Ask HN: Where do you work on your side-hustle?

Home, you need to make your office at home. WORK ONLY. You can't surf the net and game in the same space. Once you sit down in this space, it should be work only. You should preferable have a work only system. You must physically and mentally separate work and play. Some people don't need this but most of us do.

You can get some coworking space for about $100 a month, at least in my city, for 7-8 days a month visitation

Big franchises like panera bread, McDonalds in nicer neighborhoods, starbucks come to mind. Bookstores, coffee shops, local library, etc. Some local independent restaurants are okay if you get to know the owner and if its not as busy, and you get food there. Drink shops / bar areas that have board games are good too. If you have friends that have coworking spaces / their company workspace, its not a conflict of interest on your end. Some gyms have some desks you can work at as well

If you have a local university or college there's plenty of empty classrooms sometimes openly available and never opened. If you need a legitimate reason to go on campus (and aren't an alumni), you can buy a gym membership there

If you don't need public wifi just use your internet, any place with seating is okay.

Hotel lounges, but you won't get internet access though, but if your tethering it won't matter. Depends how much work you are doing. Bigger chains are better, they don't care nearly as much. So long as you don't look like a homeless bum your good here.

I would also include golf and country clubs along with hotels, since they are resorts too.

Additional locations are makerspaces, but that might be only at certain times of the day. Checkout your local science center or any local museums, do a wifi scouting and seating availability.

You can negotiate a shorter workweek, to free up more time; here's someone who hasn't been working full time for years: https://codewithoutrules.com/2018/01/08/part-time-programmer...

If you are an early morning person, get up,early. Work on your side hustle for say 1-2 hours focused. Then go to work.

Fix regular schedule will further assist in building momentum and simple next baby step for the hustle.

And no, don’t do anything personal in work place. Separation of concerns and peace of mind are waaay more important.

Wishing you success.

Coffee shops, preferably big brand shops like Starbucks where no one cares if you buy one drink and occupy a table for 2 hours. Do a little research into the various coffee shops in your city and you'll find that certain ones have secluded upstairs areas that are perfect for working.

I work on them during work hours - on my own gear, as I desire, just never in the office. I used to feel bad about it - I don't.

The reality is that in tech, we work all sorts of hours, all over the place, on all sorts of things. Part of the trade off is recognizing that whilst I happily have a rather long work-week, it doesn't mean that I need to ALWAYS give the best hours of the day to the corporation (and it's my corporation).

I also find that it benefits my company. I frequently bring in ideas from the things I've been experimenting with to work. We actually rely on several of them now.

tl;dr it's the time of day that matters a lot more than the environment.

If you are not using the phone for anything business related, libraries make a good work space. If you live in a city with a university, check to see if their libraries are open to the public. Most are open longer than public libraries and have better environments (although public libraries can be great too)

Having a desk in a co-working space helps a lot, you'll get the mental switch and can keep your work desk setnup so that you're ready and inspired to work as soon as you walk in. I personally can't do coffee shops for long. They're amazing for doing one-off work tasks, sending emails and can help if you feel like just being out every once in a while, but I like knowing I have a setup ready in a dedicated space when I have to do more serious work.

College libraries are sometimes open to the public. They're usually a bit nicer than regular libraries. My favorite place to go is a local coffee shop.

Don't work in your office for all of the obvious reasons. Go anywhere else. Try different coffee shops around your office or home neighborhood. I think that a coffee shop provides the right level of distraction for doing work when your brain is tired after working a long day.

Library

My bed. I'm mostly a hermit when left to my own devices and I have absolutely no problem being productive at home... so, in my bed with my laptop and some background noise and I'm all set.

Part of the fun of a side hustle is doing it at your day job.

Sometimes I'll get up really early and put in a quality hour or two at a coffee shop before starting my 9-5.

I go to Starbucks to work on my side projects