Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses?

#171

Post by charlesdm » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 7:51 PM UTC

sixQuarks wrote: post #118

filipm wrote: post #13

Here's a couple of links you might like, although not all of them are exactly what you're looking for: - https://www.indiehackers.com/ (of course) - https://www.starterstory.com/ - https://www.authorityhacker.com/undercover/ - https://failory.com/ - Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses? (Jan 5, 2017): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13326535 (thanks @jbonniwell) - Ask HN: Successful one-person online…

I would say that these sites chronicle just the tip of the iceberg. I run a successful solo online business and would never agree to be profiled as I don't want to invite competition.

You're not wrong. They are a great source for inspiration.

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses?

#172

Post by dceddia » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 7:52 PM UTC

sixQuarks wrote: post #153

goodJobWalrus wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Which means it only makes sense being profiled if the readers of those sites are your potential customers.

Agreed. I would only do it if I was targeting entrepreneurs

"Entrepreneur" is only one label for the people who read Indie Hackers, though. They are software developers, designers, creatives, fitness enthusiasts, etc. All the people who currently work a day job and are hoping to do their own thing. Entrepreneurship may bring them together, but it's not necessarily their only (or even their primary) identity.

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses?

#173

Post by agitator » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 7:52 PM UTC

scyclow wrote: post #86

I've only made about $5.00 on it so far (certainly not enough to retire on), but my latest endeavor is looking quite promising: http://fastcashmoneyplus.biz

Damn, the jokes don't end. Co-worker was wondering why the site was using a whole core to run, and checked developer mode for crypto mining.

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses?

#174

Post by charlesdm » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 7:53 PM UTC

agopaul wrote: post #111

dharma1 wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that's right. But there's a limit to what kind of business you can create with a single php file in 2018, and typically those spaces are pretty competitive. Pieter's approach of what lead him to land on Nomadlist is I think where the value is - scratch your own itch, and do a lot of business experiments - don't spend more than a month or two on a business idea if it hasn't gained traction, move to the next on…

And also, the main takeaway from his story (like so many other similar stories) is: build a community. Really, his projects are interesting and all but "just ship it" is not enough, it has never been.

Just ship it works great if you have a unique mailing list with 100.000+ interested users. He had a hit with NL and kept building it from there; most of these businesses share the same target audience. Good for him!

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses?

#175

Post by _pfxa » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 8:00 PM UTC

sixQuarks wrote: post #118

filipm wrote: post #13

Here's a couple of links you might like, although not all of them are exactly what you're looking for: - https://www.indiehackers.com/ (of course) - https://www.starterstory.com/ - https://www.authorityhacker.com/undercover/ - https://failory.com/ - Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses? (Jan 5, 2017): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13326535 (thanks @jbonniwell) - Ask HN: Successful one-person online…

I would say that these sites chronicle just the tip of the iceberg. I run a successful solo online business and would never agree to be profiled as I don't want to invite competition.

You also invite competition by selling/advertising your product. For any product, it's most probably one of the customers that'll go "I can make something better than this!" Also, if your income depends on absence of competition, that means that your product needs a bit of improving and that your business is fragile.

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses?

#176

Post by goshx » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 8:02 PM UTC

stevesearer wrote: post #154

I run https://officesnapshots.com which highlights office design projects from around the world. I guess I don't technically qualify for these posts anymore since I've hired a couple employees, but it was a one-person business for 9 years before doing so. The basic origin was seeing photos of Google's offices and looking for a website that showed photos of other offices. There wasn't one so I made it.

I've been visiting your website for years and never realized it was an actual business. Have you written or presented about it somewhere? I'd love to learn your process.

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses?

#177

Post by matte_black » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 8:09 PM UTC

pc86 wrote: post #168

matte_black wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bwaha, revenue can be massaged even worse. There are companies making BILLIONS in revenue, and it all sounds very impressive until you see they are actually burning more money than they are even making. Profit can’t be more than revenue, but it can certainly be negative.

Making billions but spending more is not "massaging revenue." It's being shitty at turning a profit. Please explain the scenario in which you can take the same balance sheet and use it to show two different revenue figures. You can't. You can easily do the same thing with profit.

You could add in deferred revenue from previous quarters.

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses?

#178

Post by dvko » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 8:10 PM UTC

illegalsmile wrote: post #169

dvko wrote: post #152

I have been running a very unsexy business selling WordPress plugins for the last 5 years, averaging about $30K in revenue a month. Only expense is my time spent and a $5 Linode VPS that hosts my shop & update server.

Are these your wordpress plugins or is it an affiliate site? Any advertising?

My own plugins, all with a free version that's hosted on WordPress.org. The free version of my most popular product has hundreds of thousands of users and is what brings in the bulk of my customers.

No paid advertising. I tried but it never really got to a point where it was worth it.

Sorry for being a little vague, I'd rather not state my revenue and product together. And sine I've already mentioned my revenue, I won't mention the product. ;)

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses?

#179

Post by matte_black » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 8:11 PM UTC

pieterhg wrote: post #79

mikekchar wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know anything about the person in question, but any "profit" number is going to have to be fictitious anyway. Ideally, you make as little profit as possible so that you avoid paying taxes. You want your money working for you rather than going to the government (or sitting in a bank account). This is one of the nice aspects of taxes and tax avoidance -- it provides incentives for companies to continue investin…

I agree and observe the same. I honesty do it because I want to show you can build a business without venture capital funding, and do it as an indie (and in my case solo) maker with a strong disregard for hip tech stacks and frameworks. I sell a book but that’s less than 5% of my income. 95% is business.

It is certainly possible to make it as an indie and solo maker. This has never been in much doubt.

The question is for how long?

What does an an indie maker who has "made it" do next? What do the next decades of their life look like?

Will you ever team up with someone?

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses?

#180

Post by kerbalspacepro » Wed, Feb 28, 2018, 8:16 PM UTC

mi100hael wrote: post #132

IMO these two are mutually exclusive: > successful profitable business > provides the majority of the owner's income Building a business takes a lot of time & dedication. It's going to be very challenging to reach long-term stability and profitability if you go into it with your sights so low that you think "this will be successful and I can coast if it makes $100k per year." Play to win.

They're not mutually exclusive. It depends on how much the owner values their income/free time. If you really value income, then its obviously nothing great. Go and get a job at GAAF. But if you value your free time, a $100k/yr business can get you a life of free time in ~5 years.