I feel like there is nothing that can fix my motivation to work 9-5

Switch to part time if you can. By doing that, you are also lowering your risk profile instead of going full indie without a validated product idea.

Regarding all the people saying variations of "switch to part time" or "do both until you're ready" I think this is good advice depending on your situation but at the end of the day only you know the intricacies of your current situation.

Not everyone's employer will agree to let them go part time, some contractually don't allow you to work on side businesses, and not everyone has the bandwidth to sigma grindset their day job and their own project at the expense of other things in their life.

As you said, everyone's path is unique and you shouldn't over-value the opinions of random online strangers that don't have a meaningful understanding of your situation or a stake in your life experience. Only you know what's best for you.

However, I will say that you shouldn't worry so much about "betraying" any company by leaving it. It's a business entity designed to make money. It's not a person and it does not have feelings. There are lots of good reasons to not want to leave a job, but in my opinion this is not one of them.

Best of luck with whatever path you choose!

but at the same time I feel like I’m making a big betrayal

Believe me, if they need to fire you or lay you off, they wouldn't be having these feelings whatsoever -- you'd be out the very same afternoon, escorted by security.

Never do for others what others would never do for you.

This is why I'm also firmly in the "don't give 2 weeks' notice" camp when you're switching jobs or quitting.

Do you think they would give you 2 weeks' notice if they were firing you?

Oh, what, that's "unprofessional?"

Not any more or less than them firing employees on the spot without notice.

First of all, I'm really excited for you! It's incredible to be able to reap the value of what you create.

Second, I can completely sympathise with not wanting to leave your company. I was the same way, too. A group of people that I loved and, maybe it's lame to say, I would consider like a family. I felt awful for wanting to leave, and I postponed letting my boss know for a few months. And then I turned my 3 month notice period into a 7 month notice period, just to give them ample time to replace me.

I have no advice for getting over the sense of betrayal. I would spend 30 minutes every morning with the message typed into Slack, working up the courage to send it. One day, I just felt that I could press enter.

Before you make a decision, make sure that 1) this is something that you want to do and 2) have some way of supporting yourself during it.

It can be lonely, it can be frustrating, it can be scary, but this has been one of the best decisions that I've made for myself.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

I haven’t worked at a start-up but in my experience people who leave ‘the firm’ are very easily forgotten and quickly replaced. The relationship to your employer is first and foremost based on a business contract and I think you don’t have to feel any guilt if you do decide to leave when the time is right!

Same feelings myself, company I work for is amazing and the benefits are so good I feel crazy to even think of leaving. But I am slowly working towards my goal of living more autonomously and being able to run my own business. But as far as what others may think if you decide to leave, in the startup world there should definitely be people who understand your motivations (otherwise they would not have started their own startup)!

I have felt this over the last 5 years since I quit my job and moved to part-time contracting. I had to make sacrifices and increase my rate so that part-time income would sustain me. I have managed to get by very comfortably on 10-15 hours/wk for the last 5 years. Literally 2-3 hours a day, I can be done by 12pm.

The time I have gained back is now not for sale, it's priceless to me. A company couldn't pay me enough to go full time.

Thank you for sharing! I’m on a similar boat 🛶 been working 9-5 for 7 ish years now. Web3 is where I need to be but I’m still in the learning phase. The second I’m able to make income on my own is the second I leave my 9-5. Can’t wait. 😁

finding a balance while working 9-5 can be extremely hard. However, it gets easier with time.

As someone with a 9-5 job in a startup also, I definitely understand what you mean by it feeling like a big betrayal. Do you have a rough estimate of when you want to leave and how did you justify it?

I also want to add another perspective here, that might not apply to everyone, but does to me and maybe you.

Being a solopreneur is lonely. Most of the times. You have to actively search for companionship and engage. Especially in (small) startups, you just gotta show up for work and have (hopefully) wonderful people around you. You're in the trenches together. We're social beings after all. There's no business/company without the people in it. You're not that loyal to the company, but to the people around you. So you may feel that you betray people you like and have worked with for some time.

What do you think? Does this apply to your situation?

I was on the same boat as you and eventually left my high-paying 9/5 job. Even though I am not making nearly as before, I feel way more excited and motivated every morning. If you have enough savings to sustain yourself for at least five years I would say go for it!

Ya, same here.

Agree with a lot of these comments. Go part time for now, and you can still help the start-up you are part of (and it gives you a soft launch to try your ideas!). 2 things I would add:

1. I currently run my own tech recruitment business but am going down to 4 days a week so I can work on two tech sustainability ideas I'm passionate about. And if it works I'll leave. I think dropping down like that is a good way to go.

2. You need to think of yourself. If you are really passionate and ready to go, then staying means you will be miserable and then you won't be any use to them anyway! They will survive, follow your heart!

It's good to gather and then share your thoughts. A great first step. There's a lot to be said for the utility of sharing and then gathering strength from those who can impart wisdom from their own experiences.

I would say from what you have written and expressed in your post, you're ready. More than ever. You're ready for action.

