[cunninghamd]

I used to do side projects to earn extra income, but it became difficult to predict, and kind of a pain in the ass with invoicing, overdue clients, bug fixes, scheduling headaches (evenings and weekends working for mostly 9-5 companies), fatigue, family life, vacation time, etc.

The work dried up, partly "naturally", but also partly because I wasn't pursuing new work. I've been in a somewhat dead-state for almost a year, and have recently stumbled on two ideas that I've made my "passion projects". Neither idea has a (directly foreseeable) method of making money, but both ideas are near and dear to me.

I work on these ideas when I'm not too tired in the evening, or can find a stretch of time to concentrate on the weekends. So far it's hit or miss, but I'm progressing. One idea challenges me mentally, and has a near-epic scale result at the end of it's very long yellow-brick-road, it's a vision that in addition to all of my coding effort will take 10-20 years to come to fruition.

The other idea is effectively a CRUD system for a specific market demographic that's not being serviced the way I think it should be.

So far, neither is ticking, but give me time, and they will. :)

[mhndrcksn]

Sounds great! Putting a solid 10-20 years into something is a pretty alien idea to me, but damn, kudos for sticking to your vision.

Out of interest, was the work that dried up similar to your 9-5 at all? And when you say near and dear, what are the ties that keep them close to you? Feel free to not answer if that's asking for TMI :)

[cunninghamd]

Yeah, I do web development in my 9-5, and my side projects were generally web development or software development oriented.

The shorter term idea is related to beer, and I'm a homebrewer, so that keeps it close. The longer term idea is related to a game I enjoy playing.

I won't be so much putting a solid 10-20 years into something, as I will be waiting 10-20 years for information to be distributed and produced using my software. The software itself should take less than a year of part-time development (if the ideas required succeed), and then idle maintenance/improvements over the course of the 10-20 years required to achieve the final result.

If you're more curious than my broad rambling fulfills, email me and I'm happy to provide specifics. I'm not trying to be secretive, other than I'd like to have something to show before I make any sort of "announcements".