Ask HN: How do you balance creativity, love for the craft, and money?

AI makes it easier to copy things, but it also makes shallow copycat ideas extremely competitive. If I ever leave for a “single person unicorn”, I’d want it to be something where I have a real edge (problem I know well, users I understand, or a niche I actually like).

For now, I treat it like this: Job = stability Side projects = creativity + potential upside

That feels a lot healthier than quitting out of fear of layoffs or FOMO from seeing other people’s revenue screenshots.

What you don’t see are the 9 startups that outright fail after struggling for a few years where everyone there is making pennies. It’s kind of tautological that you only see the few successes. No one brags about their dumb idea that made no money and had no customers after a year.

If you are worried about layoffs, what do you think is going to happen when your startup statistically fails? What are you going to do about income while trying to get the company off the ground?

There is a difference between wanting to make money and wanting to have money.

If you understand the difference, it is often painfully obvious that most of us are in the last boat.

If you want something, you would typically be doing it already. Perhaps it's a bit of a stretch, but you might be more interested in asking questions than in giving answers. In that case, just try to enjoy life as long as it is smiling to you.

The dream of a single-person unicorn is much easier to achieve while you’re still employed. The ‘love of craft’ can be enjoyed, whilst you’re having fun, learning and ideating on all kinds of projects, until you hit the mark, tbh. If you’re doing ‘what you love’ as a side hustle while doing a job you don’t particularly like that covers your bills, you’re in a much better position than risking it all on a whim.

Even if you are in tech and do get laid-off, you’re much more likely to find something quickly in another space than if there’s a 2-year gap in your resumé. And you can always ‘trade-down’ to a more menial job if you’re desperate, whilst you build your dream.

>> single person unicorn

I've mused about this hypothetical as well. I think, it would only happen if someone has a really good idea, is really skilled in many areas and also (and this is the key) is dead set on it being a single person unicorn.

Why? Well, once money starts coming in there will always be areas where adding another human (or a hundred) can help. In other words there might not be much distance between a single person unicorn and a zero person one (in which the AI comes up with idea and does everything else too).

I never worked a full-timer job. Always part-time or freelancing. Mostly I worked 4h at the office and spent the rest of the day working on my stuff. Working for someone else makes me die inside every day I had to do it. It just goes against my personality. What kept me going all those years was working on my own stuff. I had no issue taking less pay just so I can have more free time and this setup and I ignored the corporate ladder and career because of this(objectively, it was a mistake, subjectively I just am individualist and prefer to be free to do my own things). Longest side-project I worked on was 10 years, with little breaks. Yes, 10 years. I rewrote it 4 times, never made it into production. It started easy but then it grew in complexity and functionality into something else altogether. I think that after some time, it became more of a habit an an escape from reality, giving me hope, than actual business. A reason to get out of bed each morning and kept me sane throughout the years. Initial idea was simple and then it grew into something larger that I thought I could make happen by investing time instead of money. After 10y I was ready to admit to myself that no, this cannot get off the ground without money. It was not a skill issue after all. Nevertheless, this is how I got so much practice and learnt so much tech.

After I was done with it I tried different projects. None got completed or succeeded after launch as the online environment changed tremendously and it was no longer the golden age of 2000s and 2010s where anything was possible. Then through life circumstances I got into investing and after few years I quit working altogether. I did not want to lose all my skill, so I wanted to do another project to kill time. It was hard as I knew what would be waiting for me at the end, I've been there many times. I did not want to waste time on something I knew would end up going nowhere again. I also had money to spend this time, not just time. Luckily, I found it. It took me 2 years to launch, 2.5y in total with breaks, and a lot of money(mostly business related). But as I said, the internet has changed and the challenges for running a digital service business, especially in EU, are tremendous(meaning, hard to get noticed, to get customers, to make money).

I now have no desire to work on anything new. This is it for me. I tried too many times and failed too many times. The suitable environment to do this is gone for good. I am not sure what I'll do in the future. I hate to lose my skills by not doing though.

Anyway, good luck. Don't give up but also don't be a fool and take opportunists to make money along the way if you can.

>creativity, love for the craft, and money

All respectable accomplishments, but some of the most accomplished may not be the most balanced :\

Money would be the one that could be taken away from you most easily, or even completely lost inadvertently through no fault of your own.

your love for the craft and creativity

Caring about other people is probably better for creating products. And commitment to create products is certainly better.

Creating products he good thing about creating copy cat products. Craft is often an excuse to not create. Good luck.