Year Three Is New Life

So much has happened between February 2020 and April 2021. I may even talk about it all. However, in the final accounting, one thing overshadows everything else:

My son was born.

My son is the most precious human being alive. Every parent says that. But this time it’s true 😛

My parenting aphorisms so far:

Children let you see the world again with fresh eyes, and it’s really cool!
Parenting is supremely difficult, and supremely worth it.
The sheer strength and audacity of my son’s emotion driven brain has been a mind trip for my logic driven brain.

My post last year was a laundry list of things done. This year I prefer a laundry list of lessons learned:

Therapy is worth it. I had a really traumatic time in the fall of 2020, and started seeing a therapist. If you’ve ever wondered if you could benefit from therapy, just do it. My brain and my relationships are much healthier now.
Some client relationships don’t work out, and that’s okay! In fact, it’s best to get to the point of moving on sooner rather than later if that’s where things are headed.
4 simultaneous clients is too many. Too much distraction and switch-tasking. Though you do get to work on lots of fun stuff at once!
My primary work motivators seem to be: (1) earning money (2) by helping real people (3) while leveraging code to do so. Whenever I lose sight of any of these three things, I tend to have a pretty bad time.
Don’t put off changing the diaper. This is true both literally and as a metaphor.
Metaphorically sowing seeds really does work, and patience is key. Early on I lamented at how few views my TypeScript videos got, but they’ve just kept accumulating views! My mailing list for TypeScript by Example grows almost every week, despite me spending nearly 100% of my working time on consulting. Pretty neat!

So what’s my path forward for this year?

Well. I haven’t decided, and I’m hoping to spend this week thinking more about it. I see a few paths forward:

Continue consulting, and ignore all else. I’ve been thoroughly enjoying it, it has provided the money I’ve needed to support my family, and I’ve benefited greatly from the flexibility it provides now that I’m a father.
Pick up TypeScript by Example again and turn it into a real product. Part of me wants to do this, but I also fear I’ve been misleading myself with this line of product. Video production is only vaguely related to the primary motivators that I mentioned in the previous section:
1. Whether I earn money is up in the air.
2. Any people I help are disconnected from me, and I only potentially meet them far in the future.
3. The code I write is for pedagogy not for a direct practical use.
Pick up Site to Image again and start doing a bunch of marketing. I’ve gotten decent usage from a small user base. Maybe I should capitalize on that finally.
Work up a new product or service from marketing first principles. I’ve learned a lot since I’ve started and I feel like I could do better.

Maybe the answer is some mix of the above, or something I haven’t yet thought of. Time will tell.