Thread: The self employment plunge, advice please!

Evening folks!

Quick Re-cap..

A website I have been developing for roughly 6-7 months is nearing completion and I am having trouble making an important decision, do I go self employed with it? Friends and acquaintances both have mixed feelings on the matter, as do I. The website itself boils down to classified advertising combined with a business directory, a number of other services are also integrated. I have used a popular CMS as a framework for the website but the majority of modules and systems in place are built from the ground up. The classified ad's market is currently considered saturated and generally overcrowed (To a certain extent), but I have number of services available that they DON'T offer.

The problem..

As a web developer this is my main source of income, however this is only part time. I've spent the past 6-7 months juggling work for clients and building my personal project, it's very tiring to say the least. The decision I'm facing is thus:

Do I quit web developing for clients all together and concentrate solely on my project, focusing on marketing and projecting it into the world? The problem I have with this is obviously a lack of income to begin with. I have a number of revenue streams in place, including advertising, but these require visitors.. and they don't appear overnight.

Or do I treat my project more as a hobby and continue to work part time as a web developer? The problem I face with this option is obviously time, or lack of it. In my spare time I'll be required to update, maintain AND market my website. I have a number of systems in place that will also require my time, I feel I won't be able to juggle the two after launch.

To make matters worse..

I live with my partner and daughter. My partner works part time as a restaurant manager and we currently live comfortably with our two incomes. However if I choose to go self employed and work full time on my project, we are going to struggle for some time. I can't promise an income straight away, neither can I predict it.

I'm struggling to weigh up the pro's and the cons for both arguments and my stress levels are now well and truly through the roof. An old friend of mine has recently started monetizing a very basic classified ad's website through advertising and has had some fantastic results which is refreshing, this isn't helping my situation much though.

ANY advice is greatly appreciated.

That sounds strangely familiar to the business model I'm currently working on but I can define major differences already.

To answer your question as mega million Bob Parsons put it.

You should not quit your day job until your business proves to be successful and you are making more money with this business then your day job.

I have to admit I agree with this.