The Pros and Cons of Working for Yourself | Hacker News Reader

The Pros and Cons of Working for Yourself

blog.earbits.com

64 pointsryannielsen8 comments

There are lots of different forms of Working for Yourself. This is evidenced in the author's last few points, where he seems to equate Working for Yourself with Consulting, or, rather, Working for Somebody Else.

My favored form of Working for Myself involves building self-sustaining products that bring in the maximum revenue with the minimum commitment on my part. That means, for example, a product that sells itself without my involvement, is straightforward enough that it doesn't generate many support requests, and stays finished once it's launched.

With that sort of business, the author's worry about income stopping when you stop working goes away completely. The whole point is to stop working. State that as the goal from the outset, and you'll be good to go. Quite literally.

'With a “regular” job it is normally easier at the end of the day to completely plug out and enjoy the rest of the evening.'

Definitely have noticed this myself: it's easy to slip into a kind of mindset where, no matter how much you work, you worry about not doing enough, which makes your free time less enjoyable because not worry-free, which in the long run makes you less productive.

That, and the fact that it's always just you and yourself, and you never get to enjoy the dynamics of a good team.

Obviously a lot of people manage to make it work for them, but I did it for a couple of years and it's been enough for me.

My friends often make fun of how rigid I am about [working]. I think they often overlook the fact that although I don’t have to report to a boss, and nobody would fire me, I still need to report to myself, and if I don’t get my work done it’s bad news.

I never thought about it like that. This is exactly the response I get from people who don't understand that working for yourself doesn't mean not working.

>Just like you’d own the success, you’d also own the failure, and you will have to take full responsibility for it. Unlike working for an employer, when you run your own business you can’t just give a 2 week notice, quit and get another job. You’d have to work through the tough times.

I completely disagree about this. You will take a personal reputation hit, but you most certainly can stop working for yourself and take a new job.

I 've been doing it for 3 years and i don't see these "cons". I presume people who choose to work on their own are usually self-motivated enough so as not to mind taking the blame, fixing their time schedule, and dispensing with everyone else's opinion (maybe it's just me though).

YES. I don't mind "taking the blame".

I much prefer taking the blame, recognize what I did wrong, and be able to do something about it (even if it's hard, or even if I sometimes make the same mistake more than once) than throwing my arms up in the air thinking it's someone else's fault and out of my control.

Control is good. Control makes you happy.

pros: time freedom

cons: no one to discuss, share ideas or set up a strict deadline

I can finish my app bookspp.com in less than 10 days, but it took me more than 2 weeks...

There are more classy and contributive ways of advertising your app.

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