Do you have what it takes to go full-time with your side-project?

When you're getting ready to quit your day job and go all-in on your side-project, you'll hear a lot about validation. Does your product have what it takes? Obviously, that's a super important question to ask. But here's another:

Do you have what it takes?

It's a good idea to get real about your strengths and weaknesses before going all-in on your side-project. It takes time to build the necessary resources and tolerance for risk, so maybe your side-project should stay a side-project a little longer. Or maybe you're actually one of many who would prefer holding onto the safety of a job while you work a side-project. I know quite a few indie hackers doing exactly that — very successfully.

Or maybe you're at the point where you've just gotta take the leap.

I've spent a lot of time talking to indie hackers, trying to understand what they do and how they do it. Here's what I've learned about what it takes for a person to go full-time successfully (or at least without failing catastrophically). 👇

Ask yourself these questions before going full-time

First off, it's important to make sure your circumstances are set up to support you. Ask yourself these questions:

• Do I have the necessary finances? See my recent post about runway.
• Do I have the necessary backup plans? Will it be easy for you to get another job or freelance gig?
• Are my responsibilities covered? Food on the table for your family, etc.
• Do I have the backing of my friends and family? Their support is not necessary, per se, but it is so, so helpful.
• Do I have a following? It's fine if you don't, but consider building one. Building in public makes for quick, easy content, and it's a great way to grow an audience.

Then ask yourself some questions about whether you've personally got what it takes:

• Am I up for hustling when I need to?
• Am I up for not hustling when I don't need to? Taking breaks and time off is how you keep it up long-term.
• Am I able to have a lot on my shoulders without getting overly stressed?
• Am I able to handle stress when I feel it?
• Am I self-motivated? By what?
• Am I good at being self-directed?
• Am I organized?
• Am I able to commit to one thing long-term without being distracted by shiny objects?
• Am I willing to ship early, and keep shipping?
• Am I willing to be embarrassed by your first version? Because if you launch at the right time, you will be (at least eventually).
• Am I good at managing my time?
• Am I good at managing my finances?
• Am I stubborn? I've found this "negative" attribute to be very helpful.
• Am I able to admit defeat?
• Am I able to survive defeat (without having a mental breakdown)?
• Am I able to get back on the horse after defeat?

And what about your knowledge-set?

• Am I an expert in my industry?
• Do I know how to build a business? I majored in both entrepreneurship and business management, but starting (and failing) businesses and reading posts on IH have been the best education I've received. Try to absorb as much as you can from other indie hackers. The truth is, you won't really know what you're doing (very few of us do), but you'll have a better sense of it.

Wrapping up (and some advice on going full-time)

I'd love to say, "If you said yes to X of the questions above then you'll be successful!" But that would be ridiculous. That said, I do think it's safe to say that the more you said "yes" above, the better your chances.

And if I had to offer an oversimplified and probably irresponsible wrap-up I'd say this: As long as your product is validated, your responsibilities are covered, and you're confident that failure won't break you, it's worth a shot. You may not succeed, but you'll definitely learn a thing or two! And hey, you might succeed.

I'll close with a little bit of unsolicited advice about taking the leap:

• Take a paid vacation before you quit and use it as a trial for working on your project full-time. See if it's productive and if you like working on it full-time before taking the leap.
• Bring the project forward as much as you can before quitting. The product should be in good shape (and validated) so that you can hit the ground running.
• Get organized before you quit. What is your roadmap? What are you going to do first? How much time will you spend building vs marketing? What tools will you use?
• Optimize your development speed.
• Phase out of your job slowly if you can, or do a little bit of freelancing on the side at first. Ease into it. This will extend your runway, take the pressure off a bit, and ease the transition.
• Get hyper-efficient. At a minimum, time-block your day so that you can make the most of it.
• Set goals, metrics, and deadlines. Refer to them every day.
• Make a commitment. I like to commit to a thing for a set period of X months, no matter what. At the end of X months I can re-evaluate, but I've gotta keep going for that long, even when things aren't looking good. I can massage and pivot the product, but I can't quit it.

What did I miss?

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