My two new, big planned projects for 2009 have been designed with this exact attitude in mind, and it's been brewing for some time now. I've learned a ton by being out on my own for many years now, like you. Clarity, towards finding your own optimum direction, comes from experience and knowing yourself - and I progress on both fronts with each year that passes. It's so strange that you posted this now, I've been sharing my emerging new plans / projects with selected, closely trusted friends and when I talk about it with them, they can smell the fun gushing out of me. I look forward to talking to you in Vegas about what is coming our way on our similar paths.
Scott,
Congratulations you are an Entrepreneur, I think there is a natural 4-5 year itch that comes with starting a business for an Entrepreneur, it's about that time, if you do things right, that things really are "working" and don't need as much of your attention. So what's the next project???
Tell us more, what are the fun parts, and what is just not fun for you anymore?
Adam
We're constantly evolving out business, Adam, so yeah, there's stuff that's just "working" but we're also deep into the "next" projects. I've never been more excited about the stuff that we're doing. I've got some posts planned on that, so I'll save it.
What's not fun? It's just some of the stuff that comes along with running ANY business that's been a drag.
But like I said, nothing earth shattering.
Sure, and we do when we can. Some if it just getting to that point. Some of it is dealing with the people hired to do the not-fun stuff, which can introduce a whole new set of not-fun stuff. Can I hire people to deal with the stuff introduced by hiring people who do not themselves introduce more not-fun stuff?
Seriously, the not-fun stuff cannot ever be entirely eliminated, not until we're so rich that I can just play golf and video games all day. I think the point is that the fun stuff needs to be the focus so the rest isn't noticeable.
I totally agree with you Scott. It's weird but I haven't enjoyed the last year much either and I'm now refocussing for some fun projects that I actually want to work on. Chasing around town on Monday to find that netbook guy was a nice reminder of the freedom that I actually have and want to enjoy as I might not have taken a day off like that in the past :)
Good luck for the future fun projects.
i know what you mean about how working for yourself isn't always fun. All my life i have made music just for the hell of it but over the last couple years i have more or less turned it into a source of income. at first it was 100% fun, but now i am discovering that it is ruining the music that i actually WANTED to do in the first place. I'd like to know how you "nipped it in the bud".....
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Just a few weeks ago, I passed the 4 year anniversary of working for myself. Prior to that, I'd spent nearly 15 years working for someone else, always at small startup software or Internet companies, but always for someone else. I don't regret a day of any of those experiences. I've worked with hundreds of people on dozens of projects in a handful of companies. Every one of them changed me in some way that has made me what I am today. I'm grateful for that.
For years I had wanted to go on my own and do something entrepreneurial, but never found the right time to make the move. Maybe I didn't do that because I was having fun doing what I was doing. In 2004, things stopped being fun. It was time to move.
That October, I walked out the door of the company I worked for and was on my own.
Fast forward to today. The road I started down four years ago has brought me to where we are today. I co-own a small business with 5 employees including my partner and myself. It has been a blast getting here.
Now working for yourself isn't for everyone, I'd encourage each of the people working for us to take whatever chances they're comfortable with (or maybe even uncomfortable), but in the meantime I'm glad to have them along for the ride, as long as it's fun.
Why am I writing this? Things are starting to become a little less fun. Just a little. It's not a fatal condition. I'm nipping it in the bud right now. It's time to focus again on what's fun and fixing or eliminating what's not.
And so I ask you to take a look in the mirror and ask yourself the same question.
Are you having fun?