Ask HN: Best way to generate recurring income • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Best way to generate recurring income

#11

Post by phatbyte » Tue, Mar 08, 2011, 11:06 PM UTC

If you are a developer start creating small things. Don't go jump into a large web app. Small bites will help motivate and create a momentum so you can start doing bigger things.

For example, last year I created a couple of jQuery premium plugins, I putted a price tag on them and offer user support. Some of people said "no way, your plugin will make it, there will be free version of it anytime soon".

Guess what ? Almost one year has passed, there aren't any full featured alternatives and I'm making a $xx bucks on a daily basis. I'm not making $50, but it's close tho. For the effort I've put into it I pretty happy with the outcome. Clients appreciate the fact that I offer support, and the best thing is, I haven't yet give any support because none of my clients have request it so far.

In a nutshell, my best advice for you is: - Start by doing small quality things. - Create a solid client base, keep them happy and show them what you are doing currently

Soon enough your will start see some profit.

Re: Ask HN: Best way to generate recurring income

#12

Post by andrewce » Wed, Mar 09, 2011, 3:22 AM UTC

flignats wrote: post #10

Why is your goal to make $50 a day?

Assuming he makes $50 every day for a calendar year, we're talking a little ways north of $18k/yr, before taxes. Not the biggest amount in the world, but certainly pretty substantial by any reasonable metric.

Alternatively: $50 seems to me like a pretty reachable number, while still being large enough that it's not immediately reachable.

Though I won't presume to know the OP's motivations.

Re: Ask HN: Best way to generate recurring income

#13

Post by chipocabra » Wed, Mar 09, 2011, 9:06 AM UTC

phatbyte wrote: post #11

If you are a developer start creating small things. Don't go jump into a large web app. Small bites will help motivate and create a momentum so you can start doing bigger things. For example, last year I created a couple of jQuery premium plugins, I putted a price tag on them and offer user support. Some of people said "no way, your plugin will make it, there will be free version of it anytime soon". Guess what ? Alm…

How many plugins did you write? Also, how do you handle payment, licensing and such?

Making about $40/day extra would help a lot currently and I'm not bad with jQuery. I can probably hack together some simple yet usefull php scripts too. Wonder if those would sell?

Re: Ask HN: Best way to generate recurring income

#14

Post by thekevan » Wed, Mar 09, 2011, 1:52 PM UTC

underwood wrote: post #3

Don't sell yourself short, all of these options could easily bring in more than $50 per day. Think about your current skill set versus what you would like to learn that would help your career and future earning potential. Balance those two items to help you choose. If you have an interest in all three develop all three ideas over time. For the short term I would pick the area that you are most skilled in so you have…

You mention Mixergy and 37Signals, but http://beyondthepedway.com/ seems to hardly ever be mentioned. Great stuff there as well in my opinion.

Re: Ask HN: Best way to generate recurring income

#15

Post by phatbyte » Wed, Mar 09, 2011, 7:32 PM UTC

chipocabra wrote: post #13

phatbyte wrote: post #11

If you are a developer start creating small things. Don't go jump into a large web app. Small bites will help motivate and create a momentum so you can start doing bigger things. For example, last year I created a couple of jQuery premium plugins, I putted a price tag on them and offer user support. Some of people said "no way, your plugin will make it, there will be free version of it anytime soon". Guess what ? Alm…

How many plugins did you write? Also, how do you handle payment, licensing and such? Making about $40/day extra would help a lot currently and I'm not bad with jQuery. I can probably hack together some simple yet usefull php scripts too. Wonder if those would sell?

I currently have two plugins. I use paypal to handle my payments, and I have a normal copyright license for users, nothing major really.

Like I said, keep it simple and launch it. Agile way ;)

Re: Ask HN: Best way to generate recurring income

#16

Post by flignats » Wed, Mar 09, 2011, 11:02 PM UTC

andrewce wrote: post #12

flignats wrote: post #10

Why is your goal to make $50 a day?

Assuming he makes $50 every day for a calendar year, we're talking a little ways north of $18k/yr, before taxes. Not the biggest amount in the world, but certainly pretty substantial by any reasonable metric. Alternatively: $50 seems to me like a pretty reachable number, while still being large enough that it's not immediately reachable. Though I won't presume to know the OP's motivations.

Yeah, but his purpose behind wanting to make $50 a day can dictate how you want to get there. Do you want it to be a sustainable $50 or are you trying to reach that goal to then expand beyond that $50? Whitehat / blackhat $50 a day?

So, the why is important for me to suggest to you how :)

Re: Ask HN: Best way to generate recurring income

#17

Post by mariust » Thu, Mar 10, 2011, 2:05 AM UTC

Are you looking to learn new skills or to make money? Learning something new is not going to bring you $50 / day now, but on the long run yes it could turn down to $500 / day or more. With that said I would suggest looking into the mobile industry iPhone and Android for now (the other mobile OS are not worth the time and effort, the manufacturers will create a true OS pretty much soon - if they wake up from they're dream " We have a mobile OS").

A lot of the content on the web today is getting much attention from smartphones, so there is a ton of potential out there.

Hope this helps