should I make a move for new career?

What I've done is write a book... Eventually there were 4 books and other special reports. I sell them on Amazon but often give them away to prospective clients. There is no greater pleasure than to submit a proposal to a prospect which includes the words...' I am an expert in this area and the author of the 2014 Best-Selling book on the topic... The second step is to implement a social media strategy based on groups. Set up a call with me if you'd like to know what else I've done. Cheers Dave

I've been where you're at *multiple* times. The advice I gave myself was to throw my arms up and just get a job and focus on being better at developing software, the act of coding, since thats what me/you are "passionate" about. If you want a business though, you have to first ask yourself, "Why do you want a business?". Is it because you want to be well known and show up in all the publications? Do you want to hire people and make decisions on where and how the company grows? What do you want? Saying you want a business is the easy part. You can code a platform and get it to the point of being able to be sold (which is great, but these days thats the easy part), but you need to do the other work: figure out what you want and set a goal and run towards it. As I read your question theres a lot more context that can be given to your situation that I don't know about, I dont know you, and havent talked to you, but I can tell that you probably aren't excited to actually talk to people and try to sell it, which is a lot of developers. Most developers think they can build it and customers will come, we've all heard that before, and that's the hard part I mentioned earlier. If you're looking for a suggestion, then my suggestion is: stop building stuff for now. Figure out your goal (not an idea, not a company, but a goal outside of the actual platform) and when the goal amps you up and gets you excited, you'll run down that path, until then, keep coding and getting better at writing software and in your off time, go do hobbies like kayak or something. Make yourself bored, it will come to you then.

Seems to me that versatility is actually your greater selling point. Yes, you could concentrate on 1 niche problem that you solve over and over again for various clients. Advantage: That streamlined approach would be efficient in terms of presentation and actual work load. Disadvantage: By promoting a very specific offering, you may be introducing yourself as the wrong tool for the job ... for most potential clients. If I stumble across you and find a landing page that stresses your ability to solve Problem X while I am dealing with Problem Y, then I assume you're less relevant than you might be. That does a disservice to your diverse skill set. You can marry the best of both worlds. Here's what I'd suggest. Clients will discover you both passively and as a result of active outreach. So 1. For your active marketing efforts, identify prospects where the client really needs you for Problem X, in which you're specializing. Introduce yourself as a specialist in Problem X (which is true). 2. For your more passive, less keyword-targeted online footprint, showcase your versatility rather than your specialization. That's also true. This way, you'll seem like a better fit for a wider group of potential clients. Instead of writing you off as a specialist, they'll consider engaging you as an IT "renaissance man". Narrow the focus of your presentation when you have narrowed your demographic. Widen that focus when the demographic is wider.

What's your end goal? Do you want to be a great employee? Or a business owner? What kind of a business owner--hands on, or Olympian? Big differences. Specialized skills are what's necessary for being a great employee or hands-on business owner. If you want to be a leading, delegating, deal-making business owner, then you need a different skill set. In either case, simply knowing what you want and being able to articulate it will put you ahead of 99% of the pack. Most people have no idea what they want and drift from thing to thing...their next job is similar to their last, or the first one that was offered to them... You can literally shave years off your career path by being ultra-clear on your target and going straight for it. I've had employers create custom roles for me four times. Each one knocked several years off my career path. It's why I was a production manager with six supervisors and over 150 floor employees reporting to me at 26. I created that job, by sending the employer a package detailing my plan and requirements. Want to partner with the best to learn specialized skills? Sell them on the idea of why they need to hire YOU and only you. Want to learn the art of deal making, delegating and other soft skills? Sell the right kind of business owner on why they need to hire YOU and only you as their assistant. Get IN. Once you're IN, you will get a completely different view of the world. For example, I worked for a national electrical wholesaler for four years. A guy was an accounting clerk when I started, and after awhile he got promoted to assistant to the GM for an area with 11 branches. That guy instantly got access to all the high level data and IN on the decision making at that level. He got to see the issues, information, solutions, and people who played at that level. Near the end of my time there I did a stock tracking project and worked with him. On my first day, I was shocked to see all this data. I was suddenly IN. Nobody else in my department got to see this data. And it was "no big thang" for these head office guys; they worked at this level every day. Set your target and get IN. I bet you cut 10 years off your learning curve by doing so.

Erghh...tough to answer because at 18 I know I didn't listen to many people...and I thought I was a "nice kid." A lot of this stuff is learned through trial and error, and this saying (which has been attributed to many people from Mark Twain on down) is accurate: “Good judgement is the result of experience and experience the result of bad judgement.” So at least in this model, you have to go through the bad to understand the good. I'll say this, from my own experience: The time will pass. In three blinks of an eye you will be 40. I know it seems like a far away point now, but trust me, time accelerates as you get older. Each summer you plan to learn how to sail a small boat. Each summer passes and you have to work, you can't take the time off to do the course, the sunny days pass by. Suddenly you are 30. Blink. The time will pass. If you want to get good at something--business, music, art, whatever--start now. Persist. The time passes, quicker and quicker, whether you like it or not, and if you stick with whatever it is, you will develop that skill... ...and suddenly, in two blinks of an eye, you will realize you are a professional. I have perhaps 25 functional years left in the workforce. The full force of this is in my face every waking minute. Be the person you want to be--or be a flake. That is fate's demand. Don't be too concerned about money at your age. You can build it. Live beneath your means. I didn't, through my mid-20s, and it bothers me to this day. Put a percentage of your income aside every paycheck. Then you can take vacations when the opportunity arises, buy stuff on sale that you really want when it comes up, take that sailing course and get started on the road to enjoyment and perhaps mastery. Don't let circumstances rule you. Need to get out of work early to take that course? Talk to your boss about it. Start a side business now, if you're so inclined. You can make all the mistakes early and it won't cost you much...and you can be a pro at 28. Because, trust me, the time will fly by. Make the things you want to happen...happen. Don't be too interested in pleasing other people. It doesn't pay off. They will simply take advantage and then take more. Take care of yourself first. If a choice comes down to doing something you know is important to your life, or pleasing someone else and suppressing your desire or interest, choose yourself. You can always get another job. Speaking of jobs...don't let anyone tell you that "you have to pay your dues" or "you have to have more experience." That is the Chicken Little way of the world and those people do not know what they are talking about. Someone told me I couldn't be a factory manager when I was 24. I quit, and within 4 months was a plant manager. People do not know what they are talking about. Even me. Trust yourself. Find your own truth. There are MANY ways to success--not just one. Not just the single one advertised on television. You can figure it out your way, and you'll probably be a lot happier. Oh, and invest in some solid real estate as soon as you can to get a passive income going.