Build something while the paycheck still comes in
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I still have a demanding job. I’m also running a services and software business that brings in 5 figures a month. And I have 4 kids. There have been ups and downs. What keeps pulling me back is how much meaning I get from work I chose to create. I get to decide what to build and who I want to help. That feels good. Really good. I took a computer science class in college and got bored with how tedious it felt. I went into sales. Now I can build software and sell it, with AI helping me do work I used to avoid. I’m still learning as I go. Being able to try this at all is pretty amazing to me. When I think about where AI is headed, I feel a lot of excitement. I also worry about the gap between people who keep experimenting and people who tune the whole thing out. I think that gap could get harder to close. I want more say in how my life goes. I want to help other people build some of that for themselves, too. So my advice is to start with the foundation. Keep the job that covers your bills. Protect the income your family depends on. Give yourself a little room to try something alongside it. Money, health and time put real limits on what somebody can take on. The kids still need you. The car still breaks. Dinner still has to happen. Pick a small enough first step that it fits the life you actually have. If you’ve spent years solving problems for a company, start there. Which problem do you understand well enough to help somebody else with? Who would pay to have it handled? Maybe you start with a service. Maybe there’s a small application worth testing. Keep the first version narrow enough that you can explain what it does in a sentence. Then use AI as a sparring partner. Tell it what you know, what you’re thinking about, and what you can realistically put into this. Ask it: “Where could this idea fall apart? What should I test with a real buyer?” Push back on the answers. Ask it to question your assumptions. Use it to help you work through a plan and put together something you can show a potential customer. A real person still has to want what you’re offering. Their response gives you something concrete to work with. That’s a much more interesting use of an evening to me than scrolling through another argument about whether AI is good or bad. My business grew out of skills I already had. AI has helped me do more with them. Your starting point will be your own, and the result is going to depend on what you build and whether people want it. If you want help thinking through how to use your skills and AI to build a business alongside your job, that’s where I can help. No more waiting - time for action.
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