Lost motivation. Where to go now?
Hi Indiehackers, long-time lurker, first time poster here. I posted this as a comment on the struggle bus discussion. Posting on its own here hoping to get some responses.
I have no motivation left for the startup I’ve been working on for the last few years. It’s had a bit of success. It’s in a good market so if I doubled down I could at least make it a good lifestyle business if not more.
But I’m utterly bored of it.
I’ve been thinking of moving on and doing something else. But nothing else seems interesting either.
When I work on a specific task, I can get into it and do a good job. But I lack a high level meaning or purpose or goal.
This is only the case with my work. My personal life is fine. I enjoy everything else.
But work is such a huge part of my identity that I find it very hard to deal with not doing well.
I could easily get a job but I hate working for other people.
Do you have any suggestions for how to get out of this rut?
Go to bed have a good sleep. Take a week of and turn back.
Leave your assumptions at the door;
"I could easily get a job but I hate working for other people."
Find a fulfilling job then maybe it reminds you how hard you hate to work for others.
So many assumptions;
"if I doubled down I could at least make it a good lifestyle business if not more."
Do it, isn't that the goal overall. Double down and turn it into your lifestyle thingy.
Make marketing your specific task for the next few months, make customer acquisition your goal. When your business pays the bills and leave you enough spare time. You can strive on your purpose or meaning with a peace of mind.
Thanks, Rusted.
Have you thought about selling it? I recently interviewed Luca who was able to sell his SaaS even though it was pre-revenue...
I don’t know if it’s worth selling. I’ll probably need to clean up the codebase quite a bit. Thanks for the idea anywayz.
Have you considered consulting, freelancing, contracting, whatever you want to call it? It's not quite as soul-crushing as working directly for someone else, as you have more autonomy and and are usually more valued. And it will naturally expose you to a wider variety of projects and people. Sometimes that alone is the motivation I need to keep going. In addition, you might find inspiration to build something new on your own.
Thanks, @cbartlett. Yes I have done freeance works. I might do that again.