, but until I start seeing good money coming in, I'll always believe I am wasting my time and following fanciful ideas instead of just going back to trying to win the interview lottery and working for someone else on something I don't care about. It's hard.
[+] [-] c7DJTLrn|2 years ago|reply
Similar for me. I'm generating and validating ideas at the moment, but it takes almost no time for me to convince myself an idea is rubbish, not worth exploring, or already done.
[+] [-] jddj|2 years ago|reply
You probably actually enjoyed it too, just not the whole time. That's fine, that's the treadmill.
[+] [-] packetlost|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ekanes|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] j7ake|2 years ago|reply
Loss of structure can be devastating to productive habits.
[+] [-] matheusmoreira|2 years ago|reply
I suppose I should do a Show HN at some point and find out.
[+] [-] soupfordummies|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] elwell|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] raffraffraff|2 years ago|reply
Some possibly unimportant background: my wife used to suffer from depression, but in the last 10 years that has subsided, mostly through self-guided philosophy and practical stuff. What remains is social anxiety and a life-long history of avoiding working for/with people. For reasons I won't go into she has a huge problem with authority figures, so early jobs with unfair or idiotic bosses lasted a "tableflip" amount of time. She's run a solo business for most of her adult life "to avoid dealing with people". The double-irony is:
1. There's almost no such thing as "working alone". A successful business requires interaction, and if you're solo, you need to do all of it.
2. She realized that without having to do something for someone she has zero motivation to do anything at all even though she loves what she actually does.
Without a client she thinks "why bother?". As soon as a client contacts her, off she goes like a bee. And even though she consciously realizes this, she has never found a way to trick her brain into doing work for herself. Sometimes I feel like faking a client just so she can work, because once she's going, her work is amazing and she loves what she does. She's even done free/low cost work for cash-strapped clients just so that she can work.
So what I'm saying is that she needs her work to matter to someone specific, but it doesn't matter who.
I thought she was nuts, but after 20+ years of working for various companies I took a 6 month break from work. I had all sorts of plans for things I'd hack on. I finished nothing, except for the raspberry pi arcade cabinet for my nephews.
We all know that startups need to get their product into customer hands. We think that the client's excellent feedback will knock the product into shape. But I think it might just be the fact that you have a customer who needs you to deliver. Having worked for a few early stages startups that had no clients yet, this effect is visible.
[+] [-] thewizardofaus|2 years ago|reply
Ultimately it's easy to work on things when they are fun and exciting; but motivation will only last for so long... once that happens it's the discipline that needs to take over for you to keep progressing forward.
[+] [-] SoftTalker|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] polishdude20|2 years ago|reply
You get motivation to do something, run on that motivation as long as you can and hope it lasted long enough to make it a habit.
It's investing in your future self while the going is good. Like, build that habit while you're motivated because it will go away and you'll be left with it as a habit.
[+] [-] gagege|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] c7DJTLrn|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dtran|2 years ago|reply
Since going back to being primarily a maker after organizing my days around being a manager[1], and being an avid runner, I've redefined my relationship with "motivation" in a way that can be summed up succinctly by author Brad Stulberg: "You don't need to feel good to get going. You need to get going to feel good." I know that I am long-term very motivated, but day to day or hour to hour, "motivation" is a tricky word, because my energy and creativity waxes/wanes.
Agree with the author that structure is the most important thing for me to work around this. Even though makers dream of an open schedule, on the days where I'm off my usual routine, it's really tough to prioritize all the many things always on my plate. It's even tougher trying to decide to peel myself away from work to go for a run that I know will help me focus better after. Making the decision can be emotionally and mentally taxing, whereas if I rely on the default that I just go out for a run as soon as I wake up, the rest of the day just flows from that without the decision fatigue. Time-blocking or even just very simple structure like the OP has has been really effective for me. This includes a hard stop time each day even if it feels like I'm on a roll— my younger self would often borrow against my future energy, and that seemed to rarely work out in the medium-to-long term.
> This is combined with a lack of co-workers. Comrades in the trenches, if you will. And finally there's the ability to not do anything, which can be quite nebulous and dangerous if not managed.
For anyone who is a solo-creator struggling with this, "body-doubling" is a term from the ADHD/neurodivergent community that simply means "doing a task in the presence of another person". Surprisingly, they don't have to be working on the same task to help you feel like you have "comrades in the trenches". If you're interested, check out Flow Club in my bio.
[1] http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html
[+] [-] mettamage|2 years ago|reply
This is what I found combatting my social anxiety by approaching people on the street. Even after a decade of doing it, I am still as socially anxious as ever but simply giving some genuine compliments to a few fellow pedestrians loosens me up after half an hour (in Europe).
[+] [-] sph|2 years ago|reply
Honestly, if I need strangers around, I'd rather work in a coffee shop, but ideally I just want something no more intrusive than an IRC chat to shoot the shit while the code is compiling.
Still crossing my fingers for body doubling that less intrusive.
[+] [-] mentalpiracy|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mentos|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] nuancebydefault|2 years ago|reply
How relatable!
" - Coffee and a walk with my partner - Gym for about an hour - Journal and write - Work block 1 (about 3 hours) - Lunch and chill - Work block 2 (also about 3 hours) "
That looks fantastic!
[+] [-] quickthrower2|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] raincole|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] chiefalchemist|2 years ago|reply
What it highly correlates to is your health - mental and physical. I have a friend / colleague who is a successful creator. YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. He does well. But the stress is endless.
Being solo, pardon the cliche, but he's like a rat in the social media platforms' wheel. There's no room for error (i.e., getting sick). Even his "vacations" are driven by what content he can create. The wheel never stops.
