When I started, I worked at a nightclub from 9pm to 3am a night 3-4 days a week doing lights. I worked remotely doing some dumb search engine evaluator gig. Did that while working at the club. I drove home at 3am, woke up at 930am, hit the gym, and from 12 onwards I split my time between building my startup, taking more courses, and building my digital agency and web hosting company. At one point I was taking a growth hormone secretelogue just to increase my rem sleep so I could get by with less sleep. It was mental.

The nightclub and search work paid the rent and living expenses somewhat. The digital agency got clients with fast turn around, making websites, that allowed me to build the team and the product for my SaaS startup. 1-2 year later I didn’t need the nightclub or that ghetto search gig. Made all my income from clients. At that point I’d sometimes spend 1 week or 2 to grind out one client after another. Giving me a few months runway to only focus on bootstrapping the startup, going to pitches etc. There were times it was tight, there were times with a huge windfall. The lows were low the highs however were extreme- that’s what kept me going. Chasing that high of a win. No matter how shit your mental is or how alone you feel, it’ll all be worth it if you persevere and give yourself a chance.

It wasn’t easy, I collapsed a few times. My mental health was rough, I even turned to this sub and posted a huge vent many years ago. It’s part of the journey brother, just try and enjoy this part of the timeline.

Ultimately what I’m trying to tell you is to focus on something that can make you quick money while not compromising your availability and focus on what you want to build. I went down the agency building route to help bootstrap the business that was pre revenue. Have at least a rough 1/3/5 year plan of where you want to be. Ultimately the hardest part will be keeping yourself accountable. Good luck!