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Question for people in this situation - did you worry you wouldn't get to spend enough time with your kids? Work/life balance can be zero-sum and starting a new business generally leans hard on the work side of things.

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Yes. I still worry about this all the time. But I get off around 4 or 5 every day, I take a 2 hour lunch every day, and I get to spend time with my 2 year old daughter until 9pm, then I spend time with my wife until midnight. I built my business around being able to do this. I don't want to "grind" to have a successful business, and you don't have to, although growth is of course slower than if you did sacrifice your personal life for your business more than I did. I ran it on the side for years because it gave me freedom to not grind every day, at least up until it got too big to do on the side. Towards the end it was definitely a grind. But the first few years when I was under $5k MRR were easy (relative) to do on the side because I chose boring tech and things just worked.

I'm where you were a while ago. We are having our first kid at the end of this year, and I have finally found a side project that aligns my passions and a potential market.

I'm scared of what's to come, knowing that I want to spend time with my kid while still being a good husband and making slow yet steady progress on my side project, all on top of having a full job. It feels overwhelming and I'm not even in it yet.

I feel you. Don't be scared; embrace the knowledge that your productivity will crater for a while. Everyone's got different needs, but you will find yours reprioritized for you once the baby becomes a reality. Step back down Maslow's pyramid to basics like sleep and survival of your family. And enjoy it—not much choice!

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