Interview with Joy Dixon Founder of Mosaic Presence
In last week’s episode of Build, we began exploring the theme of pursuing a side project while keeping your day job. Jox Dixon and I did some myth busting around the need to go all-in. If you missed the episode you can check it out here.
This week we’ve got a pretty meaty episode for you. We’re going to dive deeper into this theme, and talk about what to do when the inevitable happens: you can’t physically work on your side project.
We thought it was particularly important to tackle this topic because it’s happened to both Joy and myself more than once, and it’s probably already happened to you or you’re thinking about how to handle it when it does.
The common culprits that hold you back from physically working on your side project are burnout and stress. Each is often prompted by teammates at your day job needing you more, you feeling the need to do everything yourself, and not having enough help on your side project or feeling like you can’t ask for help!
People often think it’s the quality of the idea that determines the success or failure of a side project. But really it depends on how you respond each of these issues as they arise. Of course, it can be tempting to just give up and move on, because hey it’s a side project! But if you’re really passionate about your side project, it can be hard to let go, and you’ll want to continue to make progress.
So in today’s episode, you’ll learn the following:
- Why it’s OK to take periodic breaks from your side project
- Why it’s important to say NO to things to avoid burning out
- How to set boundaries with your teammates at your day job, when they want more of your time
- How to ask others for help
- How to find people who are interested and motivated to work on your side project
- Why it’s OK if you don’t have knowledge or experience in some areas and can delegate that work to those who do
- Why you don’t have to respond to every improvement request immediately
Once you’re done watching the episode please share your go-to for managing your time and energy, with Joy and me in the comments below this video.
Listen to the episode on iTunes!
You can listen to this episode of Build on iTunes.
Enjoyed this episode and want to watch more?
Help others enjoy it too by hitting the ♡ below! And subscribe to our YouTube channel to receive additional episodes.
Want more resources on managing a side project? Check out these videos and posts:
- How to Keep Your Day Job and Pursue Your Passion Project on the Side
- Start With A Side Project interview with Ben Congleton, CEO & Co-Founder of Olark Live Chat
- Even Passion Projects Have Paper Cuts
- My Process For Projects Committing And Following Through On Side Projects
- Why It Can Take A Year To Complete ONE Project
Build is produced as a partnership between Femgineer and Pivotal Tracker. San Francisco video production by StartMotionMEDIA.