New year, new fulltime indie!

[ggambett]

Guys, I want to wish you a happy new year, and I'm also very happy to announce that today was my last day at my day job :)

I'll miss it, no doubt - unlike many of you, I worked for an excellent company, full of outstanding, very intelligent, and very caring people. But Mystery Studio, which a friend and I started a year and a half ago more as a childhood dream than anything else, has matured into a viable business.

I'm taking this step today... but I know I wouldn't be doing this if it weren't for all of you, first at Dexterity with your participation and advice and Steve's fantastic and inspiring posts, and now here. So, receive my very heartfelt "thank you".

May 2005 be successful for all of you!

[Linusson]

Happy new year to everyone and good luck Gabriel!

May the sales be with you! :)

[Ricardo C]

Felicitaciones, "colega" ;) May the rest of us catch up to you someday soon :)

[Addictive 247]

Good luck - it must be a very exciting time for you :)

[Chris Evans]

Congrats Gabriel! :)

[z3lda]

Way to go!

[Mike D Smith]

Great job! Congratulations! You're an inspiration to us all!

[Badman]

Happy New Year and good luck - I am hoping to do the same a year from now.

[robleong]

Well done, Gabriel! Have a successful year!

[Scorpio]

Congrats Garbriel! What a great way to start 2005! :)
-Scorpio

[PoV]

Nice. Good luck with it. Here's to the rest of us still dragging behind, and those that need more titles and sales. <shakes imaginary glass>

[Mike D Smith]

ggambett (and anyone else),

Any advice for helping us part-timers to be in a position to make the jump? Thanks.

[ggambett]

Any advice for helping us part-timers to be in a position to make the jump?
Work your ass off to grow the business until it can support you, while working on your day job to be able to pay your bills. It's that simple.

We launched BBB in November 2003, while I was also attending my 5th and last year for my CS degree, finishing my thesis (18 month work required to get the degree), teaching Computer Graphics at the university, working full time at the job I just left, and a few misc things (girls!)

So, it can be done. In essence, the secret is this : work hard and don't quit.

Good luck!

[Andy]

Nicely done Gabriel!

I'm pretty happy with your success bud!!!
Happy growing even higher in the future!

[george]

YES. don't quit, that is the key to success in anything in life. the guy who started Kuntucky Fried Chicken was in his 60s when he finally succeeded (i believe). he failed in every business, but he never gave up, even until he was an old man...

[EpicBoy]

While I agree with the sentiment, was his family rich or something? Most people can only afford to tank one business before the bank writes them off as a lost cause and stops giving them start up loans.

[george]

i don't know if he was already rich. but i still think it is possible for an average person with failed businesses to still succeed at the end... obviously it isn't very realistic to have multiple businesses fail while you are trying to support a family or pay bills, etc. etc. i don't think small restuarants back then (and even now) cost that much to open (unless its a big franchise or something), so it might have not been that hard for him to open one, especially if he made great chicken (according to his customers at least).

either way, "never give up" - its the cliche we hear all the time. but its true, in everything we do.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

also, he had a good product. if you have a good product, that is a good motivation to keep trying. and also a good motivation for investors/people to support you.

[PoV]

Ok, now this thread is making me hungry.

[ggambett]

I don't know about the KFC guy, but my family is far from rich. However, I'm 24, single, with no kids, live with my parents, and live in a country with a low cost of living. Consider that factors and you'll understand why the risk of not making this move was probably higher than the cost of doing it.

[Ricardo C]

To further derail the thread... ;)

Colonel Sanders didn't get into the restaurant business until he was in his 40s. Prior to that, he held a very varied number of jobs. He wasn't a failure, but they also weren't the kind of jobs where one could become wealthy. When he started serving his secret chicken recipe, it became famous almost instantly, but the restaurant eventually went under when a highway development would wreck his location. He started traveling to area restaurants and cooking his chicken for the owners, who would then judge it and decide whether or not to go into business with the colonel. Using this method, he accumulated a list of over 600 franchisees. Eventually he was bought out by a group of investors for $2 million (he could have owned stock in KFC, but opted to receive a yearly salary as the company's spokeman instead, so he didn't become as mega-rich as he could have.) The most amazing part of his story, is that when he decided to try to franchise out his chicken business, he was living on a $105 a month social security check, and ended up spawning one of the largest corporations in the world.

