I’ve been at my new job for 2 months now. The honeymoon period is just about over. Despite the 75% reduction in commute time and distance that had me swooning, I should have known that more 9-to-5 fodder would be forthcoming.
Once again, I’ve been asked to work overtime on a project that is mismanaged, overbudget and behind schedule. If there’s anything that motivates me to be free from 9 to 5, it is intrusion into MY time. All the rah-rah speeches about commitment and being a team player just doesn’t ring with me. If anything, it makes me sullen and disgruntled. You pay me for 40 hours, I do the 40 hours. That’s it. That’s the deal. Even if I’m paid for overtime, I don’t want it. I have better things to do.
But alas, being a new guy, I must agree to this. I haven’t built up my reputation and clout here yet. You might remember at my old job, I refused to work overtime. I ascertained correctly that my reputation and proven value will allow me to do so without repercusions, but I don’t have that luxury here yet.
So even as I toil away my evenings and weekends for The Man, I return home at night to work on my projects. I’ve been primarily concentrating on my wedding favors website. Despite my neglect, orders have been picking up the past few weeks. So in the past few days, I added a ton of new products and improved the product images. For each product, I previously uploaded just one large image that was used for the thumbnails as well. As you may know, resizing a large image to a thumbnail-size image within a browser produces ugly slow-loading thumbnails. I figured there was a gap in my Zencart knowledge. After doing some research, there was; it isn’t immediately obvious, but Zencart does allow me to upload a thumbnail, a medium-size image and a large image, and it knows how to use the appropriate one in the right places. So after revamping the images and increasing the product selection, the website looks a lot more professional now.
I met Ian Landsman through our blogs at the beginning of the year. We were both embarking on the microISV ownership path. He and his company, UserScape, have been far more successful than me. Here’s his story…
Ian, please give us a little background on your business.
UserScape builds help desk software for small to medium size businesses and business divisions. The average customer so far tends to be a business with 1 to 5000 employees.
We were formally incorporated in March 2005, though in practice we started developing HelpSpot about a year ago now.
UserScape is located in the beautiful Hudson Valley, about 2 hours north of New York City.
Do you work from home?
Yes, I’ve set up dedicated office space in the house. I’m currently looking into office space, however, that will probably wait until the spring.
What kind of traditional 9 to 5 job(s) have you had in the past, if any?
I’ve had a bit of a wandering career. I started out as an accounting major. After school I went to work for Office Depot, where I was an assistant store manager. The money was good, but overall, the job was less than rewarding, so a few years in, I decided it was time for a change.
I left Office Depot and went to work for a startup in the educational technology field. There, I learned how to formally program, though I was always a bit of a computer geek. As a product manager, I was responsible for all customer support. This is really where the idea of HelpSpot started and many of the features I wish I had in my tools back then are the core of HelpSpot today. During this time, I also began consulting on the side, developing websites as well as several corporate intranets.
My last 9 to 5 was working for Marist College running the eLearning technology and programs. Among my responsibilities was the management of the support system for over 5000 people who used the eLearning system daily.
What led you to start your own business?
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I reference a lot of Steve Pavlina’s writings and ideas here. He is a game developer turned personal growth guru. His thoughts and writings on personal growth are always thought provoking and inspiring. The meticulous intentional planning that went into his life got him where he is today, with multiple streams of passive income that gives him complete time freedom; it is exactly the place I’m striving to get to and the reason I started this blog, to be free from 9 to 5.
I find his experiments in polyphasic sleep just fascinating. Now he has gone and come up with another experiment. He intends to use the intention-manifestation model of goal achievement to generate $1 million. And he is asking people to join him. I’m in.
