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Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

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Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#1

Post by noddly »

I'm a dev with almost no experience in a 3rd world country. Considering the COVID situation, In the worst case scenario I'll be without a job for a while. I have finances to manage for (probably) a year and a month or two.

I want to ask what are the ways with good probability of making ~ $1-1.5/mo (enough to live and still have considerable remaining in my situation)

I'm asking for ideas because the popular ideas are out of question:

- Domsetic Freelancing/Consulting does not have much scope, SMB don't seem to be doing well so site-dev work for them also isn't viable

- Making software for companies and govt. here isn't much of an option either, there's corruption and they don't particularly care about having a $99/mo solution when there are people willing to work for that rate

- More of a opinion, but overseas freelancing opportunities aren't gonna hire a newbie and fiverr is a race to bottom.

I'd appreciate any advice on how to proceed, any problem you think is a opporutnity to have a solution for or just your experience from another economic depression.

Meta: Started coding 3.5 years ago and probably have enough under my belt to try multiple projects over this duration. Made a new account as I don't want to link this to my real identity. I'm not looking for job offers out of sympathy. This is just considering the worst case scenario, and I want to have something to fall back to if it turns out to be the case.

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#5

Post by mtsmith85 »

I would apply to something like Toptal. When we were first built our team for my startup, we used Toptal contractors for quite a while. They were solid, and to my understanding, made good money. Toptal takes a significant cut of course. The bar is you have to pass a qualification test, which given your 3.5 years of experience, should be enough to get up and running.

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#6

Post by napolux »

This is what I'll do, I've personally tried some of these (not the onlyfans account :P) and despite people will tell that it won't work, it will, somehow.

* Create info websites and put banners/affiliation there. Target a specific niche where you have some knowledge, try to write at leats 15/20 articles for 2k words per article, optimize a bit for SEO and taget the eu/usa market, there are plenty of guides out there. After some months if you're lucky you can make 100/200€ per website, with not much effort. * Sell stuff online. Is your country famous for some specific thing? Are you able to create templates, plugins, etc? Sell them online using gumroad or something similar. Create a landing page and include gumroad, that's it. Avoid marketplaces, they're overcrowded * Try to write for some tech blogs, they pay peanuts, but it's ok if you can't find anything else. * Do you have the guts to open an onlyfans porn account? That can be an emergency solution. * Scrape websites and sell interesting data. Like I don't know, a list of all the shops of a specific category in the state of Illinois for 5$, always on your website using stripe, gumroad, etc...

Many small activities can at the end of the month ammass a decent amount of money.

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#7

Post by hrishios »

It'd be hard to say without more information. Third world country is a wide and shifting definition, and it's the most important aspect of your question. Couple of general points:

1. A large number of countries have agencies that will aggregate freelancers and take on large jobs. I'm not suggesting large players in the size of TCS or SAP, but smaller shops that hire out devs. It's a good place to start to get contacts into companies you'd like to work at, then move to a direct position there. Most countries make anti-poaching clauses practically unenforceable, especially if the candidate is the one approaching the company.

2. This is higher risk higher reward, but building micro-B2C/SaaS for a different market then launching on sites like Product hunt have the opportunity to bring in revenue. This is only if you're cut out for it.

Can't say much more without details, but I wish you luck in your search!

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#8

Post by rememberlenny »

If you have design or product mindset, then the idea of spending a few weeks to launch products make sense.

One good reference is the "stair step" approach. You can make something that a few people will pay $50-$100/month for. Maybe like a theme or a designed landing page. Then you can ramp up to make something that does $100-$250/month. Once you have those two, then aim for something that brings in $300-$600 month.

If the 1000-1500 range seems daunting, then aim for an intentionally low, but consistent amount, then repeat.

Link: https://robwalling.com/2015/03/26/the-stairstep-approach-to-...

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#9

Post by dessant »

deathhand wrote: post #3

I've hired through UpWork.com

People are usually exploited on freelancing sites like UpWork to work for considerably less money than the market value of their work, so I wouldn't recommend that, unless they're in a desperate situation.

Re: Ask HN: How do I reach making $1-1.5k/mo in 13 months?

#10

Post by Gustomaximus »

My view is coming from someone who hires people last few years.

1) People hate on Freelancer sites, but get on them and and build a profile. If you are good it will show in time. Expect to work for peanuts at the beginning - consider it advertising.

2) Don't lie about what you can do. Always do a good job. I've tried a bunch of people from poorer countries and those seem to be the 2 main issues. Dont have a mentality of cutting corners.

3) Build stuff hired or not. I watch guys blossom from jr to mid/snr after work and work. You learn by doing. If your not working, work anyway. Pick a business, and build something that would be good for them. Contact them and see if you can sell it cheap. But keep building and getting better. This is a long term game. You might pick up a 1 decent client a year, but 5 years from now you will be flooded type deal.

Good luck - I think many of have the fear of what might be if this economy truly tanks.

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