Steve Pavlina recently wrote an article on why you should never get a day job. Ryan, Kevin, and I all worked various day jobs before going all entrepreneurial, and although we don’t plan on going back to the grind anytime soon, working for somebody else does have its benefits.
Skills - If you’re working for someone else, make sure you’re learning and not “retiring on the jobâ€. Ryan, in particular, benefited enormously by landing a lead programming job at a successful startup. Not only did he enhance his programming skills, but he learned first hand the difficulties involved in creating, marketing, and supporting a web based application.
People - Although a day job may not be your dream job, there may be some extremely talented people that you can learn from, or maybe even create a startup with. I first spoke with Kevin at my last job because he knew a lot more about web design, web standards, and Flash than I did. Not only did we become friends, but we were able to see how well our personalities meshed before creating a company.
Ideas - Good products are made to solve real life problems. And good customers are often businesses. If you want to sell to businesses, you’d better understand the problems they run into rather than solving what you think might be a problem. Think of your job as an entrepreneurial reconnaissance mission.
Money - Your product may not bring in enough cash to support your team or even yourself for months or even years. Bob Parsons, CEO of Godaddy.com, created his first company, Parsons Technology while working a day job. We didn’t have quite the discipline to work one job all day and another all night, so I kept my day job while Ryan and Kevin worked on our first project, Treehouse Magazine.
Failure - Chances are you’ll probably fail the first time you try something entrepreneurial. A day job gives you a chance to experiment with ideas, make mistakes, and find out what you really want to do. If an idea bombs, you can still go back to the drawing board without breaking the bank.
Motivation - Much like the Scottish warriors in Braveheart, your startup will likely be outnumbered, starving, and ill equipped. After working in a giant bureaucracy where nothing really gets done, you’ll be fighting for more than riches and fame in the form of a Google buyout. You’ll be fighting for one chance, just one chance to tell “The Man†that he can take your extremely comfortable Aeron chair, but he can never take YOUR FREEDOM! When the money is tight, and the future is uncertain, you’ll be able to look in the mirror and say, “I am William Wallace!â€
Great article. Especially the failure reason. Having a job gives you the chance to “sandbox” some ideas. Maybe a couple radical ones that might not have a great chance of making it. At least your not putting all your eggs in that basket.
By the way: Best William Wallace reference, EVER!
I’m day job guy for one reason: my budding family. My job provides two important elements: money and security. I’m in a an old school financial institution of 20,000+ employees! Trying to move my own division to web standards has been like trying to push an elephant, fortunately the man at the helm is open minded and allowing the shift. Slowly, but moving.
But really the only way to survive is to motivate yourself and always keep up to date on what is going on in the outside world. I have seen so many people get stuck in whatever state they come in at (can you say mainframe and cobalt).
However, at times I hear something deep down in the inner depths of my soul, it is the entrepreneur in me screaming: “I am William Wallace!†With a slightly drunken slur of course.
Day jobs can be very relaxing too. I mean you can depend on static, steady income without to bother about how find ways to keep is being this way.
I have quited my day job for about 3 months and become a full time freelancer. I was 4 years doing the job, the reason i left is, the company does not provide enaough pay for my future life.
But, the day job was a learning field about everything.
Now i am quite happy with my freelance work, the work is triple but the pay is more than tripled than my day job.
I am working a day job at the moment, albeit different to what most of you are talking about.
I’m currently a University student doing a placement year as part of my degree. Working as a programmer for an analytical sciences company. It’s quite enjoyable but I have my own business plans in the pipeline.
I am finding it really hard at times to find the time to actually do my own work though. Living away from my girlfriend during the week means weekends are spent 100% with her, giving me a few hours after work each night to try and get as much done on my project.
I really am hoping this will all pay off in the end, I’d love to beable to complete my final year of university without any big money worries. Even if I can only make enough to support myself for the year…
Great article it opened up my mind more on trying to be my own boss. I wish you more success and honestly I really see talent/skills here!