Side Hustle: Overcome Your Objections to Starting Your Own Business | Hacker News Reader

Side Hustle: Overcome Your Objections to Starting Your Own Business

artofmanliness.com

35 pointsrobjama11 comments

Good article but I would like to ask different question. Here is my objection: if you earn money you must pay taxes and deal with bureaucracy. My ideas are simple ones, I like them, maybe they will grow big someday but while they are small going legal means I will pay more in taxes (time for bureaucracy is not free IMO) than I earn.

I wonder if people in other countries have problem like this. I'm especially interested in EU countries since as EU citizen I guess I have some flexibility here.

BTW, there is part II here: http://artofmanliness.com/2012/08/07/the-company-mans-guide-...

Taxes are actually a good problem for a business b/c it means you're making a decent profit. Most businesses probably don't end up paying any taxes b/c as they say most businesses fail (don't make any money). Turn that objection into motivation to start a profitable side-hustle!

Depends on the country, but some European countries, like, say, Italy, are horrible from this point of view: to start a real, limited liability company costs thousands of euros before you've earned one cent. And they cost further thousands to manage each year.

In other countries, like the UK, things are far simpler.

My situation is better than Italian one. Maybe I shouldn't worry too much about it then :)

I'm from Spain, where bureaucracy and taxes for new businesses are quite ridiculous. What I did is:

- If you're making just a few hundred $ a month, don't even bother. Yes, it's technically illegal, but nobody's gonna put you in jail for not paying a few dozen $ of taxes a month. They have better things to do, and so have you.

- Once you reach a decent income, hire an accountant to do all the paperwork. I pay 70€/mo and all I have to do is once a quarter, send a summary of expenses and income, and everything is done for me. Plus, I have someone to consult if I have more complex questions.

Hope it helps.

EDIT: Forgot to say, don't incorporate until you have quite a substantial income. Here at least it's expensive and accountants will charge you more. Just register yourself as a self employed person, which is like a one-person company here in Spain. Like freelancers, etc. I'm sure the same thing exists in other countries.

Thank you.

>My ideas are simple ones, I like them, maybe they will grow big someday but while they are small going legal means I will pay more in taxes (time for bureaucracy is not free IMO) than I earn.

You will never pay literally more than you earn because that's not how taxes work. If you're just talking about the extra time it takes to do your taxes, it's really not that bad. Keeping track of how much you make and spend isn't very difficult when everything is electronic and records are stored for you. Plus, you need to do that anyway for the sake of your business. Get some basic tax software, enter in how much you made and how much you spent. Pay what the program tells you to pay.

"You will never pay literally more than you earn because that's not how taxes work" - if you live in normal country I would add. While I agree with the rest.

While this was an enjoyable read, I think it fails to address the real underlying issue holding people back. The reasons given to overcome are actually symptoms of a deeper underlying fear. The fear of success and/or the fear of failure.

To be fair, the solutions provided are good short term solutions to fear. The best cure for fear is action which this article gives you some practical ways to take action...but unless you address your deeper fears, you are not very likely to follow through til the end.

I think this is a good article, for people like me anyway. There are loads of people on HN wiling to throw their life at an idea for a period of time. Then there are people who are embedded in corporate but 'startup-curious' but for whatever reason are not going to quit the job and head in all guns blazing.

A side hustle is a great way to give yourself a bit of freedom, understand what your getting into with a startup and make some early steps. And with time management it is not that hard. Something else I have done I would recommend is I have set up a bank account where X% of my salary goes into a separate account. This account is for investing in my business. This way I have a clear budget to spend and don't get cold feet at the thought of digging into my family savings account.

Agreed! I'm a huge proponent of side-hustlin'

I started my second company on the side while I was working at a large software company. On top of the full-time corporate gig I had recently gotten married and was expecting my first child. My first app launched only a couple of weeks after the birth of my daughter which was perfect because It was partly inspired by her (it was an app for kids). The app ended up doing really well on the App Store cracking the Top 50 overall list. After a few more months of hard work I was able to leave my job and haven't looked back since.

Side hustles are like tricycles...it's the first step to learning to ride on your own.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com