Tired of 8 to 5 working cycle

[Tech N9ne]

I am a software developer, currently doing some Automation Development for a growing I.T Company in Cape Town. I have been working for 4 years now and for some reason i seem tired of this 8am to 5pm working cycle, i feel like it is a waste of my time or i should be doing something else. I am thinking of starting a Tech Company but with so many around now what is the likelihood of my Tech Company being successful?

What does it take to make a good Tech Company that is successful? Is it the Products it creates or knowing the right people to get you started?

 

[syntax]

There is always better and always worse. At the moment 8 - 5 sounds pretty peachy from where I am sitting.
Tech company is pretty broad, you would either need a great product which takes some time to develop, a fad product which is right place and right time or something in the middle. Usually you need contacts, more than anything else, the right people make more difference than anything else.

 

[Sumen]

I am a software developer, currently doing some Automation Development for a growing I.T Company in Cape Town. I have been working for 4 years now and for some reason i seem tired of this 8am to 5pm working cycle, i feel like it is a waste of my time or i should be doing something else. I am thinking of starting a Tech Company but with so many around now what is the likelihood of my Tech Company being successful?

What does it take to make a good Tech Company that is successful? Is it the Products it creates or knowing the right people to get you started?

Have you maybe tried working during your lunch break and leaving at 4.

 

[airborne]

I am a software developer, currently doing some Automation Development for a growing I.T Company in Cape Town. I have been working for 4 years now and for some reason i seem tired of this 8am to 5pm working cycle, i feel like it is a waste of my time or i should be doing something else. I am thinking of starting a Tech Company but with so many around now what is the likelihood of my Tech Company being successful?

What does it take to make a good Tech Company that is successful? Is it the Products it creates or knowing the right people to get you started?

There you are not enjoying 8 to 5, start a tech company you say, change the hours to 7am till god knows when for the first 5 odd years, starting your own business is typically a hard slog. But if you know your job and the market well enough to see a gap where you can slip yourself into then perhaps it'll be the freedom you are seeking.

 

[^^vampire^^]

Starting your own business has many different sides to it. You need to learn to become business orientated as well as understand things like accounting, marketing and networking. Many people legitimately have a great idea, dev it and then fail as they have zero skills in marketing and business. If no one knows your product exists, how can they use it. Also, market research. Don't assume someone wants your product if you haven't asked (this doesn't include your friends and family).

On top of that enjoy the grind; you hours will be 24/7 at that point. I used to run a part time web business while I was still in SA. To make money you have to offer one (or more) of the following: better service, cheaper service, better product, cheaper product.
I made money because I was willing to entertain phone calls from my nutjob clients at almost anytime (sometimes 24:00 - 02:00 in the morning) coupled with decent services at a lower than premium rate. You slowly build up to a point where you no longer have to deal with that type of thing as you have easier clients to deal with that can replace these, but in the beginning it is definitely harder.

In a way, the 8-5 is the easiest thing you can do. It does however waste massive time and resources and any business that is getting more than 3-4 hours of proper output from an employee during a 8-5 is winning in my opinion. If people were left to their own devices the would probably be happy to work on that bright idea they thought about at 9:30pm, but because they were forced to sit at a desk from 8 - 5 they will put the idea off (and lose the enthusiasm) until tomorrow. Even in the software dev arena, I've read sooooooo many articles about how companies are embracing flexi time and remote working, yet only few put it into practice and put very stringent controls on it that it is not even worth mentioning in the first place.

 

[Cius]

Or try get flexi time. I work as a dev but am in office from 6:30AM to 3:30 PM. Means I miss traffic and is great. At one point I had to stay in office until 5 and it was death. Ended up still coming in early to avoid traffic but gave them the extra hour and a half free essentially. Leaves you with a lot less time if you leave home at 6 and get home at 6.

 

[Dirtdiver]

And here I am hoping for a normal 8-5 life . I figured the only way I can be happy with life, is if I can become my own boss. As I got older only two things matter to me now. I want simple and minimal. Money is great, but its not what i chase anymore.

 

[Purply]

After almost 7 years of running my own business I still get to work @ around 6:45am and leave no earlier than 5:45pm

Everything comes with it's own special ups/downs

Not saying the same will apply to your venture though, just be prepared to put in a lot more than what you get out in the beginning.

 

[saturnz]

I see more and more people on this forum starting to recognise the rat race is unnatural.

This is my broad view on the issue. If you want to exit it can't happen on a whim, it first starts with mental preparation, this takes a while since it requires you to think of a plan while working and to do some deep introspection- yes you will be amazed how many people don't know themselves.

Issues such as ethics, principles and how to engage in business are often different, people outside the system do business in a more co-operative fashion than competitive. For example my goal is never to maximise my "profits", but rather to minimise my maximum loss.

In doing that process you will be able to find a source of income, it will in theory be something you quite passionate about, and thus already have a network of people to engage. The implication here is that you should not rely on your "professional" skills to survive outside of the rat race. For example I was doing macro economic research playing with numbers and words as a profession and now what I do is far removed from that.

