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How to start my own business? (feddit.org)

submitted 3 days ago by YUART@feddit.org to c/programming@programming.dev

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Hi,

I'm a programmer with a bunch of years in IT and currently I'm trying to build my own project that can bring me enough revenue so I can leave my full-time job and focus on my projects only and eventually start my own business.

The main struggle right now is that I have too little time to work on my projects (around 3 hours per week) and I estimate it will take me at least 2 more years to start earning anything (not talking about real money so I can leave my full time job). I don't want to create any sort of scam just to grab some cash, but building a real complex software is a time consuming process, not speaking about that I must handle other stuff than programming (which I enjoy but this means I have even more work to do).

I'm wondering if anybody can give me any advice how to speed up that process or where I can get money to be able to focus on my ideas full time? Or maybe somebody tried to do the same and failed and can share what lessons they learned from their mistakes?

I'm looking for a real solutions, so please cut out generic advices like "just keep working" or "just find an angel investor". I understand that starting your own business is hard and requires to take a risk, but I'm looking for practical advices and not advices based on luck or having a huge start capital.

Thanks

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[–] Brainsploosh@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

From my own experience: stay as a side hustle as long as you can, but not so long that it keeps you from scaling.

Keeping it as a side hustle eases money worries, pushes forward a lot of the business woes, and actually forces you to be very effective with your time.

When you eventually do go full time, you will need to build up discipline and systems to get up to 60 % production capacity, a lot of time is swallowed by admin, sales, invoicing, marketing, support, etc. And it needs to be done if the business is to scale.

I'd also urge you to consider pacing yourself, working 60+ hours/week is doable for a period of time, but the admin don't stop coming when you're tired, overwhelmed and/or burnt out, and no-one will be able to save your business then.

[–] YUART@feddit.org 1 points 2 days ago

Hi, thanks for sharing your experience. It's a solid advice and I will think about it