Bootstrapping from your cubicle
Penelope Trunk has these things to say about one very specific kind of part-time bootstrapping, starting a business from your office cubicle.
It's a situation I'm more sympathetic about than ever after being dragged back into the office full-time at my day job. Thanks to Small Business Entrepreneur blogger Cristian Dorobantescu for sharing this gem.
Here are Penelope's suggestions with some added comments of my own thrown in:
1. Don't tell your co-workers. And don't tell your boss or supervisor in some lame-ass attempt at a power play or to hold them up for more money because you've got other irons in the fire. Even though employers often legally can't do much these days about side projects so long as they don't directly compete, you'll find that once they know about your venture they will start insisting it is somehow interfering with your work. Also, you can say goodbye to sneaking time for your side venture while in the office.
2. Don't blame your problems on lack of time. Sometimes it seems like the less I have to do the more time it takes me to do it. My main fear is that when and if my new venture makes it possible and necessary to leave my day job, I'll actually get less done because of all those extra hours in the day.
3. Don't have guilt. As I observed in my own post on the part-time bootstrapping life, plenty of people waste time at work. At least you're doing something productive.
4. Get on a stupid project at work. If you can it's great but I agree with Cristian's point too on this. Besides, as a practical matter I've always found it hard to coast at work and the most challenging and time consuming problems seem drawn to me like a magnet.
5. Look for like-minded people at work. I've found a couple of these. At least ambitious types who would like to get something going on the side. However, due to suggestion number one I seldom talk to them about it.
6. Go to the gym on your lunch break. I've started to take long brisk walks at noon or after work whenever I can fit them in. Besides being good exercise this practice has the effect of giving me time to think and clear my head in a way that my half hour drive home through snarled traffic simply cannot.
7. Sit on a yoga ball instead of a chair. I haven't tried this one. Stress balls are more my speed, but, of course, not to sit on. I would say there is an importance to self-discipline, however. The ability to discipline oneself in one part of life helps improve discipline in others.
8. Partner with a stay-at-home-parent. Or someone else with flexibility in their schedule. The virtual assistance industry includes some with family commitments as their major motivation to work from home. For example, Gourab Nanda, founder of My Business Assistant, created his business in part because his wife was looking for work she could do from home after their daughter was born.
9. Stop fantasizing that a credit card could fund your cubicle escape. Though some have certainly used plastic to jump start their bootstrap ventures, being able to leave your day job more quickly is definitely NOT the best reason to do so.
10. Believe in yourself. Whether inside a cubicle or working from home or a small office of your own, this last piece of advice is absolutely imperative to all bootstrappers part-time or full-time. It will be necessary to get through the many challenges ahead and to get through the difficult times when things aren't going quite right.