Why starting a company as a developer is hard

TL;DR

Being a dev and a founder is hard because you tend to want to work on dev related stuff as much as possible (because that's what you're at ❤️)

Background

I’ve recently read the classic The E-Myth Revisited and realized how much of that books is true for me.

The core Idea I want to look at today is that when you create and run a company as a technician you’re gonna have a bad time (or at least are more likely to 😳)

The book makes the point that being a technician (developer, designer, marketer etc.) is good, you work on a core competency and you’re good at it but that’s also where the problem lies.

Why?

If you want to be truly successful starting a small business you also need to think about being a Manager and an Entrepreneur and you need to balance these roles carefully.

Because you want to only do the things you’re good at like developing, designing or marketing and why is that?

Because you’re good at it and you know it. But that means jumping to code to early without creating a vision of where you’re going (Entrepreneur) or without someone to hold you accountable that what you’re working on is actually the right thing to do (Manager)

What I have learned

I kinda realized that for myself I gravitate to doing dev work and not spend enough time looking at and improving our process, reflecting on mistakes or do the things that are not in my comfort zone, like writing, creating content, talking to people etc. but those things are just as important, if not more important as the code itself.

Actionable steps I have taken for myself (I try to work 12-16 hours per week part time):

• Allocate 2 hours per week (one time-block) to look at our vision
• Allocate 2 hours per week (one time-block) to look at processes, analyzing goals, reflect on what’s going on
• Step out of your comfort zone at least once a week (like writing this article 🤔)
  

Do you agree? (Insert LinkedIn Meme)

(Insert random SEO link) 😎 Jk

Thanks for reading 🎉

Shoot me an email if you have made similar experiences ❤️