PS-- Gabriel, traté de responder a tu PM, pero tu inbox está desbordado ;) Para responder tu pregunta, soy de Venezuela, pero estoy a un paso de irme a España, dada la situación por estos lados. Saludos! :)

[princec]

Bah! And to think he launched it all off of my brilliant original idea, where a bunch of cute fluffy creatures serve lime jelly in a bar to invading bubbles.

Cas :)

[halodrake]

Congrats! It's always good to hear such things.


<shakes imaginary glass>


Imaginary glasses? You must be as drunk as I am to see non-existant glasses. Whoopee!

[Sillysoft]

Much congratulations Gabriel. Sounds like you have the drive and attitude to continue to carry you far. Have a great 2005!

[Jack Norton]

Congratz, of course!
Finally you followed my advice :D

was his family rich or something?
Compare the cost of living in Uruguay with any european country (I'd say Italy is about 3-4 times more expensive for example)... also he's not so stupid to be already married at 24! LOL!

[Nexic]

Living with your parents really does help if you want to go full time :)

My mum only wants me to pay her about $70 a week in keep, I can easily make that! (note the word wants, I havent actually started paying her yet :P )

[BantamCityGames]

Gabriel, thats great news! I'm happy for you. It was good to see how your business has grown in the past year and a half. Congrats! Happy New Year (a bit late)

[Greg Squire]

Congrats Gabriel! You're making myself and lots of others jealous. Best wishes for your future success! ;)

[ggambett]

No need to be jaleous! Just move to a country with a low cost of living and you'll find that going fulltime is much easier :)

[Jack Norton]

No need to be jaleous! Just move to a country with a low cost of living and you'll find that going fulltime is much easier
Hehe true, but don't be so modest. Your BBB game was a success that I think I could almost live from it even in a such supertaxing country like Italy :cool:

[ggambett]

Hehe true, but don't be so modest. Your BBB game was a success that I think I could almost live from it even in a such supertaxing country like Italy :cool:
Maybe ONE person in Italy could live off it, but the whole team? I doubt it... besides, I said that I went fulltime, but other team members aren't there yet...

[Jack Norton]

Ah yes, forgot about that :rolleyes:

[kerchen]

Congrats, Gabriel! Now I should expect to see your next game even sooner! :)

[chanon]

Congrats Gabriel!

I'm also working part-time on a game with a full-time job in a country with a low cost of living ... problem is I haven't been able to finish the first game yet.

Hope I can join the full-time club next year :D

[Nutter2000]

Congrats Gabriel!
Good luck with the business, you're on the first steps to becoming a multi-millionaire ;)

@Jack Norton
lol Jack! you think the tax is bad in YOUR country!?!! :D

[Jack Norton]

lol Jack! you think the tax is bad in YOUR country!?!!
Yes it is... I know all other europeans have that false vision of Italy being a cheap country, but I assure you that's not the case ;)
For sure UK is worse: but mostly because of the absolutely ridiculous dollar->pound conversion !
As I said some time ago, if I was living in UK I wouldn't even take into consideration making sharewares... :eek:

[Nutter2000]

Yes it is... I know all other europeans have that false vision of Italy being a cheap country, but I assure you that's not the case ;)
For sure UK is worse: but mostly because of the absolutely ridiculous dollar->pound conversion !
As I said some time ago, if I was living in UK I wouldn't even take into consideration making sharewares... :eek:
well... I'll believe you, thousands wouldn't! :p
lol! tax isn't relative to currency conversion rates!
but I agree shareware's tough in the UK.
Can we all go and stay with you Gabriel? ;)