Anyone Started a Business Doing Something They Hate?

[Bouncing Soul]

Sidewalker mentality is "do what you love", Fastlane is "do what people want"

The business I'm spending most of my time on right now is a business to specifically solve a task I HATE doing, but ironically, in the beginning, I'll be doing more of that task for other people until it's ready to scale (or the idea proves bad and I kill it).

My dad owns a janitorial company, which means for the first half of my life, I was a janitor, and nobody likes wiping shit off toilets. As a white collar worker, a whole lot of stuff engineers do is to automate reptetive mindless tasks they don't like. It's not such an unfamiliar concept to me. But as I've told sidewalkers this, the first response is almost always "dude, there's a disconnect there".

 

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[Delmania]

That's due to belief that you need to "follow your passion". A better way to phrase it would be "building career capital". In effect, you're getting really good at something you may not enjoy not because it makes you happy, but because you know it will help you in the long run.

 

[James Thornton]

"In a world of selfishness, become unselfish."

One of my favorite quotes from the book, because I struggle with it, but it's a mindset I see pretty frequently on here.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Everyday for the last 25 years I've been doing things that I hate. And that's why I succeed.

 

[Bouncing Soul]

Everyday for the last 25 years I've been doing things that I hate. And that's why I succeed.

I suppose it does apply to just about everything. After multiple baby wake-ups I didn't like getting up at 5:50 to go to the trainer this AM either, but doing it is why I'm not fat.

 

[Ap0110]

Sidewalker mentality is "do what you love", Fastlane is "do what people want"

The business I'm spending most of my time on right now is a business to specifically solve a task I HATE doing, but ironically, in the beginning, I'll be doing more of that task for other people until it's ready to scale (or the idea proves bad and I kill it).

My dad owns a janitorial company, which means for the first half of my life, I was a janitor, and nobody likes wiping shit off toilets. As a white collar worker, a whole lot of stuff engineers do is to automate reptetive mindless tasks they don't like. It's not such an unfamiliar concept to me. But as I've told sidewalkers this, the first response is almost always "dude, there's a disconnect there".

No one likes it, but thats why they are willing to pay someone to do it

 

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[MTF]

Starting a business doing something you hate is masochism.

I had a business that required me to spend a lot of time calling other people. And I HATE phone calls. I was a nerve wreck after a few months. Anxiety attacks, hating my mornings, feeling as if I was trapped in a bad dream - I experienced it all. It was one of the most stressful periods of my life. Never again.

If the reward for doing something you hate is sufficient, then perhaps it makes sense to endure it (I could probably endure making phone calls on a daily basis in exchange for a few million bucks, at least a for a few months). In every other case, why not pick something you like or at least don't dislike?

I'm not talking about following your passion or avoiding any kind of discomfort, but just leveraging your strengths. I think some people take the wrong approach, thinking they have to seek something they hate because doing things they like/not dislike won't get them rich. I believe enthusiasm can only help you - as long as you make sure you're fulfilling a need/solving a problem first.

 

[Digamma]

I think there is a difference between doing something you hate, which I don't consider sustainable, and doing something you find tedious.
To be honest, the work is never funny, and if it is you are not working hard enough. You do it anyway, and it pays off.

 

[RazorCut]

Very often you can start a business doing something you enjoy then after a few years you end up hating it.

You will often see entrepreneurs build a business from the ground up then sell it within 3-5 years. From personal experience 3-5 years is when the boredom kicks in and you crave for something different.

 

[johnp]

This is the type of thinking that always gets me into trouble.

I think that it's pretty easy to find something that you hate in almost anything that you like.

I love money. I love making sales. But I hate dealing with clients. I hate talking to them on the phone. I hate being randomly emailed about some stupid problem that they have. And I really hate when they act like my time isn't valuable. That just pisses me off.

BUT

If I focus on all of that that then I'll end up hating everything about the business that I'm in. Trust me, I focused on everything that I hated and sales completely dried up.

Focus on the stuff that empowers you.

Even if I made a few million per year cleaning bathrooms then I guarantee that I would hate EVERYTHING about cleaning the bathroom. But I would focus on the one thing that I love, which is providing value to the people who are using the bathroom. Or building something that will provide value to people.

It's hard to build a business from a dis-empowered state. It's much easier to build a business when you're empowered.

 

[SteveO]

Sidewalker mentality is "do what you love", Fastlane is "do what people want"

Perhaps it is simply your mindset. The philosophy that I like to live by is not "do what you love", it is "love what you do".

I made a lot of money rehabbing apartments. The work was tough and grueling. I had to deal with caked on dead cockroaches, bedbug infested living quarters, major plumbing leaks that flooded apartments, fires that killed people, lazy partners, people that wanted to physically harm me, high dollar theft, and so on.

Some of these things would temporarily wipe the smile from my face but could not keep it off for long.

 

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