The only way a side project will work is if people give themselves permission to think simple, to change their minds, to fail—basically, to not take them too seriously. When you treat something like it’s stupid, you have fun with it, you don’t put too much structure around it. You can enjoy different types of success.

Side projects are great because you don’t need to know anything. You get to be a beginner because no one is watching you and there are no expectations. If you don’t have an idea, don’t stress about it, just go do something else. It’s this attitude that it doesn’t matter that allows us to be inspired and to work on only the things we truly want to work on.

If you can remove all fears and go one step at a time, you will find things that will guide you along the way. You will learn new things, absorb new information, meet people, get feedback, see demand in different areas—new doors will open up for you.

Tobias Van Schneider.