So, I have a business idea, and it’s crazy.
I’m going to quit my nine to five job (well more seven till seven job when travelling is included).
I’m going to loose over thirty thousand pounds a year salary. To do what?
To design, develop and publish computer games.
Now of course, being a developer, this seems like an ideal job, I can get up about two hours later each day, I can sit at my desk and program all day, and at the end of about 6 months, I can sell my game and make loads of money right?
No, of course it’s not going to be like that.
I posted recently on the indie game developer forums http://www.indiegamer.com/forums/ where I announced my plans to quit, and got some feedback.
I was struck by the number of people who said, don’t quit your day job, programming games doesn’t bring in that much money.
But a few people did point out that when you decide to quit your day job, and go into business for yourself, your doing more than just becoming a self employed programmer. You’re actually becomming a businessman, an enterpreuner, a marketeer, an accountant and a manager all at the same time.
I think a lot of people who do this themselves aren’t really prepared for the business reality. Setting up your own business requires more than just being good at my chosen skill, it is going to require being able to run a business as well as program a computer game.
Of course I’ve heard a number of people give me advice that essentially boils down to “when you work for your boss, your earning money for him with your skill, when you work for yourself, your skills are working for you”
I’ve heard this quoted a number of times by people, but it is just not true. The reason your boss gets paid more than you is that he or she is required to have a lot more flexible skills. Management is very hard, and is a skill. As developer we often deride management for making poor technical decisions. But a business does not survive on technical output alone.
People who don’t realise that and start they’re own business up are doomed to fail in the end, because making business decisions, made from the correct viewpoint, with the health of the business rather than the product in mind is the only way to succeed in the end.
So where does that leave me?
Well, I think understanding this point is probably a good first step. I know that I’m a fair to good programmer. I hope that I have a reasonable business head.
But more importantly, I know that just writing my game and making it good isn’t enough. Setting up your business takes more than just setting up your compiler, your source control system, and the technological programming tasks. Its going to mean setting up a business as well.
And that is the bit that scares me!