Balancing a 9-to-5 Dev Job with a 5-to-9 Clothing Brand

Here's my daily schedule: 6:00-7:30 AM — twins wake up, breakfast chaos, morning routine. 7:30-8:30 AM — Kimaya Threads work (emails, order management, design review). 9:00 AM-6:00 PM — full-time development work (ServiceCrud, client projects). 6:00-8:30 PM — twins' dinner, bath time, bedtime routine. 8:30-10:30 PM — Kimaya Threads work (production coordination, marketing, platform development). 10:30 PM — collapse into bed.

This schedule leaves approximately 4 hours per day for Kimaya Threads — split across morning and evening blocks. It's not enough time to build a clothing empire. It is enough time to build a deliberate, quality-focused brand that grows sustainably rather than explosively. The distinction matters.

The Compartmentalization Skill

The hardest part of running a business alongside a job isn't the hours — it's the context switching. During my 9-5 development work, Kimaya Threads problems (a supplier delay, a customer complaint, a design decision that needs approval) compete for attention with the code I'm writing. During Kimaya Threads evening sessions, unresolved technical problems from the day job intrude.

The solution I've developed: rigid temporal boundaries with dedicated capture systems. During development work, any Kimaya Threads thought gets captured immediately in a dedicated note — one line, enough to reconstruct the thought later — and then dismissed. During Kimaya Threads work, development thoughts get the same treatment. The capture system (a simple Notion board with "Dev Inbox" and "Kimaya Inbox" columns) ensures nothing is forgotten while preventing context contamination.

This compartmentalization took months to develop. Early on, I tried to handle both simultaneously — answering supplier WhatsApp messages during code reviews, debugging production issues during fabric sourcing calls. The result: mediocre performance in both roles. A dedicated 2-hour block of focused Kimaya Threads work produces more than 6 hours of fragmented, distracted effort.

The Partnership Structure

Kimaya Threads wouldn't exist without a true partnership. My wife handles the creative and operational dimensions — design direction, supplier relationships, quality control, photography, and social media. I handle the technical and analytical dimensions — e-commerce platform development, inventory systems, financial analysis, and digital marketing optimization.

This division isn't rigid (we both contribute ideas across domains), but it ensures that both sides of the business receive expert attention without either person trying to master both fashion and technology simultaneously. The clear ownership also eliminates the decision paralysis that affects partnerships without defined roles: design decisions are hers, technical decisions are mine, and strategic decisions are collaborative.

What Gets Sacrificed

Honesty demands acknowledging what this schedule costs. Social life: nearly zero during weekdays, limited on weekends. Personal leisure: reading, gaming, casual entertainment — reduced to fragments. Sleep: consistently 6-7 hours, which is adequate but not optimal. Physical exercise: compressed into 30-minute sessions 3-4 times per week rather than the hour-long workouts I'd prefer.

These sacrifices are sustainable for a season — the startup phase of Kimaya Threads, where the brand is establishing its foundation. They're not sustainable indefinitely. The long-term plan involves hiring operational support as revenue grows, automating repetitive processes, and gradually reducing my direct involvement in daily operations. The goal is to build systems that run the business rather than running the business through personal effort.

Tips for Others Considering This Path

Start before you're ready, but plan before you start. The side business will never feel like the right time. But starting without a basic plan (product, market, finances) wastes the limited time you have on directionless activity.

Protect your job performance. The side business is built on the financial foundation of your salary. If side business ambition degrades your job performance, you lose both: the job (through performance issues) and the business (through lost financial runway). Your 9-5 is not the enemy — it's the sponsor.

Choose a partner who complements your skills. A solo side business alongside a full-time job is a burnout recipe. A partnership that distributes the workload and brings complementary expertise is sustainable.

Accept slower growth. A side business grows at half the speed of a full-time venture. This is math, not motivation. Accept it, and make peace with building a brand over years rather than months. The advantage: the salary safety net means you can make better decisions (less desperation, more patience) than founders who've bet everything on their startup.

The 9-to-5 / 5-to-9 life isn't glamorous. It's exhausting, relentless, and constantly insufficient. But it's also deeply meaningful — building something of your own, creating products you believe in, and proving that parenthood and entrepreneurship aren't mutually exclusive. Some days that meaning is enough. Other days, you just need coffee. Lots of coffee.