Crossroads

I’m at a crossroads. I’ve got to make a decision.

For years I’ve tried to build an online business, with little success.

I should be a bit more fair… I’ve earned a few thousand from my own products online over the years, infinitely more than the many who never manage to move the needle past zero. But I don’t want to earn a bit of money, I want a business - something that makes people’s lives better, something that becomes my occupation.

I contracted at a company I enjoyed that gave me some time and flexibilty to work on the business without worrying about too much about my income, but that ended at the start of the month.

I’m not particularly interested in freelancing and the overhead that goes with it. So I have two realistic options: go all-in on the business or find a full-time job.

Business

On one hand, I have some runway - enough to last until April at least. And I could stretch to a full 12 months if I saw evidence of something working.

But, I have a few problems:

• AI
• I don’t have an idea or problem I’m that excited by
• Huge changes in the solo SaaS landscape (largely due to AI)
• I’m a little burnt and could do with a break
• AI

AI has had such a huge impact in the last couple of years, not just on development, but on things like SEO, marketing, people’s workflows, floods of new products, and more. Building is easier and faster, but marketing is harder than ever. It’s hard to keep up.

At this stage, ‘all-in’ basically means finding and solving a new problem from scratch, rather than all-in on an existing product, so that makes this even harder.

Full-time job

On the other hand, an income and time away from worrying about a business might help free up some mindspace for problems to present themselves and for ideas to start flowing.

It could be a reminder that I don’t want a full-time job and to jump-start some motivation. It could even be enjoyable, like the contracting role was.

But there are problems here too:

• I’m not at all excited by typical software engineering jobs
• UK salaries are frankly insulting (unless you move to London)
• I strongly dislike inflexible work schedules
• I want time to work on my own stuff

What do I do?

Since the contract ended, I put together a CV and applied to a few jobs. At least one of those jobs is quite appealing at this stage. The others I’m less excited about. The whole thing was partly an exercise in putting together a CV for the first time in a while, applying for jobs, and seeing what the outcome is. It’s been so long since I applied for a job that I don’t really know where I stand in the market.

I received an invitation to interview at one role, and I was put off by the application process, the interview process, and other warning signs that show the role and institution probably isn’t a good fit for me. That definitely made me lean closer to the business option…

I want to make a decision about all of this soon, likely after proceeding through other interviews and whether I get that one role.