Foggy Periods, just a confused thought dump | Hacker News Reader

Foggy Periods, just a confused thought dump

8 pointsSakes5 comments

I have days where the steps necessary to create the future I want are so clear. Today is not one of those days.

For the past two years I've been working weekends on a project collaboration app for the construction industry. Saying marketing has been a problem would be an understatement. I have, or maybe even had, 3 partners. Yet the only thing to show for the past two years is what I have built as the sole developer.

I'm currently doing contract work for two companies. The work and people are nice.

But I'm tired, I'm burnt out. I'm considering taking a job full time from one of the companies I'm contracting with. This is the most rational direction to take.

My health has been neglected, my family has been neglected (even though I didn't realize they were being neglected until this past summer).

Everything came crashing down this summer. My fiancé almost left me, I fought for us and our son and now we are back together. So that is good. We took on new partners to handle marketing but all I have received thus far from them are more things to build. Those things have been completed, so now would be when their marketing should pick up. Have not heard from them in a month. I had pleaded with them to start the marketing 3 months ago, but its just easier I think to have the monkey keep building.

I am proud of what I have done in the past two years. I have stared into the abyss chewing glass, and still managed to cross the finish line. Marketing was never my thing, I accomplished my part.

So now is the time for change, I think I will spend the next 6 months recovering, getting in shape, fixing personal finances, just refocusing on the basics. Then I will start a new company. Solo, by myself. It will have to be a consumer product, since breaking into the enterprise market has proved to be a task that I don't currently have the soft skills for.

My harsh advice, based on real and similar experience, is to get a job. Just to tide you over, to let you get back on your feet. Look for something in construction - maybe with a consulting firm that works with potential clients of your future business. Heck, they might even be interested in marketing the system you've developed. Regardless, what you really want in the future is freedom and stability, and to sacrifice the health and relationships you have now for that goal is a huge price to pay. I did it, I know.

Next, screw marketing - you don't need that right now. Maybe you had bad advice or just made it up, but what you need is sales - very different from marketing. You are the best sales person because you're the one who saw the need and believes in your solution. Forget websites and blogs and social media, that's not right for you - just talk to people and get them talking to people, until you can make contact with and sit down with potential customers. Tell them about the solution, land your first big friendly client and make them happy.

Just my 0.02 based on real life experience :)

Thanks for the advice, I don't get my feelings hurt, so be as harsh as you like. I agree with you, the focus now should be stabilizing home, steady paycheck, family expectations. The best way to do this is to simply have a full time job.

You are also right when concerning sales. I need sales. I use the term marketing cause from my developer perspective I see them closely intertwined.

What I wanted my marketing team to handle was to start the conversation with people in the industry. This would in turn create a need for creating marketing copy that could be left with individuals. It would also have started the process of determining how best we could communicate the value we are providing to the industry in a language that was easily digested by potential customers.

As best as I could tell they talked to one company. This turned into an opportunity to pitch them on some custom development work that we could have used to fund our startup. It went well, it proved to me that we had a talented team, but it didn't result in a sale. But, much like in sports, kinks in working as a team need to be flushed out over time. And this takes practice. I consider my group to be comparable to some seasons of the NY Yankees, we have a bunch of talent, but if we can't work together consistently we will not be winning the world series.

It was important to me to bring the code to completion for a variety of reasons. #1 I have a character flaw of not finishing what I start. It was paramount that I saw this to the end to prove to myself that I have the determination & resolve to create companies. #2 I wanted to get the code to a place where even if I quit, or just take time off, it could continue to live on without me. This has been accomplished. My more active partner has started using it in his Subcontractor Company. One of my AWAL partners might still use it at his General Contractor company, but I won't know until I hear from him again.

So, this project might not be dead, but after a 2 year push, I can't continue to build on it until I see some tangible effort and sweat from my partners. We'll see what happens.

As a person that hates being idle, I will hope for things to work out here, but make plans to move forward on my own should the company fizzle out.

Hi, I'm interested in learning more about your project. If you're interested, please reach out to me via the email address in my profile.

I love talking about what I've built, I'd be happy to ping you later this evening.

Keep your fiancee and son, keep the feeling of pride for "finish line" accomplishment.

The rest will come by itself.

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