Knowing when to quit your side project.

So, you’re working on a side project but aren’t sure whether it’s worth it to keep going or quit?

While all of the other advice says to quit when you’re not interested anymore, when it gets too hard, or when you’re tired and just don’t have the time.

I will give you an exact answer for when you need to decide to quit or keep going.

The problem with all the other advice is that it’s subjective and makes it ok to rationalize our time away because we’ve already done so much. We think maybe giving it one more try will make all the difference when, in fact, we’re unable to see things for what they are because we’re too close to them.

Now, I’m not advocating for you to quit. But just to understand, time is your most valuable resource, and I don’t want you wasting it on something that’s not going to give you what you want.

Side project vs. side hustle vs. hobby.

First, we have to define what a side project, a side hustle, and a hobby are.

A side project is something you do for money.

A side hustle is something you’re good at and enjoy and can make money with if you want.

And, a hobby is something you do purely for fun.

Now, obviously, there are nuances to each of these and they can sometimes blend together or transition from one to another. But for this, we need to know a side project is something we’re doing for money.

Even if it’s not a lot of money right away, the purpose of a side project is to one day make a significant amount of money from it, so you don’t have to do whatever it is you’re doing now. Whereas with a side hustle, you’re often able to make money immediately, but it’s not life changing money. It’s just more than what you’re making currently.

Really it’s about leverage, where a side project leverages your skills to make something that can compound and pay off with outsized returns. A side project is where you’re trading your time for money, and you can only make as much as you’re willing to work.

This is why we need to know when it’s the right time to quit a side project. Because while there’s delayed gratification, there’s also an opportunity cost that needs to be considered. Your time is valuable, and your time today is worth more than your time in the future because if we expect something to compound, then anything past right now is only delaying things further.

So, how do we know when it’s the right time to quit a side project?

Don’t spend more than 200 hours.

I don’t think you should spend more than 200 hours on a side project before deciding to quit. And, obviously, you could decide sooner if it’s clearly not working out.

Here’s why.

If we know we only have 200 hours to make something work, then we’ll prioritize the things that matter and have the most potential upside. This will save us from falling into the trap of being fake productive and working on things that keep us busy but don’t move anything forward.

200 hours is enough time to make a real effort and see if you can get any sort of traction, but it’s not enough to let you waste your time trying to force something to work. You either get enough interest to prove you should keep going. Or, you realize maybe no one else is as interested in your thing as you hoped they’d be, and it’s time to try something else. Either way, it’s better to know sooner than later.

How long 200 hours is really. 

To prove this, here’s what 200 hours looks like for real.

Let’s assume a side project is in addition to a full-time job and whatever else you have going on. By definition, it’s “on the side,” so we have to fit this in around everything else. And, we don’t want to burn out or neglect our other responsibilities, so we have to be reasonable with how much time we think we can dedicate to this each week.

We’ll start with five hours a week. One extra hour each work day, which leaves the weekends open or available to pick up any slack if needed.

200 hours / 5 hours a week would be 40 weeks.

That’s almost an entire year, which isn’t good or bad, but you can see how you really need to make sure what you’re working on is worth it. Otherwise, you’ll have lost an entire year.

Then, if you can do eight hours a week. With one hour each work day and a few on the weekend, you’re looking at 25 weeks or half a year.

If you can up it to 10 hours a week. One hour each work day and five more on the weekend, you’re looking at 20 weeks or five months.

Any more than this, and I think you have to make more sacrifices than a side project requires. Which is fine. It’s just different and more of a second job at that point. And, for what it’s worth, this is what we hope our side project turns into, but it’s unrealistic to commit so much time to it before you know it’s working.

What you can sustain.

So, looking at this, I think dedicating 8 hours a week to a side project is the most sustainable approach. 8 hours allows you to work on it a bit each day, or if you need to, you can effectively work all Saturday or split it across the weekend. It’s manageable while still being a serious commitment.

Which if you’re willing to do that, it means you believe in the project and want to succeed. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t make the time.

So, ultimately, this gives you six months to figure out if a side project is worth it or not.

Don’t worry about sunk costs.

Now, this doesn’t mean your side project will be wildly successful after six months. Probably not at all. But after consistently dedicating 200 hours to a project, you should begin to see things that prove you’re on the right track.

Things like a prototype or MVP that real people have tested for you, a waitlist or people asking when your product will be available, or you’re continuing to see the market trend in the direction you’re heading.

Simple things, but things that take a fair about of hard work to accomplish.

This makes it easy to say that if you’re not seeing any of these things happening by this point, it’s likely time to move on.

Now, this could mean realizing the idea wasn’t as good as you thought it would be and shutting it down entirely. Or, you need to pivot and build something more in line with what people say they need.

Quitting doesn’t have to be completely yes or no. But you don’t want to be the one chasing an idea that’s not going anywhere just because you’ve been doing it for so long.

There are better opportunities out there.