does anyone else not
[2022-01-28 08:52:14 AM] : does anyone else not really relate to the "having a job sucks, I want to work for myself and make products" narrative? Personally I'm much more motivated by "I have some specific ideas about the kind of work I want to do, and it seems easier to do that work if I run my own business" -- starting a company was never really my goal. (obviously I understand that a lot of people here do feel that way, it's just not my experience personally)
1 Reply
[2022-01-28 08:57:48 AM] : I started down this path while working at a startup that I was very invested in emotionally, and where I really enjoyed the work... and then management made some clear mistakes, and subsequently internal coup + mismanagement destroyed all my work.
[2022-01-28 08:59:48 AM] : (When friend who joined around the time I left describes his experience at the end of the company life he was literally spitting mad, I had not realized that was a thing that actually happened)
[2022-01-28 09:00:25 AM] : So probably part of it is what kind of previous job experience you have?
[2022-01-28 09:03:36 AM] : beyond bad jobs, I tend to have issues with ... who I'm working for, I guess. like, I was contracting for startup they were just starting to take off, and they were starting sales conversation with massive oil services company (halliburton or equivalent, I forget the name), and that was great for them as business but I would have probably left at that point.
[2022-01-28 09:04:31 AM] : and so I could find jobs doing similar things to the product I am most excited about building at the moment... but by nature of how most businesses work there would be a bunch of their customers I would not want to take money from. and working for myself I can just say "no thanks" to those potential customers.
[2022-01-28 09:09:41 AM] : so I guess my variation is not so much "having a job sucks", as "most organizations' management suck (or operate under bad incentives)"
[2022-01-28 09:41:02 AM] : very real
[2022-01-28 11:32:18 AM] : Mine is really about having the agency to create my dream lifestyle
[2022-01-28 01:09:51 PM] : yeah a lot of that resonates! I also never had the goal of starting a company business, it's just the means to the ends that gave me the most of what I wanted.
Before I went out on my own, I actually loved more of the jobs than I had than I hated (especially the people at those jobs), and learned a lot about what I wanted out of work and to itamar's point, realized that finding places where those incentives were aligned was very difficult.
in fact, the job i loved the most was "ruined" by those incentives, which made me especially sensitive to seeing those incentives take good things off the rails.
[2022-01-28 01:11:11 PM] : i still don't particularly like running a business, but I love the things it gives me.
[2022-01-28 01:12:46 PM] : julia in a way, yes — I never set out to start a business; I only started self-publishing my books cos a publisher turned me down. My goal was to be a published author, and then I realize self-publishing meant product development, which meant I needed to create a business around it. My perspective on being a business owner has been informed 100% by growing one out of having an entirely different goal in mind!
[2022-01-28 01:45:59 PM] : I also think that there's a lot of unhealthy identity stuff that gets wrapped up in "being an employee" vs "being an entrepreneur." in both directions folks have a lot of thoughts and feelings about want to "be" a thing (cuz that's how so much of culture teaches us to talk about it) instead of what I'm seeing here, which is the more healthy reflection of why and seeing either (or both!) as potential ways to achieve a goal or improve a situation.
[2022-01-28 02:36:12 PM] : yeah, I think my experience is a lot like Stephanie's -- I liked writing, and then I semi-accidentally started a writing business, and that gave me more time to focus on writing, and here we are :)
[2022-01-28 03:28:39 PM] : :smile:
[2022-01-29 10:10:02 AM] : > Mine is really about having the agency to create my dream lifestyle
i resonate a lot with what Marissa Goldberg said
[2022-01-29 10:12:57 AM] : i don’t want to get to age 65 and realize that i spent the majority of my time working rather than e.g. having a social life and pursuing the activities that i want to pursue
[2022-01-29 10:15:56 AM] : i actually enjoy my job. it’s the times when i’m NOT working where i feel bummed out about having a job. it makes me realize just how little time is left for other stuff. THAT’s the problem i’m trying to fix.