This all should be done in parallel to working if you want to avoid the trap of failing and then having to go back to work. Once you establish a second income it will start to grow and then the decision to leave work becomes a lot easier in practical terms.

I didn't bother with a second income as such, but rather decided on rather passive income sources, which is why I am increasing my property portfolio and trying other business models- I recently started renting out trailers in long term 10 year leases for example.

So within that context, simply starting a "tech company" means that your labour effectively is just outsourced and you will still be engaging with the rat race in a competitive fashion. You need to think a little deeper.

As a concluding point and I hate to say this, but the entire system is a scam, an understanding of this is essential if you want to avoid the traps of falling back into it with your own activities.

 

[hj007]

It also helps if you can keep as much of your expense base discretionary rather than monthly fixed costs. That way you can easily recover from having a slow month on the entrepreneurial side. It's the monthly payments that keep people chained to a desk and living one month from oblivion in a job.

 

[Dirtdiver]

After almost 7 years of running my own business I still get to work @ around 6:45am and leave no earlier than 5:45pm

Ill gladly do that for myself.

 

[Ho3n3r]

Ill gladly do that for myself.

Same. I'm not keen doing it any more for my current company though, making my boss richer and only getting the standard inflation-based increase no matter what I do.

 

[bigboy529]

Starting your own business will see you move from a 8 to 5 job to a 5 to 9 job and that's the minimum hours, oh and 5 in the morning till 9 in the evening. In other words if you are not willing to work your arse off, forget about starting your own business. I'm assuming hear, but it almost sounds like you think starting your own business will mean not only flexy hours, but also working less hours.
It's weird, but some days I wish I had a 9 to 5 job and was working for a boss.

 

[saturnz]

this is why I keep touting leveraged property

a rather stable low risk passive income as a base that doesn't require advanced knowledge of finance or property, and then you can venture out into the world and experiment because failure is guaranteed

so before you leave your job, consider getting a leveraged buy to let unit, best location you can afford etc and then once the rent is covering the bond, then you have some flexibility to leave your job.

 

[Emjay]

Working from 8 to 5 too much of a grind? Wait until you start your own company. That will seem like a holiday. I also think that you are too young, and inexperienced. If you had a product idea, then maybe, but you don't.

You need a combination of the following:

- Capital
- Contacts
- A good business / product idea
- Excellent business / sales skills
- A differentiator

If you are bored, you should look at expanding your current skill base and taking on bigger / more complex projects. Developers have the potential to earn very decent salaries, and can dictate terms. Use that to your advantage.

 

[hj007]

My own experience has not been that my own business was more intense than a job. Although my business was a small one and I found some very capable team members as well as us wanting very clear boundaries. I do think it makes an enourmous difference as to what your cost/burn rate is underneath. If you're trying to support just yourself and you need 10k a month, it is infinitely easier and less stressful than trying to support a 5-person household burning R200k a month.

You need to give yourself the margin of safety to fail, so you can try and tweak your business, try out a few things. Also having a few clients before you take the plunge, or a project on the side will also help. But, working 80 hours as an entrepeneur is not required, you will work hard, but working long hours in some cases masks other issues that are unrelated to your own business...

 

[Dirtdiver]

My wife took the leap 3 years ago. Gave up an awesome paying job with benefits and a route to a management position. Its been difficult, late payments and customers not paying, headaches. I kept the steady job.

But everyday she is happy, with a good days job done. Things are going well and I have a strong foot out the door myself. My son has his mother every time he needs her, cos time is flexable and i couldn't be happier.

Being your own boss wont make u a millionaire over night but it will make u a million times happier that you tried.

 

[Wut]

I went freelance last year and managed to find a steady contract with a Chinese company and another with a Korean place. Now I work from home in my shorts (sometimes with a nice shirt for meetings) and have no commute. I work 4 hours a day maximum, but the only crap part is that it's to Beijing time which means I have the occasional 4am meeting. I make enough to get by and save, but oddly enough I'm starting to miss the banter and general interaction I used to have in the office.

 

[saturnz]

My own experience has not been that my own business was more intense than a job. Although my business was a small one and I found some very capable team members as well as us wanting very clear boundaries. I do think it makes an enourmous difference as to what your cost/burn rate is underneath. If you're trying to support just yourself and you need 10k a month, it is infinitely easier and less stressful than trying to support a 5-person household burning R200k a month.

You need to give yourself the margin of safety to fail, so you can try and tweak your business, try out a few things. Also having a few clients before you take the plunge, or a project on the side will also help. But, working 80 hours as an entrepeneur is not required, you will work hard, but working long hours in some cases masks other issues that are unrelated to your own business...

yes I can agree with all the points here, but it does require lots to think about before jumping in

my situation is actually more on the extreme side of the spectrum, I maybe put in on average 5 hours a month of effort into my income generating activities, and that's assuming I do a site visit once a month- which I don't.

 

[Drifter]

I'm tired of the 06:00am - 15:00PM cycle.