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Ask HN: From dreaming to doing

4 points by kyled ↗ HN
For people who started their own business, what was the final thought that triggered you to go for it? Did you dip your toes in by starting a project as a hobby, or did you take the plunge and leave your job behind to work full time? Did you get funded or was it self funded? Have any regrets or words of advice?

Due to health reasons, I can't put in extra hours on the side , so I'm heavily considering cutting back my normal work hours to invest in a few ideas I have.

I miss freelancing and the feeling of owning a project.

2 comments

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pedalpete
I got started because I couldn't get another job, taught myself to code and one of my ideas that I was working on learning to code turned into a biz.

From there, I've had multiple projects, I don't like calling them businesses until they are. It's just a project I work on on the side.

You say due to health reasons you can't put in extra hours on the side, I'd say focus on your health as #1.

Would your employer give you 20% time to work on a side project? Would that work for you?

brudgers
Building projects of one's own design is significantly different from freelancing. A freelancer finds people who will [hopefully] pay money for services. Building a product means finding a product that people will pay for. It's a lot easier to build something people won't pay for than a product they will pay for.

One way to look at it is that a freelancer sells the work before performing it. A product still has to be sold after all the work is done.

Anyway, I went out on my own when the economy tanked and my employer was sinking. I was just another rat fleeing the ship.

Good luck.