Ask HN: Work on products, or take a break for (seemingly) lucrative consulting?
The business has been juuuust allllmooost ramen-profitable in 2007 (thanks for coining the term, PG!), which I only consider an achievement because I'm not engaged full-time on it. If I were, there would be tons of things I'd improve in my software and business processes. Plus I have a whole shelf of ideas waiting to be evaluated and fleshed out.
I finished an internship, then had to have surgery, and now for August, I'm renting a desk at a wonderful co-working space where, so far, I've been very productive (much better than the apartment!). In September, I return to school, and I'd like to put the ramen-profitable thing to the test and make sure I never have to dip into savings during the semester (paying rent, meals, other expenses). Then in January, I start an internship with a company yet to be determined. (I go to NU, where that's part of the program)
However, in this month, due to all the hype around the iPhone and some other fortunate circumstances, I have a handful of prospective clients that I could make reasonable money off of, and could lead to better things down the road. I also rejected a decent full-time job for the rest of the summer working for a company that does the website for a major political campaign, which I'm kind of regretting now.
I've realized I'm kind of an indecisive douche, so I'd be interested to hear what you guys think...
1. Spend time primarily on client stuff = maybe reasonable money this month, possibly have this lead to bigger things and offers/referrals/internships where i learn something, but the business would languish and be sub-ramen-profitable for next semester, and most likely leave me in bad state to meet my 2009 sales goals. But hey, maybe meet some interesting characters and opportunities I wouldn't have anticipated being a total hermit and working on my own stuff.
2. Spend time primarily on my own products = Break even this month for certain, probably have a decent, incremental boost in sales for Sept-Dec, and maybe be in reasonable shape for 2009. There's some chance that the increased focus would let me get some really good work out that could bring real opportunities later, and wouldn't embarrass me as much. There's also a chance that I completely slack off, but I've gotten a lot more disciplined in the past year, and I'm liking this co-working thing.
Where do you think the iPhone consulting market is going? I don't really like consulting and wouldn't want to do it full-time as a career, but for those of you who have consulted, has it been something that's led to opportunities you wouldn't have anticipated? Every time I've done consulting, I've regretted it, but that's mostly because I never charged enough and it ended up being a poor use of time. What would you do?
This particular business isn't something I'm married to -- it would be nice to have it bringing in the equivalent of a good salary by the time I graduate, but it has absolutely no focus or direction (other than financial goals and the vague notion of putting out better stuff), mostly just a lab for me to experiment with software and business.