Many of us have dreamed of leaving our day jobs and doing something on our own. I managed to accomplish this in 2009 when I became a freelance programmer and I haven't looked back. But, I still think of leaving programming behind and going out onto something else that isn't writing code all the time.
This is why I have courses up on SkillShare and a Membership here (thanks members as you read this). These two items contribute over $1000 MRR to the bottom line of my business. It's not near enough to only build courses and make YouTube videos, but it's a healthy addition to my income that purchases 2 days a week focusing on the business and growing that number.
With this background, I read Don't quit your day job (yet) to hear some thoughts on the transition between focuses of a career.
It's All About Time and Work Ethic
One of the first things that struck me was the author's statement that not every side hustle takes 40+ hour weeks to grow.
I haven't worked a 40-hour week in at least 5-years. I'm lucky to get a 30-hour week in between ending work at 3:30 pm to run kids to sports (my wife is a figure skating coach so she's out after school working) and my own life of riding bikes and doing things that are not sitting in front of screens.
Then later on the author talks about 80+ work weeks as the measure his reduced 40+ hour weeks is measured against. Yeah sure that's a 50% reduction in a stupid amount of work so I guess it must feel like a relief to only work 40+ hours a week.
How much time is useful?
The first fallacy to 40+ hour work weeks is that working this much is even a good use of your time. Some research suggests that you're only productive around three hours a day. In my freelance life, I aim for 3 - 5 billable hours a day 3 days a week because I know that working more than that leaves me feeling entirely wiped out and stressed. That damages the relationships with my family.
It wouldn't matter how much money I earned from long hours, if it breaks the relationships with my wife and kids, it's not worth the price paid.
The second fallacy is that much of this 40+ hour work week is accomplishing anything of worth. This idea matches up with The Mythical Man Month has which a similar idea that adding more people to a software project will not increase its speed, it will make the project even later than it was going to be already.
We fall into this fallacy as we use busyness as a proxy for productivity1. Yes, I could sit around looking at Youtube stats, or shuffling notes around and call it a "productive" hour. I know if pressed on the time spent though I'd have to admit that it accomplished nothing of value. I wasn't analyzing my YouTube stats in a way that will help me build better videos. I was simply looking because it was "work".
In a remote working environment, we accomplish this same fake productivity by replying on Slack to messages. If we're paying attention to messaging systems that much then clearly we're good employees. A fast instant message reply has become the modern "butt in seat" time. It's used to show your direct superior that you're worth paying still.
As I look back at most of 2022 I must admit that I did a lot of "busy" productivity. I got out YouTube videos but did they have any measurable effect on my business? Nope. In fact, I make less from AdSense today than I did a year ago.
I get fewer offers for sponsored videos, and I'm less interested in them.
The big thing that affects the bottom line of my business -- more courses -- got almost no time spent on them until the last month when I stopped producing YouTube videos for 3 weeks and focused on courses. Members that get courses will be happy to know that there are two courses you should have emails about. They're up on SkillShare too.
The insidious thing about YouTube videos is that people see them in droves. Even a poorly performing YouTube video gets far more views than my best-performing course. Thus the feeling of movement accompanies making and releasing YouTube videos, despite the fact that they seem to do little to change the circumstances of my life.
There is life outside work
The other big thought from reading this article was that we believe that life should be mostly about work. That if you're not busy and working enough then you're not doing something right.
From my reading, this mindset harkens back to the Puritan Work Ethic and capitalism. The Puritan Work Ethic asserts that working hard is an external showing of how faithful you are to God. Thus working more means you're more faithful.
We see this in most productivity literature today as it assumes that an hour spent in any unproductive pursuit is one that's wasted2. If I subscribe to the most strict reading of this idea, the hour I spent making cookies for the family before the kids were home from school last Friday was a waste of my time. I could have used it to earn another $100 by billing it to a client.
When I find myself falling into this thinking I try to ask myself, will my kids remember an extra $100 earned or that their dad makes cookies as a treat after school sometimes? I know they'll have fond memories of the cookies because they already ask me when I haven't made them in a while. If I say I need time to make "daddy cookies" they offer to do chores around the house so they can make sure I have the time. They love to stand at the mixer and pour ingredients in.
When I've said "dad just needs to work" they're still in my office every 20-minutes asking for something that takes my attention away from work. They show in their behaviour that they put much more value on the cookies than the money.
I show how stressful that extra bit of work is as I get mad at them because of the interruptions to view a piece of art3. I damage my relationships with them when I yell because "I'm not getting anything done".
When I make cookies we banter and joke and have dance breaks.
As I reflect on my day, which day leaves me with a satisfied feeling?
Man is not a beast of burden. Yes, we have important duties - to our country, to our coworkers, to provide for our families. Many of us have talents and gifts that are so extraordinary that we owe it to ourselves and the world to express and fulfill them. But we're not going to be able to do that if we're not taking care of ourselves, or if we have stretched ourselves to the breaking point. 4
So, take the time to read the article. What do you think about the 40+ hour work week? Do you do it? Is it useful or do you spend most of your time doing "busy" work that accomplishes little? There are comments on the post on the site if we want to have a discussion among members.
Further Reading