It’s not always easy coming up with ideas for what type of business you should start. I think it’s important to consider who you are. As programmers, there’s a lot of stuff to think about that could make your path easier or harder. Depending if you’re pressed for time, or if you are an introvert, a big-thinker, or a small-thinker, we can all take a lesson away from today’s post (myself included).
Money Making Projects Vs. Hobby Projects
Some people like to define these differently, and in some cases that makes sense. What I mean by that is the word “work”. Depending on how you define this, work can be bad (most likely), or fun. I define work as something I have to do to make money that I need. Everything else is fun.
I’m finding more and more that projects we start should have some sort of emotional attachment behind it. It can help to solve a problem that you’re having in order to keep the motivation, the promise of money isn’t enough.
Redefine what “work” is to you. Could you do what you’re thinking about on a daily basis? Are you able to spend hours on this idea or is it a chore?
Not Every Project Is Created Equal
Some projects are big, some a small. Lately, I like to bite off chunks of work that I can do over a couple of months. After that my motivation seems to wane, so smaller projects are suiting me at the moment. It’s nice to have finality when you finish something, like an article or a series of blog posts.
Big projects take up lots of spare time. I have another project in my life like this which recently sucked up 4 weekends in a row working flat out. I now need to divide this up into smaller parts.
Big or small, neither is bad, just something to think about what would suit your lifestyle. What has the least impact on your family, and the most impact for you?
Record Everything! Never Toss An Idea
I can usually be found carrying a small notepad and a pen pretty much wherever I go. I was caught out the other day on the bus without it. Wouldn’t you know it, that’s when I had a stroke of inspiration for one of my startups I’m working on. My brain has never been good at remembering things, so alas, I think that one is gone for now.
Keep these notebooks (or whatever you use to record) safe, never toss them. I usually go through these when I’m feeling lost and nearly always come back with a great idea that wasn’t immediately obvious when I wrote it down.
Publicize – Start A Blog
Starting a blog will keep you accountable for your actions and help your motivation. I write this blog because it keeps me in a positive frame of mind which in turn helps my efforts to create other positive income for myself other than my day job. I also love writing. 
Consider Your Dreams
One of my dreams is to become an author. I found this long lost dream after a lot of self reflection and looking at my childhood. When I was in the second grade I was top of the class for reading and writing which led to my teacher’s encouragement to dream about writing for a living. I didn’t know people could do that! It’s been something that was always in the back of my mind ever since, but not something I was sure I could make a good living on.
With the internet and the popularity of self publishing blogs and article sites, that dream is coming closer and it is something you can earn a decent amount of stable money from. Think about this: Is launching this business going to take me a step closer to achieving one of my dreams?
Consider Your Personality
My personality plays a big part in any project. I’m a horrible half starter. All my life I have half started projects and when they got boring, ditched them. I hate that part of myself and it’s something that I’m working on changing.
But it is part of me, and I make arrangements so that now, when my enthusiasm drifts, I make it really easy on myself to continue going. Because it soon passes, and I’m captivated once more.
Programmers can often be inward facing creatures. This can make it harder for us to express ourselves and get our message out there. Unfortunately, It’s usually not a good combo for marketing and other customer facing roles. If this is you, play to your strengths. Do what you are good at and outsource the things you aren’t.
Resources
Try a site like mypersonality.info. I’m an ENTP, something which is a little unusual. Taking a test like this might let you have a bit more insight into your own personality, and let you align your dreams with what you want to be doing and this might be the missing key to what business you should go after.
Dreamlining is a popular concept Tim Ferriss talks about in his book The Four Hour Work Week
In the end, you’ll need to just go with it. Don’t stress about what to start, let the ideas come naturally. Write them down, then you will be able to concentrate on the next step of where to start on your idea.
