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What is life like working ~60hr work weeks to make ends meet while also working on your business? (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by FamFollowedMainAcc@alien.top to c/entrepreneur@indiehackers.space

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i am 22, a computer science graduate, working a lowpaying job rn thats about 17/hr. i live in nj, this is not enough on its own to move out my parents and live independently even with roommates, even tho i made a real tight budget. but i really wanna move out asap because my family is toxic and i realize itll make me feel better. i was applying to software engineering jobs buts its taken a while and no dice, so im revamping my approach, making a portfolio website, while brushing up on coding interview problems. itll take me prob a few month of serious applying beforeni get a better job, but i want to move out asap. so im gonna start food delovery/amazon flex after work or on weekends in addition to my job so i can sustain living independently.

i dont even like programming anyways. wat i really want to do is grow my youtube channel into a full time career. i made some videos, have some success so far so im motivated and i believe i could do it, it just takes time.

my videos will probably cost a few hundred each, since my channel is about creating things. this makes working a side gig even more necessary, not just to survive, but to invest in my business.

i really dont want to wait until i get a better job to work on my channel, i frel like thats just delaying my goals. so, ill be doing a full time job, in addition to probably ~20 hours a week of uber eats/multiapping or amazon flex, whatever pays better, in addition to investing all my spare time and money into my channnel.

im very passionate about my youtube channel. ive been editing videos for about 9 years now, i always find it so exciting to make videos/projects. i feel like this isnsomething i mayblook forward to doing anyway and im hoping i dont feel too exhausted and overworked.

has anybody else been in a similar situation, starting their business while working full time and a side gig to keep afloat?

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[–] Max-Balaban@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Your situation is hard, but it's possible to improve it. IMO, the first thing you need to remove is the low-paying job, which doesn't give you any relevant experience. Uber, delivery, McDonald's, telecom companies, and so on are really bad deals — if you don't really want to make a career there. You spend your time but receive almost nothing.

Look, you can do good videos, right? If you're really been doing that for 9 years, you are probably highly skilled in this. That means you can do freelance easily. IDK that much about the video edit sphere, but I think that $17/hour is around the lowest possible rate for this job on Upwork(ofc you can find $3/h guys from other continents, but I don't talk about this).

But just imagine, even if you find a freelance video editing project for $17/h, you will receive much more experience than in Uber. You will be involved in many different projects that you will never make yourself otherwise, will be pushed to learn new things for your freelance projects, and will have a bunch of good contacts (and a lot of not that good, but this is the price).

Again, $17 on freelance video editing> $17 on McDonald's. And I think the average rate for this is around 30-35 USD, so after gaining some exp you will make more than now.

But if you decide to do freelance, take it seriously. For the first orders you will need to send a lot of proposals, learn how to sell, make your portfolio and learn a lot. The learning will be not about the videos/animations/your professional stuff, but how to sell, how to communicate with clients, how to present your work and yourself (not so bad skills, better than knowing how to make Big Macs probably).

Starting on Upwork is hard. You will be sending around 30-50 proposals, buying connects and mostly receiving nothing, your proposals will not even be viewed. But that's definitely possible.

And then you'll have a steady income and you'll be inside the hustle, making your own videos in parallel.

What I'd definitely recommend is to find a proper community. For freelancers, for YouTubers, for entrepreneurs, not matter what you want. When you see guys who work for $60/hour on Upwork, 20k/month on their projects, you start believing that it's real. Then you repeat their way, learning along it, working a lot, dropping your current s***ty jobs and receiving what you want. That's hard but doable. Good luck!