What keeps you going?

I am working on the MVP for a few months now, but I just launched the website and started to do some marketing with none to very poor results so far. But one day I hope I'll look behind with a smile, while not having to sacrifice time spent with family dealing with stress and shitty bosses/colleagues.

I am just like you. I work a full time job and was also developing side projects. Its hard, really hard sometimes, but i want to make a difference, and i also want to earn enough money to choose what i work on. I have learnt a couple of things along the way.

1. Only work on one side project otherwise nothing gets done. Burnout is a real problem.
2. Get customers early, as developing something that people want is a great motivator.

For me, it is really people that send me notes.
Every now and then i get a tweet/mail/message saying, just thank you for the content. And I love that.

For me, it's a combination of a few things rather than one specific thing.
I started in all this as a hobby during school, learning to code and building things that even after getting a job coding I still have that love for the hobby side of it.

That being said, sometimes after a long day of coding for other people, it can wear you down to a point of not wanting to do your own side hustle. The trick in those situations I've found is to have other hobbies and simply take a break to recharge. Mine are music and paintball. Running around shooting people at the local paintball field with paintballs or sitting down behind my drums are perfect ways for me to let go of any negativity.

Lastly, I'd say maybe reduce the number of things you're working on as side projects. Having so many can leave you feeling spread thin. I know everyone has different tolerances but if you only have 5 / 6 hours after the day job to; eat, hang out with friends and family, do hobbies and work on side projects before going to bed, it's a very big task to keep on top of that and stay motivated. I've learnt that the hard way and now only stick to 1 main side project as it was so easy to get burnt out and feel guilty for spending time working on 1 project and not the other.

Honestly not sure, I work as a freelance dev and have flexibility and make good money but I'm always working on side projects, sometimes completing them, usually failing to market or charge for them. Lately I wonder why I bother doing at all since it sucks so much energy and time, I guess it helps to have things in the app store to show to potential clients. Hard not to compare your projects to all the people here making X amount of money on their side projects and running their own show. I sometimes wonder if my energy would be better spent growing my freelance business.

When I started working on my side project I was going through some rough times in my personal life, but I learned something really important from this in that no matter how demotivated I was feeling I kept reminding myself that every hour I put into my project would take me one tiny step closer to my goal, and by the time things started going back to normal I had already made a lot of progress

For me personally I just really need to see my idea turned into reality, and for that I am willing to miss out on things that I previously wouldn't, and even if things don't turn out into a success, just the fact that I could commit fully to my idea and was able to do it justice will have been worth it, and throughout the process I have been learning a tremendous amount of things which will be valuable moving forwards no matter what

About my project I also found it really valuable to have a working version very early on that I could start using, and by doing so I have been able to figure out a lot of things that my initial idea did not cover but that became obvious the more I used it, and pretty early on I also started inviting some other people to use my app and hearing feedback and just seeing what I built being useful—even if only a handful of people—was a great motivator for me

Lastly, I've found it really important for myself to allow myself some proper breaks or days of where I am able to completely disconnect from any need to make progress and just do things that I enjoy, after these breaks I am usually even more excited to get back to my project.. but even the times when I am not excited I make sure that I make one small step forwards

This is a great question @porushpuri1. It can be hard, especially when building a business to maintain "balance" with everything going on in life.

It's great you have a job and are working on some side projects too. Seems like you have a lot of side projects going though, do you feel you'd be bette served focusing your energy on making one or two work really well?

Of course, when trying to focus on building a business or project, there is going to be tradeoffs which can lead to what one could view as imbalances. I think this is the price of trying to build something that will stand the test of time though.

It also think it's important not to lose sight of the things that are most important in life though. Taking time each day to enjoy the small things and be grateful is very helpful.

Doing customer development keeps me going. Talking to people and listening to them talking about their real problems reminds me that what I'm doing can really help people, and it brings back a sense of purpose. Of course, you also get more data to validate your product, which is important!

I've been developing Tracktions for 2 years already and there were a lot of cases when I was about to give up. But after some pause, I always come back and continue doing what I have to do in order to reach my goals.

The main problem is that I am working on a side-project after my full-time job. And as a software developer, the last thing I want to see after work is a computer. It's even getting worse when eyes start hurting because of constant strain.

I keep doing this because it is fun, gives me tons of experience and I can wear several hats, which I never will be able to do on my main job.

The main motivating for me is to find an idea that will generate enough income, so I can leave a full-time job and focus on things that are really interesting for me.

Three things: After 5 years in career coaching market, 1. I have a better niche that can serve a wider audience and raise sophistication and profitability of the biz, 2. the world is moving much faster to highly efficient, nimble orgs and I want to take advantage, 3. give my growing family a great life (wife is from a poor country and poor family so I have found a new, true calling).