Hello! As a part of building my brand, I would like to document my journey a bit and share it with the world. I hope somebody will find something valuable here.
I want to tell you, why, how and if it was worth quitting my job.
Btw: I did it before May 2019. It wasn’t a spontaneous decision as I thought about it for some time already.
Why?
- I want to have my own products, be my boss and give value to the world. I already knew after getting a new job as Android Developer that someday I’ll leave to build my business. Getting into mobile development and learning from more experienced developers was a part of the plan.
- I value my time so much. Remote work is part of it. Not every company (even in IT) allows it. And having strong allergy and (fortunately) not so strong asthma I had to force myself to be in the company building even on worse days.
- I was so exhausted. I still remember how my day looked like. So I waked up early, go to work (wasting a lot of time to get there), go to the gym, go back home and program till night. Then I could afford only ~6h of sleep. I had much more infectious because of stress and exhaustion.
- I needed more time to build my apps. Developing apps is difficult and time-consuming. Additionally, I was getting married in June 2019 and I needed time to help with the preparations. I also wanted to spend more time with my beloved.
Like you see I had enough working for somebody and I wanted to build like I like to say: my mobile apps empire :) I’m also very optimistic, stubborn and impatient.
How?
- The most important - I needed savings to survive, especially that I almost hadn’t any other revenue back there. The good thing is and I think it was one of the best things that I did in my life, is that I was saving money since I graduated and started to work for others. When I left the day job I had savings for about 6 months of living for me and my wife.
- I had… let’s say the plan. If I don’t start to earn money in 3 months (yes I know, it’s not a lot of time), I will start to search for part-time jobs or freelance contracts. If over 4 months pass and I fail in getting a part-time job, I would back to a „normal” day job.
- I tried to not burn the bridges and leave in peace ;) I honestly described what I want to achieve and I suggested that I may want to back one day.
- I knew what I want to build next, I had already 1 app on the stores (to be honest, two apps, but let’s say that the first app wasn’t business-related, it was more for learning purpose). I was also finishing another app at that time.
Where I’m now? Was it worth?
Yes, it was definitively worth it. My life is still really difficult but I have so much satisfaction. I still work hard every single day, but now I can at least sleep ~8h.
I barely earn enough to afford to live for me and my wife in Poland. Having a business in Poland for small companies is quite expensive.
My apps still don’t make too much revenue. Actually this month is the first month when I earned more than 150$ from my apps. It's 2x more than in January. I'm so excited :D
I had to find freelance work and I did it. It’s so much better than a „normal” job. I was a bit desperate when searching for it because I really wanted something part-time, so the salary isn't ideal. What’s also important, bear in mind that 1h of freelance work is like 1,5h in a normal job. I mean, when I start my timer I have to be 100% focused. When I go to the toilet or I want to eat the timer stops of course. It’s fair but it should have been calculated into my salary. Don't get me wrong, I'm really happy anyway.
From this time I want to slowly start to work less as a freelancer as I still don’t have enough time and energy to achieve everything I want. I even stopped making my apps and I want to keep it like this in the first half of 2020. Instead, I focus on building a brand and I’m creating a programming course in my native (polish) language. My app development will be back later this year for sure!
If you want to check my most popular app which is actually a simple word search game, here are the links:
Android, Google Play Store
iOS App Store