Well, I’m Here 90 days ago I (at the strong encouragement of my spouse) stopped floundering and started getting serious about creating a real business. As it turns out, giving yourself a deadline that you respect is a surprisingly effective tool. As of today, I am running a growing business bringing in thousands per month. It’s definitely not the business I set out to build 2 years ago when I left private practice, but it’s a business I enjoy and see a future for....
Going where the opportunity is How I ended up here When I left private practice, I had burnt out. I had hit 30, looked up for the first time in a while, and realized I didn’t like the train I was on. There was nothing necessarily wrong with being a working professional, per se. But it just turned out not to be the life that I wanted for the next 30 years....
Biting the Docker/Caprover Bullet I’ve only ever deployed things the easiest possible ways. For me, that has meant Django on heroku, basic python/flask serverlessly on vercel, and static (custom or Hugo) on Netlify/Cloudflare Pages. But - being a devout hater of javascript, and wanting to stand up more complicated, multi-service applications, I knew the day would come when I would need to sit down and reckon with Docker. I theoretically understand the value of docker, but my god is it a pain in the ass to learn....
Going from software user to software developer Before learning to code, I was one of those guys who tried to do everything on a computer for free. I thought to myself, “It’s just code. It cost them nothing to make it, and nothing to run it. If they can find suckers to pay for it, great, but I bet there’s a way to do it for free.” And there often is....
The main reason I’m coming around to the idea of seed funding There are a lot of benefits to solo bootstrapping. You don’t have investors or co-founders or employees breathing down your neck. No timelines. No deadlines. Low stakes. A lot of that, though, is as counterproductive as it is cushy. The lack of stress and accountability means there’s no urgency. This is part of the 90 day exercise I’m in the middle of - trying to manufacture some artificial urgency (although, when it’s your wife who’s given you the deadline, it may not be so artificial…)....