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Taking a Break - Its okay

A few weeks ago - I shut down every single side project I had been working on. At the time there were around 5.

Many of them I kept telling myself "I'll get back to this next week" and just never did.

One of them, my co founder dropped out - and I just kept pushing forward, thinking I could handle everything myself.

Ultimately what this resulted in was myself feeling stressed about all that needed to be done, and feeling a bit guilty about the fact that I had started so many things and had done little to push any of these projects forward for weeks.

So I indiscriminately shut down everything. The sense of relief I felt afterwards was huge. I had been stressing myself out for months - for literally no reason.

None of these projects were making revenue, or even had customers. It was more about my ego and wanting to be busy.

Its been a few weeks and I am absolutely enjoying the clarity of mind. I absolutely plan to start building again, but will commit to ONE project, and will make sure it is a problem people have first - not just an idea I had in the shower.

Has anyone else kept a project alive longer than needed for whatever reason?

  1. 3

    I am at 7 projects now, and building the 8th and 9th...but most of them are going solo.

    But I completely get you,... Is very stressing.

    1. 1

      Are you making good progress with all of them?

      1. 1

        I only need to take care of 2 of them.

        The newsletter sent every 2 weeks and WickedTemplates.com

        The rest are resources. You can see them on the footer of wicked templates.

  2. 2

    I was kind of doing the same when I started scratching things. Slowly I understood that this is just bad to have multiple projects running with no reason. The latest story is, I started a project. I built a team, project was ready after 2 and half months. We launched it. We got customers, users. It was good. After three or four months we realised that we actually need a operation tram to run stuff, need marketing team etc. My idea was to run it with the team I built. Looked like we did not built it the way I envisioned. So I said to my mind, okay, just close it. So, we properly closed this project.

    Then to now, I have not started anything. Would love to, but I am putting more thoughts what to build, why should we build, who uses it, why would they use, do they pay, who audience etc.

    Failures are actually good! They teach alot!

    1. 1

      Absolutely.

      "what to build, why should we build, who uses it, why would they use, do they pay, who audience etc." <-- Also focused on this.

      Trying to avoid every reaction I have to build just because it is a good idea.

      Its hard to say no - especially with a technical background :)

  3. 2

    If a founder has to do more than give directives, I think one project is hard enough. Good idea to find a project you believe in, with a proven market, and work on it for as long as it takes. I've just shut down a search database because I finally realized that my project did not need two databases. Having only one database will save time and money.

    Focus is often hard to achieve for creative people, but it's an important business value to keep in mind and strive for.

    Removing things is also an important part of the design process. You start with a wider net and get rid of anything you don't really need.

    1. 2

      Thanks for the input Novi. I totally feel the hard to focus part.

      I think its especially difficult for creative people - when you have the technical skills to build, its so easy to say "yes" to everything that comes your way.

      I challenge founders I work with to cut their MVP in half. Most of the time they pitch with an mvp thats more a v2, or realistically a v3 - so removing things down to the core is absolutely essential and helps build momentum.

  4. 2

    I went through this exact same experience just over a year ago.

    While some makers have the ability to diversify across multiple projects, there's no shame in only being able to handle one. By focussing all of my time and attention on just one thing, I've been able to work consistently and grow.

    Looking forward to seeing what's next for you!

    1. 1

      Thank you for the support Lachlan, its so easy to get caught up with some of these higher profile founders who have so many things going at once.

      I have slowly become more aware that what works for someone else, may or may not work for me. Its all a process.

      I think the power of focus, and focus on one thing especially is very underrated.

  5. 2

    This comment was deleted a year ago.

    1. 1

      Thank you Jas - unwinding is absolutely needed.

      I think a lot of us keep going on with a project due to sunk cost bias - where we have put so many hours into a project we think if we just push it over milestone A or B, then we can be done.

      In reality, its okay to just kill it then and there.

      1. 2

        This comment was deleted a year ago.

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