Why we choose the hard road
The first time a stranger pays for something you’ve built — something that came entirely from your mind — your worldview changes forever.
You suddenly understand the real value of work in a way no salary can teach you.
—
Lorant

Until then, most of us live with a distorted sense of worth. A high-paying job can trick you into thinking earning money is easy. But when it’s your own product, you learn the truth fast:
It’s harder than you thought.
It’s slower than you hoped.
It’s more stressful than you imagined.
But it’s also more real. Because the alternative — living your whole life on rails someone else laid out for you — feels like betraying yourself.
The misconceptions that break first-time founders
“If I build it, they will come.”
They won’t. You have to drive visibility. Nobody cares until you make them care.
“I’ll earn based on skill.”
People don’t pay for how clever your solution is. They pay for problems solved.
“Launch day is the finish line.”
It’s not. Launch day is the start of the real work.
“I’ll work for myself.”
You’ll work for everyone — your customers, your users, your community.
“It’ll be easier than a job.”
It won’t. It’ll be harder, lonelier, and demand more of you than employment ever did.
These aren’t warnings to scare you off. They’re guardrails to keep you sane when your expectations collide with reality — because they will.
Fighting your internal battles
2
27
Finding your people
If you’re going to take this path, find your people.
Building is lonely if you do it alone.
Doing the things you don’t want to do
Long-term thinking
- Don’t measure yourself against friends with jobs or founders with exits.
- Measure yourself against who you were six months ago.
- Are you making progress?
- Are you creating the things you want to create?
- Are you closer to the life you want to live?
The takeaway
Your next steps
Define your why
Write down in one or two sentences why you’re choosing this path. Not the vanity goal (“become rich”) — the real reason that will keep you going when progress feels invisible.Reframe failure
Start treating failure as data, not identity. Each “failed” launch or idea is just a test returning feedback. The only way to truly fail is to quit.Plan your runway
Buy yourself time. Figure out your savings, expenses, and minimum runway. If possible, aim for at least 12–24 months. Your mental clarity improves when you’re not panicking about rent.Set progress-based goals
Stop setting goals you can’t control, like “make $5k MRR” or “gain 1k followers.” Instead, set input goals: “Publish two posts a week” or “Launch your MVP by [date]” or “Write a newsletter consistently”. These are the things you control.Find your people
Join spaces where builders at your level hang out. Participate, share, ask questions. If nothing resonates, join us at the Design Engineers Club. You don’t need hundreds of peers — five good ones are enough.Shift your comparison
Stop measuring yourself against friends in stable jobs or founders with million-dollar exits. Start measuring against your past self: are you making progress, however small?Create your focus map
Write down the 3–5 things that matter most over the next six months. Everything else — chasing trends, obsessing over competition, doomscrolling — is noise.Commit to patience
Remind yourself daily: this is a long game. Compounding happens slowly, invisibly, and then all at once. You’re planting seeds, not harvesting crops.
This is just the first chapter of the Dopler Method. If you want the next chapters — practical playbooks, personal branding, and community-building — sign up below. We’ll send them as soon as they drop.
Design Engineers WeeklyLearn about design, development and business