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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 pieterhg »

matte_black wrote: post #179
pieterhg wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

In terms of money, if you just save enough and have low costs, it means potential financial independence.

I think the most joy I get is from making, so I will continue that. Money was the goal in terms of me having to pay my bills, but the second goal was always that I just like to make things.

Before websites, I made music and visual graphic art. Making makes me happy.

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

#202

Post by joeevans1000 »

lemming wrote: post #190

I develop Cursive ( https://cursive-ide.com ), an IDE for Clojure code based on IntelliJ. Strictly speaking it's just a plugin right now, but that's how most of my users use it. I worked on it for about 2 years, mostly in open beta, and started selling it in December 2015. It's been the only thing I work on and has provided all my income since then.

And what a wonderful tool it is! Thank you so much for Cursive. For all of you folks wanting to try Clojure, this is a great way to go.

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

#204

Post by nojvek »

ezekg wrote: post #158
gtsteve wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's certainly impressive for a one person company. Is that 50k a month profit though? I co-own a company that turns over a similar amount but you wouldn't be jealous of my bank balance.

I think he said in his recent announcement that his profit margin is ~90% before taxes, so definitely good.

50k a month is 600k

With a 90% profit margin and 30% taxes, 378k per year in bank.

Almost 1k/day

Not fuck you money, but that’s pretty solid. I remember getting paid 1k/month as my first Job.

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

#206

Post by Axsuul »

nojvek wrote: post #204
ezekg wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he said in his recent announcement that his profit margin is ~90% before taxes, so definitely good.

50k a month is 600k With a 90% profit margin and 30% taxes, 378k per year in bank. Almost 1k/day Not fuck you money, but that’s pretty solid. I remember getting paid 1k/month as my first Job.

You can also expense a lot more stuff as a business.

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

#207

Post by quickthrower2 »

_xzxj wrote: post #39
superasn wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this guy is truly an inspiration. If you're a one person business, you will find this tweet very useful: https://mobile.twitter.com/levelsio/status/93870716650815488... (aka stop running after shiny new things and just do it!)

No offense but Pieter Levels seems like a bit of a bastard, and you can see it in that thread. I don't pay much attention to him, but when I do come across his social media posts they're pretty off-putting. He's pretty successful yes, but €50k/mo is not exactly f-you money.

> €50k/mo is not exactly f-you money.

I f-you money is saying f-you to your boss, then yes it is. Even in the most expensive cities in the world. Hong Kong, SF

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

#208

Post by lemming »

joeevans1000 wrote: post #202
lemming wrote: post #190

I develop Cursive ( https://cursive-ide.com ), an IDE for Clojure code based on IntelliJ. Strictly speaking it's just a plugin right now, but that's how most of my users use it. I worked on it for about 2 years, mostly in open beta, and started selling it in December 2015. It's been the only thing I work on and has provided all my income since then.

And what a wonderful tool it is! Thank you so much for Cursive. For all of you folks wanting to try Clojure, this is a great way to go.

Thanks! I'm glad it's working well for you, that's always great to hear.

If anyone is planning to try out Clojure, Cursive is free for non-commercial use (OSS, personal hacking, student work) so it's easy to give it a try. I make my money principally from companies buying licences for their devs.

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

#209

Post by sixQuarks »

_pfxa wrote: post #175
sixQuarks wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

You completely misunderstood the point. What would invite competition is the realization of how much revenue can be made with that product.

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

#210

Post by mailjenil »

brandfountain wrote: post #127

https://brandfountain.com I have curated a stellar portfolio of brandable domains geared to startup community, allows me to dev other projects without raising seed. I succeed by being flexible/sympathetic with early stage companies, expect to reach six digit sales on almost autopilot.

How often your domains are sold? Are those all inbound inquiries?
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