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Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses?

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

#201

Post by adpoe »

tomashertus wrote: post #183
adpoe wrote: post #127

I run an ecommerce store from Shopify which fulfills the orders by drop-shipping through AliExpress. This is definitely doable for one person, and it isn't technically challenging for a software developer--but the hardest part (at least for me) is marketing, creating content, advertising, and so on. Actually running a Shopify store and fulfilling by drop-shipping is simple. I would definitely recommend that as a good…

I've been reading about drop-shipping for quite time and it seems definitely achievable. One thing I'm not sure is how do you handle returns? What is someone wants to return the product back to you? Do you send it back to China or just take the lost? How do you handle the costs for shipping etc?

Returns are a pain, yes. It'll be different for every vendor though, so you need to take it on a case-by-case basis.

Honestly, my advice is to not worry about it up front, and dive in.

You need to worry about making your first sale (which is seriously, very hard), long before you worry about returns. =)

You'll figure out it when you need to.

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

#203

Post by tmaly »

nickjj wrote: post #100
xiaoma wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hmm... most (or at least many) people here are building businesses now and have little interest in being on yet another marketing-heavy email list. A forum like this is a great place to connect and share stories! In the long run that will pay off far more than just strafing by and telling people to sign up for your email. How did you build your following? How did you monetize? Are you an ad publisher or are you selli…

I'm in the process of building a business right now too, which for me encompasses "how to be a self reliant software developer who can choose to work whenever and wherever". I'll tell you a secret, I haven't even e-mailed my list once. Why? Because I'm still figuring this stuff out as I go. I don't have years of content to create marketing auto-responders and dozens of products to push to people. Just yesterday I was…

You blog posts seem pretty interesting. How did you choose the titles?

I agree 100% with your statement about living live on one's own terms.

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

#204

Post by adrianh »

I run https://www.soundslice.com/ with one other full-time person. We're self-funded and make a profit at this point.

Soundslice is interactive sheet music synced with audio/video recordings — the Internet's best software for learning pieces of music.

We make money by licensing the technology, taking a cut of lessons in a video-lesson marketplace, plus charging $20/month for a "pro" version (Soundslice For Teachers).

We're happily bootstrapped and located comfortably far from the La La Land of Silicon Valley. (I moved from Chicago to Amsterdam a year ago, and my partner is in Chicago.)

In fact, being able to tell potential customers/partners that we're not a "conventional" startup (one that just wants to sell out to give its investors a return) has been an unexpected benefit. The story resonates with people, and it's good for building trust.

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

#205

Post by dalys »

chebum wrote: post #14
sairamkunala wrote: post #5

https://www.indiehackers.com/ Here is a good list of 1 or 2 people software SaaS/websites along with interviews

Why people share their revenues? Every product can be copied. If you know revenue, you know what product you should copy.

Here in Sweden, and I suspect in many many countries, revenues and profits and pretty much all numbers in a limited liability stock (the most common kind) company are public information. Here is Spotify for example https://translate.google.com/translate?sl=sv&tl=en&u=http%3A... (allabolag.se is a third party site aggregating these numbers.)

Also, income statements are public information, yet making both of these public information has not imploded the economy. Rather the opposite it seems. It is for example a huge benefit when you are looking for a job to be able to go to the interview and ask why the company never has made any profit the last five years, just as a simple example. Also very good for anyone in the B2B segment.

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

#206

Post by tylerhall »

I started selling macOS (and now iOS) software on my own website back in 2007. https://clickontyler.com My original goal was to earn enough money to refinish the hardwood floors in my house. Since then, however, it's taken on a life of its own and become a suite of three main products. It enables me to live comfortably in the Nashville suburbs.

All that said, I've been doing this for ten years now and am burnt out. If anyone would like to buy me out and take over the business, I'm open to offers.

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

#207

Post by johnward »

chebum wrote: post #60
xolb wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But by the time finishing the copy, the owner had improved their product and advanced the roadmap. The key here is constant move, IMO.

From my experience copying a feature is about twice cheaper than trying different approaches. You may not figure out a good way to implement it until you build first version and let people try it. You may need re-iterate to find perfect implementation. The copy-cat will come later to see what you've done and will implement the good solution without iterations. The copy-cat may have more developers too.

Just curious. Why aren't you copying these and ranking in all that money then?

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

#208

Post by johnward »

laumars wrote: post #39
chebum wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good for customers but not for business. Competition tends to minimize margins and profits. While main business goal is to make money, competition is against business goals.

Competition can also grow a sector, bringing in many new customers that may have otherwise dismissed an idea or might not have even heard of the idea without the exposure driven by the competition.

This is kind of why I think Tesla wants someone like FF to survive.

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

#209

Post by jdc0589 »

This barely counts, but I started a small premium handmade custom leather goods brand about 6 months ago: http://vulcancrafting.com. cash/card wallets, notebook/journal wallets, belts, etc... I didn't want to spend all my time after work sitting at a computer.

I'm not in the positive yet; there's an equipment investment cost, I intentionally don't keep a huge order backlog, and I don't charge as much as I could for some stuff. But, it more than pays for the hobby at this point, and I should recoup costs and start turning a profit in a couple months.

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

#210

Post by knicholes »

adrianh wrote: post #204

I run https://www.soundslice.com/ with one other full-time person. We're self-funded and make a profit at this point. Soundslice is interactive sheet music synced with audio/video recordings — the Internet's best software for learning pieces of music. We make money by licensing the technology, taking a cut of lessons in a video-lesson marketplace, plus charging $20/month for a "pro" version (Soundslice For Teachers).…

That and you're a Django/Python legend! I love that your combined passions in life have brought such an incredible tool to the world while also bringing you a profit.
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