Don't launch before traveling abroad 🏖
TLDR; Don’t launch new products or features before a long vacation or break. I’ll be visiting Africa for 2 weeks, with no plans to create content or code during that time. Follow along on Twitter and Instagram.
A major part of who I am is my cultural background. So much so that I even have it right on my homepage saying that I’m from Ukraine and my parents are from India and Tanzania. I actually really love being able to relate to people of different cultures and even when I don’t, I still default to an open minded and empathetic perspective.
I left Ukraine to come to the United States at the age of 7, but I’ve visited back a few times to meet with family. I’ve also visited India many times to meet the other side of my family there. The one place that I haven’t been to yet is Tanzania, Africa. That is what is about to change as I’m about to leave now for two weeks.
The difficult part about traveling while also trying to launch and maintain products (specifically ones with paid users) is that unlike a day job, you are never done working. An issue can come up at any time that you might solely be responsible in fixing, and this is exactly what happened last summer when I went to Germany for one week. I just recently launched IronMic which was exciting but also a mistake in terms of having an MVP (minimum viable product) that was not well tested with real users. I was able to fix issues abroad, but I felt like it was a disservice to the new users and the people around me as I stressed.
From my personal experience, it is important to detach yourself away from projects however possible when going on a vacation (especially with family) or taking a break, even if that means waiting to launch a new product or feature. My concern was that I’d be too late in entering the market, but I’ve learned that it’s never too late as long as you have a valuable product.
So in taking that advice myself, my following two weeks in Africa will be focused on meeting people, connecting with family, exploring, and relaxing. Not many have the advantage of having family or friends that live in other countries to help them explore safely or simply provide motivation to visit, so I’m giving full appreciation.
That doesn’t mean that I can’t share my travel experience with you though, so I do still recommend that you follow or continue following me on Twitter and Instagram (I’ll probably be sharing to Instagram Stories the most). Also don’t be surprised if I continue to share some of my old content (e.g. podcasts, articles) which I don’t do nearly enough of.
👋 That’s it, wish me safe travels and I’ll visit your inbox again soon!