"I always spend too much time on HN instead of hacking"
Does this sound like you?
Yeah, that's what I was thinking aswell until two weeks ago.<p>I don't write or share much here on HN but I read a lot and found that a lot of you (not just the "big names") have very cool ideas to share which made me grow both as an entrepreneur and as an individual.<p>--<p>Less then 2 weeks ago I read a couple of posts by Ryan Waggoner about habits ( http://ryanwaggoner.com/2010/07/more-on-habits/ ).
I just can't say enough about how much habits are powerful now that I tried them.<p>I ordered the book, started reading it but more important started my own habits.<p>It's only been 9 days but I haven't missed one and because one of my habit was "write a page of my book or a blog post each day" I wrote a post that got me a contact for a big client (45+ MIL euro yearly revenue, my usual clients are under 5 MIL revenue) that wants a web marketing project.<p>Also, the book is finally getting written, after 6 months of procrastination.<p>--<p>Some months ago I casually contacted Sebastian Marshall (www.sebastianmarshall.com one day to ask something about a game (Civilization IV), he was really kind and we started talking about various entreprenurial things.
I admit I'm pretty envious of his nomadic lifestyle… I don't see my self in Italy for too much time (no startup scene, lot more things...)<p>A bit of background about me:<p>I started reading HN at 20 while I was still in university and I really wanted to build a startup.
I finished uni and instead funded a now 4-person web agency here in northern Italy.
1 year after, at 22, I have more money then I wish and can focus on doing things that are challenging and fun rather than making money.
But I wasn't really happy… the agency has a lot of small clients and it's not always fun anymore - I can't do big web marketing campaigns because of limited clients budget and mindsets.<p>I've always wanted to work/start a startup but since I own a company I always tought I was stuck here…
But I now realized that since it doesn't take me much to manage current projects without taking new ones I can't go to the USA for sure but I can stay abroad in Europe for 2-3 weeks each month since traveling is pretty convenient from Milan.
Heck, I can even sell the company in this time and move to full time startupping later!<p>I'm not sure how I realized this, I probably already knew but had fear of just going out and try<p>--<p>Now here I am, going to London tomorrow morning to attend Devnest and the Opencoffee. I will be looking for something to do part-time there (2 to 3 weeks a month as I said), either work in a or start a startup.<p>and most important: I'm happy.
Thank you all!<p>Bottom line: Don't worry, Life is beautiful and HN Rocks!<p>If this somehow inspired you and want to connect feel free to message me, @paolomaffei or paolo-at-paolomaffei-dot-it
It's always cool to move on if you're not happy.<p>Met one guy who started a web shop out of high school, ran it for eight years, jumped to a design portfolio school, went on with an agency, got 3 AIGA awards, jumped ship to an <i>internship</i> and then took that to be a windowdresser and contract creative director for a lot of the high-end shops in New York.