From time to time we chat about his "business model". To me it's not sustainable, or it is until it isn't, and then the bottom comes up fast. I've suggested he start to think of himself less as a recording artist and more as the record label. That is., to somehow try to figure out how to be less dependent on being the only rat running (for dear life) in the wheel. He agrees. But in no time at all, he's gotta get back on the wheel. There's no exit other than to shut down, which is no exit at all.
The focus is admirable. But it can also be blinding, and perhaps eventually unhealthy. For as successful as he is, I wouldn't trade places with him.
[+] [-] iquatemb|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] michaelteter|2 years ago|reply
I enjoy the cyclical development pattern where I spend a LOT of time - not quite gamedev crunch time, but occasionally close - building the first main production iteration. Then I get to relax a little and balance adding features and reducing debt. And finally I reach a maintenance and support phase which typically requires very little time and effort. That last phase is when you'll find me traveling, "living the good life".
But even during the early intensive phases, having the freedom and authority to decide what tools to use, where to physically work from, and even what time of day to work is of such value that the heavy workload is less painful than big company in-office alternative scenarios.
As for routine, exercise is indeed a big benefit and contributor toward success. Some office work situations have good workout opportunities, but many do not. And if the daily commute takes a lot of time, then exercise is one of the things that tends to get cut or squeezed down to a level where it doesn't provide much benefit.
[+] [-] dimmke|2 years ago|reply
Having a schedule helps, but sometimes I just sit down with the best of intentions, get brain fog and say fuck it and lose a day.
One of my best "tricks" is if I feel like I am facing a wall on something, to work on a different task, even perhaps a non coding one that I know I have to get done at some point.
[+] [-] KennyBlanken|2 years ago|reply
https://theaggie.org/2020/10/23/for-the-love-of-god-stop-cal...
https://www.reddit.com/r/unpopularopinion/comments/14sqoig/t...
https://braindoggies.medium.com/i-hate-being-a-content-creat...
[+] [-] tomaszs|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] bjornsing|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] gavinhoward|2 years ago|reply
My motivation is two-fold:
1. I am a perfectionist and can't leave things undone.
2. My creation work is my sanity preservation against my actual obligations.
Needless to say, my motivations won't apply to 99% of people.
Everyone is going to be different. Find your motivations, but don't assume they'll be the same as some viral blogger.
[+] [-] all2|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Scubabear68|2 years ago|reply
This is not always the case. For example, I work in a midsized consulting firm at a fairly senior level. While I have a line manager, he’s only there to give me corporate news and policy. He not only doesn’t tell me what to do, he often doesn’t know what I’m doing.
What happens is there are a pool of account executives who I have grown to know over the years. We talk regularly, and if there is something I could work on (pre-sales or a project), we talk and figure if I’m a good fit and have bandwidth. Unless I have almost no work I can be choosy about what to work on. Yes, clients and the account guys can mold my deliverables, but I have a lot of sway in that as well.
This also lets me figure out my own hours, within constraints if engagements of course. Since I have kids in school, this gives me great flexibility to schedule work around family, instead of vice-versus.
So while what the author describes as regular jobs may be common, it is not the only model.
[+] [-] k1ns|2 years ago|reply
You can put this to the test by just ceasing all work on your current projects, without telling anyone, and seeing what happens.
[+] [-] ttymck|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] michaelteter|2 years ago|reply
The problem is that many of us didn't have the fortune or wisdom to park in one company long enough to reach that high level. Or we did and got bored, and left for new challenges.
[+] [-] dmitrybrant|2 years ago|reply
How does one find these supposed Slack groups and meetups? I live in a major metropolitan area, but the meetups I've been able to find have been underwhelming.
[+] [-] dv35z|2 years ago|reply
For example, I’m in a city, and there are at least 2 or 3 very active WhatsApp groups - a mix of tech devs, creative entrepreneurs (one of those groups has 800+ members). Every day - there are 2-3 events posted, talks, seminars, workshops, code jams, pitch workshops, digital marketing how-tos.
Idea: Co--working spaces often have a formal or informal group chat (often WhatsApp). You could take a tour and ask around.
Business incubators - Business incubators, often have a Slack channel (with channels like #dev, #design, #3d-printing). They often have a networking site where you can book free office hours with vetted experts / founders / engineers / executives / angel investors). The one I participate in has a Slack group containing 2,800 creative entrepreneurs, founders, investors, etc. At the co-working space, they host events, social mixers, etc. You’ll aways find some interesting people there. Find the group chat, get on it. Eventually you’ll get “dragged” into an interesting social group of startup / entrepreneurship / growth minded people. I jokingly say dragged, but what I mean is - if you go to an interesting talk on CNC routers, you’ll likely meet someone interesting there, they’ll tell you about a cool upcoming event, you book it - over time, you’re just spending more time per week with interesting people.
I know you just asked about WhatsApp groups, but I wanted to just share some of what I’ve learned, within 1 year of moving to a new city.
[+] [-] Aeolun|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] redbell|2 years ago|reply
I believe the above statement is the single, most common denominator among all indie hackers (or, solopreneurs) and I have to admit that it is too challenging to master and get around it.
> I'm not on traditional social media so don't have that eating away at my attention, but Hacker News is pretty good at derailing my day. So is YouTube to a lesser extent.
Same here..
[+] [-] jagged-chisel|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mortallywounded|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thinkpad13|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hermitcrab|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] earksiinni|2 years ago|reply
OP mentioned a Slack channel for creators in his country. I've been looking for a similar channel.
I'm in Arizona in the US. Anyone know of any similar channels that I could join?
[+] [-] robertritz|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] mtmail|2 years ago|reply
[+] [-] camhart|2 years ago|reply
You can be the customer, which helps. But other customers, ideally paying customers, is motivating assuming you have a goal of making some money.