[boothby]

I've been contemplating the nature of the rat race lately. If you can do it all, and you're enjoying what you're doing, why should it scale? If it's your side business, I presume you want it to remain that way until there's enough demand for it to be your main business -- and even then I wouldn't want to scale beyond demand.

[wespiser_2018]

I agree, and a big practical reason I walked away was that I was spending my weekends and nights doing this, and there were other hobbies/interests I wanted to pursue. After so many order, it was also getting pretty boring to print the same thing out, over and over, but I could have always raised prices and decreased order that way.

I'm still 3D printing, but now focused on problems like dog and kids toys where I can give away the results.

[marcosdumay]

> why should it scale

Because you need your business to be big enough to pay your bills, not just theoretically net positive.

I have made some designs that I thought of selling too. For something like that to work, you need thousands of customers over the time.

It's ok to spend an year or two of weekends working into something that can replace some of your main income. It's really not ok to do that for something that can't.

[boothby]

It sounds like you're wanting the the side-project to take over and replace your day job. Which is fine, but different from what I've been picturing for myself. Nevertheless, with that being your target: suppose you've grown big enough to pay the bills. Does the business still need to scale?

I see that as a bit of a trap, because people pass on what (to me) seems to be fulfilling work that could support a modest lifestyle and make big-growth choices that either crash them out or saddle their business with debt its market can't sustain.

[cortesoft]

If the whole point of starting your own business is because you want to get out of the ‘rat race’, doesn’t it need to at least pay your bills? Otherwise, you are still in the rat race, just with even less time.

[boothby]

I don't see all businesses as a rat race. Tech is. The business that I've been building skills towards starting is a fun hands-on product, which involves a bit of artistry and a fair amount of labor and materials costs, and brings people joy. Tech can keep paying my bills, unless my side project gets bigger than I foresee. And if I lose money, I made some nice art along the way and had fun learning new skills.

[cortesoft]

Sure, but then I am confused as to why the mention of 'the rat race' at all. If your business is a fun hobby, then it is unrelated to you having to still be in the rat race. It would be no different than taking up reading or photography as a hobby. You are still in the rat race, you just also have a hobby.

[marcosdumay]

Not replace, but it should free enough time to run it. There's a minimum scale for something to actually free some time.

> suppose you've grown big enough to pay the bills. Does the business still need to scale?

No, that's the acceptable size.

[renewiltord]

Why to scale? Because hours of work for $300 is not worth it lol.