article
by Patrick McKenzie
Some four years ago, I started Bingo Card Creator, a business which sells software to teachers. At the time, my big goal for the future was eventually making perhaps $200 a month, so that I could buy more video games without feeling guilty about it. The business has been successful beyond my wildest expectations and has made it possible to quit my day job at the end of this month. The amount of time I’ve spent on it has fluctuated: the peak was the week I launched (50 hours in 8 days), a very busy week in the last few years spiked up to as many as 20 hours, and the average over the period is (to my best estimate) about 5 hours.
Time as Asset; Time as Debt
Code Is About 10% Of Your Business. Maybe Less.
Relentlessly Cut Scope
Pick Your Problem Well
Get Your Day Job Onboard
Avoid Setting Publicly Visible Deadlines
Cultivate Relationships With Effective Freelancers
Understand the Two Types of Time
Avoid Events, Plan For Processes
Patrick McKenzie explains how he operated a small software business in roughly five hours a week.
We are not affiliated with Patrick McKenzie. This unofficial audio edition is available to listen to and share for free. See the original selection on Kalzumeus.
Duration
~31 minutes (30K characters)
Release date
Mar 20, 2010