What motivates our action is a chronic dissatisfaction with the way things are. This is not necessarily a bad thing, because if we did not have this, we would cease to act.

Dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs is the only thing that motivates us to move forward toward a more desired state of affairs.

Many people fall onto the slope of feeling unhappy/dissatisfied but lack that realisation. Until you have that profound insight that you have a problem, you lurk and linger.

Well done for realising this and sharing it. The advice here from the community is amazing and you have a lot to consider.

My thoughts: try and make a micro-shift in how you see your job. It doesn't have to be so black and white e.g. side hustle OR job. Having both is the interim state and a safe one whilst your side hustle graduates from a nursery into first school.

You can have a job (even better if you enjoy it) and see it as a place to keep learning things you don't know or aren't confident about.

You can also reframe how you see your job as the 'investor' of your side projects! Try and relax any attachment to these ideas that "they are it" and work first to explore this opportunity.

I wish you more than luck!

I'm currently CEO of a software company I did not found.

I started as a marketing intern, became head of marketing, hired marketing members and saw them leave to work on their own projects.

So technically I have a 9 to 5 although it doesn't feel that way and I never really considered it that way. Just as an FYI I had a company full time before and I'll most likely have my own company again in the future...

Here's my mindset (which might help you too :) )

• A good 9-5 is skill building on steroids. If your job is in the same realm of the company you're starting you can see your job as a paid(!) learning opportunity. Think about what skills you need for your own business and how you can develop those skills in your current job.

• A 9-5 gives you access to people. Both within as outside of the company. Start thinking who the people an profiles are that would be helpful for your new company and have (virtual) coffees.

• A 9-5 gives you a secure income that can support your next venture. It's 100x easier to get a new company up and running if you have a marketing budget! Spending $1000 on ads or other marketing activities feels risky and might even be impossible if you don't have a steady income.

• How you approach one thing in life is how you approach all things in life. This is more of a philosophical belief but still... If you dread your job, spent 8h thinking about what a waste of time it is etc. I can guarantee you that working on your side project will be 100x harder in the afterhours!

Finally, treat your employer like you'd want your future employees to treat your company! Be professional and do a good job. When you're ready to leave, doing it on good terms can make a HUGE difference for your future.

Eg. we had people who left to do their own thing and later worked together again in a freelance and even partnership agreements.

You are on the right way, keep going.

I am also a full-time employee of a full company, but on the other hand, I created my own startup (monitup.com) and now I am trying to grow it.

It seems to me better to take both at the same time for a while because the startup is difficult and does not go as you planned. This will be a smoother transition.

There seems to be a little more time yet for my transfer.

I think that feeling is pretty normal when you want to end something. It doesn't matter if it's a relationship or a company that you relatively enjoyed working for.

I can tell you that you shouldn't let that stop you, though. I started reading books about how to become self-employed and finally break out of this 9 to 5 hamster wheel 5 years ago when I started working for my (still current) employer.

Now I'm still working at this company and my desire to finally not be an employee anymore remained unchanged. You could almost say that I wasted the last 5 years doing what I didn't want to do in the first place.

This feeling of not having done something is, in my opinion, more destructive than if I had simply tried to do it back then.

But I also have to say that some things in life come when "the time is right." Looking back, I was much more naive 5 years ago and I didn't really know what I wanted to work on at 22 either.

I think the idea and the building part are the exciting part and it's easy to get caught up in the dream. It's when you come to marketing your idea and getting in front of users that it may get tougher. If you're new to this and can put up with it then it might be better to work on your idea outside of work until you can validate it. On the other hand, there's nothing more motivating than having a set time you need to succeed by or you run out of cash. Best of luck with it and welcome to the Matrix :D

Side hustle it for a while. Even the successful indiehackers don't just take off on day 1. Do you have the funds to support yourself for a year?

Hi fddr, I am a solopreneur for almost a year now. It took me years (!) to move from feeling guilty about leaving to actually quitting my job. Now I think that decisions have their natural cycle and when you feel comfortable you'll do it ;)

I also interview other people who work alone as a side hustle or as a job. I just want to say that your next step doesn't need to be all in, what about trying your idea as a side-hustle? Guys I interviewed about their side-gigs shared that they like the security of having a job and that they see their side in a more relaxed way and really enjoy working on it like that.

I can understand your feelings but it is only natural for expectations and desires between employee and employer to clash at certain points. Keep in mind that you are in a business-relationship with your company, not an interpersonal one (even if you like your coworkers very much and developed bonds between one another).

It is your responsibility to act in your own best interest, nobody else will do that for you - ever. If you decide to start something out there on your own, consider this to be your first tough choice of many more to come.

Try to step back and consider the options for what they are:
A) You leave the company and chase your dreams, your boss might be disappointed for a short time, if at all, and then move on with his own best interest in mind trying to replace you as soon as possible.
B) You stay at the company and torture yourself for years to come, wondering "what if..." every day. The betrayal is still there, but this time you betray yourself.