It’s A Part-Time Gig; But A Full-Time Frustration

⌘ Permalink

This website isn’t my full-time job, but I’d like it to be one day.

My podcast coupled with my writing here (and elsewhere) brings in significant amount of money each month, but it’s not enough to support my family at this point. If I were single, perhaps it would work, but with a mortgage, two cars, two kids and a cat, things add up. (I’m not complaining, mind you, because my family is awesome.)

Some months, the income is close enough, it gives me just a glimpse of what might be possible in the future. The curse of the moderately successful side business,[1] perhaps?

When I think about the possibility of taking this whole writing/podcasting/consulting thing full-time, it freaks me the hell out. Taking the financial reins in my own hands seems too scary to ever actually do. What if I see a downturn in readership and my advertisers want to renegotiate my flat monthly rates? What if Myke kicks me off the podcast network? What if I get sick and can’t write for 10 days? What if my next book is a flop?

This website isn’t my full-time job, but it likes to think that it is.

Reading tons of other websites (to find things to link to and talk about) takes time. Writing takes time. Preparing and recording a weekly hour-long podcast takes time.

Without a doubt, what I do here could become a full-time, 8-hours-a-day gig in a heartbeat.

This website isn’t my full-time job, but some days, I like to pretend that it is.

The danger, of course, is that I start to sneak more side work in during the work day, and steal time from my employer. I enjoy a great level of security and freedom at my day-job, and don’t need to jeopardize that with this website thing.

It’s all about balance some days, but finding that balance is increasingly more difficult. Thankfully, I love what I do from 9 to 5, so that’s one less pressure point.

I’m not sure any of my questions have good answers. I’m not sure I’m even asking the right questions, but that’s what makes side businesses so exciting, right?

For homework, if you have a side gig, be sure to listen to these two episodes of Back to Work to hear Dan and Merlin talk about this frustration.)

  1. Yes, business. I registered “Hackett Technical Media” as an LLC in the state of Tennessee earlier this year.  ↩

NASA’s Shuttle II ⇢

⌘ Permalink

David S. F. Portree at Wired:

Although the fact is mostly forgotten today, NASA launched plans to replace the Space Shuttle even before the first Space Shuttle mission in April 1981. In 1985, President Ronald Reagan formalized these by signing a directive ordering the U.S. civilian space agency to develop a Space Shuttle successor. Notably, this occurred before the January 1986 Challenger accident laid bare the Space Shuttle’s frailties. NASA has attempted to develop a Space Shuttle successor ever since, but for a wide range of reasons it has not succeeded.

One of the early proposed Shuttle successors was called Shuttle II.

On Apple’s Refurb Store Outage ⇢

⌘ Permalink

Eric Slivka:

Over the past three days, numerous MacRumors readers have noted that Apple’s online store for refurbished products has been completely empty, with the store pages simply noting “Sorry there are no products available, please check back later.”

I really hope this store isn’t going away.