Episode 3 – Life as a Solo Founder and Battling Isolation with Dan Cameron

Dan Cameron joins John and Phil to discuss the daily life of a solo founder and the challenges that come along with it. At the time of this recording, all three of us are the only founders and developers of each of our companies with no full-time employees or contractors. We talk about managing our time and schedules, battling burn out, and making the effort to meet with real people on a regular basis.

Dan is the founder of Sprout Apps, a suite of WordPress plugins including Sprout Invoices and Help Scout Desk.

Resources

dancameron.org

Dan on Twitter

Sprout Apps

Sprout Invoices

Help Scout Desk

“Review Gate” incident of July 2016

WordCamp US 2017

Key Takeaways

Break up your workday with different physical and social activities (working out, lunch with family and friends, etc).

Make sure you have a separate office/work area at home to work in, especially if you have little kids running around.

Having a dedicated home office can help you separate work time and family time at home.

Good noise-canceling headphones are a must!

Coffee shops and co-working spots work for some but not others. It just depends on your type of work, what helps you focus and the commute time.

Get involved in a mastermind with other product founders if you haven’t already.

Battle burn out by working on “fun” new features and/or plan on seasons of less work (i.e. summer time off with family).