yc-how-to-start-a-startup, time-managementIs it possible to start up your own company and live a stress free life and be able to achieve work-life balance? I need answers from people who attempted starting up their own businesses!
At early stages, if you want to make something great then: no work-life balance.
Technology is evolving and there are a lot of people working on the same idea as you, even if you don't know it. To succeed you have to work harder, smarter, longer hours in this competition. No holidays, your social events are customer development meetings,
On the stress part, it is possible. Every job brings on some sort of stress on you. Startups usually bring on more stress, because of the uncertainty, funds, difficulty, cofounders. But if you somehow put your financials in order, know that your idea will work somehow and know exactly how to execute it and have great cofounders you might have lower stress than a regular day job. For me personally I had more stress at my first 2 startups where I was basically walking in the dark, but now that I have the experience and I can see where I am going I am less stressful.
Here is a great quote from Paul Graham
Startups are not magic. They don't change the laws of wealth creation. They just represent a point at the far end of the curve. There is a conservation law at work here: if you want to make a million dollars, you have to endure a million dollars' worth of pain. For example, one way to make a million dollars would be to work for the Post Office your whole life, and save every penny of your salary. Imagine the stress of working for the Post Office for fifty years. In a startup you compress all this stress into three or four years. You do tend to get a certain bulk discount if you buy the economy-size pain, but you can't evade the fundamental conservation law. If starting a startup were easy, everyone would do it.
Key to achieve work life balance is to have discipline and figure out your priorities. If that sounds too abstract let me give you the following concrete tips:
No. Its a stressful job and it should be. The thing you need to understand that as a founder the startup is what you do. It comes down to time working and time you are taking a break from it and recharging to go back to work. Its good to have a supporting family and group of friends who understand what you do and support you. If you really believe in your work, then you really do not think about it much at all.
For me, most of my stress comes from frustration at how slow things can move.
Yes! As a partner in a startup myself, I can vouch for a low-stress life while putting a lot of your time and effort into your company. These tips helped me and will hopefully help you:
For more in depth tips check out the link above. Good luck!
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