I come here to ask for help.
I am a 27-year-old male without family working a 9-5 job as a programmer and working 4-15 hours a week on side projects (average of 1.5 months).
I am already earning between 800-950€ net on my side projects (before taxes). In my 9-5 job, I am earning 1300€.
I have a lot of family commitments that I cannot control at the moment.
I take breaks on Sundays, holidays, and one Saturday a month to go out with friends, and vacations when I don't have physical access to my computer.
It would be great if I am so passionate about my side-hustle that I don't feel the need to take breaks, work on something I love and won't need to work another single day in my life, but let's be realistic.
It will take me at least two years to be able to give up my 9-5 job with a reasonable safety net.
My country is a tax hell and an has unemployment rate of over 25% for my age group.
Switching countries is not an option at this moment.
I am a very hardworking person, but I tend to take on more than I can handle and get overwhelmed.
I am wondering if I should take a break during my vacations, even though I have access to a stable internet and my computer. I thought that working like a normal day on these days would add an additional 120 hours of quality work to my side projects each year.
Last year I worked 416 hours on my side projects, so the additional 120 hours would be nearly 30% more.
However, the chances of everything going wrong increase a lot and the quality of the work will surely suffer, and of course life will be miserable for years until I quit my 9-5 job.
I appreciate all support and answers, but please, to make the dialogue more valuable, try to avoid answers like "Let it ride" or "Go hard or go home." If you do give one of these answers, please explain why.
Thank you very much in advance.
What I`m going to do?
After reflecting for a while I have decided the following.
What I will NOT change:
What I will change:
As @Johnny boy and @James Klymus have pointed out to me, more hours does not always equal more work done, the most important thing is not to burn out.
So I'm going to do the following:
Context
I am a 27-year-old male without family working a 9-5 job as a programmer and working 4-15 hours a week on side projects (average of 1.5 months).
I am already earning between 800-950€ net on my side projects (before taxes). In my 9-5 job, I am earning 1300€.
I have a lot of family commitments that I cannot control at the moment.
I take breaks on Sundays, holidays, and one Saturday a month to go out with friends, and vacations when I don't have physical access to my computer.
Problem
It would be great if I am so passionate about my side-hustle that I don't feel the need to take breaks, work on something I love and won't need to work another single day in my life, but let's be realistic.
It will take me at least two years to be able to give up my 9-5 job with a reasonable safety net.
My country is a tax hell and an has unemployment rate of over 25% for my age group.
Switching countries is not an option at this moment.
I am a very hardworking person, but I tend to take on more than I can handle and get overwhelmed.
I am wondering if I should take a break during my vacations, even though I have access to a stable internet and my computer. I thought that working like a normal day on these days would add an additional 120 hours of quality work to my side projects each year.
Last year I worked 416 hours on my side projects, so the additional 120 hours would be nearly 30% more.
However, the chances of everything going wrong increase a lot and the quality of the work will surely suffer, and of course life will be miserable for years until I quit my 9-5 job.
Question
So, what would you do in my place?
I appreciate all support and answers, but please, to make the dialogue more valuable, try to avoid answers like "Let it ride" or "Go hard or go home." If you do give one of these answers, please explain why.
Thank you very much in advance.
EDIT:
What I`m going to do?
After reflecting for a while I have decided the following.
What I will NOT change:
- I will have to stay at my job.
- My family is not negotiable, so I will have to put up with it.
- My business strategy is scalable and has proven to be a good money maker.
What I will change:
As @Johnny boy and @James Klymus have pointed out to me, more hours does not always equal more work done, the most important thing is not to burn out.
So I'm going to do the following:
- Do not work on apps or websites that, after launching them and reaching the top positions, do not give more than €100 a month, this implies not maintaining them, not advertising them, if they still give €1 a day, then welcome, but I'm not going to spend a single minute, Pareto rules.
- Take all my vacations off.
- Assimilate that this is a marathon, and that 30% more working hours are not going to make a difference in the long term, especially if I quit halfway, not make my life miserable, to achieve my goals in 2 years, instead of 3 or 4 years, especially now that I have some financial stability.
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