When I started blogging, I wrote a post about my bootstrapping efforts. At that time I was just about to start a new contract with my old company. That was a very successful contract (for both parties involved) that just wrapped up. Now I find myself deciding what I want to do now.
Since neither of my uISV efforts has launched into orbit yet, I still need some side work to pay the bills (and a few perks as well.) I had lunch with a former boss to talk about some work possibilities. There are two things to take away from that statement 1) Never burn your bridges, you never know when you might want to go back, 2) Maintain and grow your network. Don't lose contacts and constantly be on the look out to expand your network.
During the conversation, I said that I'm not interested in full time work. His questions is how is it possible that I don't need full time work? Here is my secret. I don't have a lot of vices, expensive hobbies or lots of new things. I'm driving a crappy old car (waiting to get a used Toyota Tacoma.) Its not a requirement to replace the car yet. I don't smoke or visit Starbucks at all (let alone every day.) I enjoy a nice beer or glass of wine, but I do that at home for a fraction of the cost of drinking at a bar. We never eat out. I can probably count on my hands the total number of times we ate out all of last year. And those times were when friends were in town. I've always been fairly frugal (cheap according to some of my friends.) And not having a paying job for 8 months while working at a start up really makes you focus on what you need vs. what you want.
I still will spend several hundred dollars at our Costco shopping trips ( I can't wait until both kids are out of diapers!) We don't skimp on food. There are a ton of things we could buy to fill up our house. When I was at the start up, there was a number of things that we wanted, but put off until there was steady paychecks coming in. Now that I have a somewhat steady income, we are making a few purchases, but I can't say that we missed out on anything in the mean time.
I think bootstrapping your business is a lot like living below your means. Its a simple concept that a lot of people have trouble with. If you can do that in your personal life, you can do that with your business.
I have another week to decide between a few different contract offers. I aware that this is a great position to be in and I've got a post about selling yourself that will go into more details about why I am able to be in this position. Stay tuned.
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5 comments:
One of the things that convinced me to leave full-time work and start contracting (while working on my micro-ISV) was the realization that:
- work was painful
- I wasn't spending much of the money that I was earning
- if I earned $x, that translated into y months that I wouldn't have to work
I realise this is a very negative way to look at things, but it helped me achieve the right state of mind. I always had "if I fail at this, I have to go back to a regular job" in the back of my head. And that's a hell of a motivator.
Now I have more contract work coming in than I can handle (which is awesome) but I still don't *need* the money, so I have a blast working on my micro-ISV. Keeping my expenses low is one of the best decisions I've made so far.
Great article Chris.
I'll be in the same position as yourself in a month as I have handed my notice in to work full time on my mISV. Even though I haven't left yet I have become a lot more frugal. I've stopped most of my monthly luxiries like magazine subscriptions and game rental web sites etc. You realise that most of the things you think you can't live without, you actually can live without and save a lot of money in the process. It also allows you to focus as you have less distractions.
Hi Chris,
It is definitely a good position to be in. If you can continue to bootstrap and make your m-ISV successful, I think it just gives you that much more satisfaction in your work. That is certainly the way I am trying to go.
Joel
Good stuff Chris! I like your attitude. Keep it up, I'm looking forward to your next blog post
Thanks for the feedback everyone. I'm contemplating a work X months full time and take Y months off from consulting to work on my uISV (and family time.) The new contract I'm considering is more hours than I have worked in the past 5 months. And it is a 6 to 7 month contract. I've got the uISV to a point where I can almost stop working on development and spend a few hours each week on marketing and dealing with support issues. This will slow down the growth, but I think that it will work out ok in the end.
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