Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#201

Post by jklepatch » Sun, Jan 03, 2021, 11:23 AM UTC

vmception wrote: post #53

Yes, Decentralized Finance (DeFi) has been very lucrative Basically its great because everything is client side so all you have to is make frontend websites for people to interact with, and even that isn't really necessary. You just need people, with wallets, to be able to interact with your smart contract easily. The smart contract you deploy has to address a pain point for existing users, typically by consolidating…

DeFi is really great for entrepreneurs yes: lots of curious users, lots of money in it, lots of VCs, can build on top of other projects without permissions, and no regulations.

And with crypto prices going up we are probably going to see the next DeFi bubble.

If you want to build a DeFi app, You need to learn DeFi development and I have a course just on that: https://eattheblocks-pro.teachable.com/p/defi-development-ma...

I also have a youtube channel for blockchain dev: https://m.youtube.com/channel/UCZM8XQjNOyG2ElPpEUtNasA

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#202

Post by jealousgelatin » Sun, Jan 03, 2021, 11:28 AM UTC

nicbou wrote: post #5

I write content to help people settle in Germany. They need certain services, and I get a commission when I refer them to those services. I don't think I could trivially reproduce the results, but I'm happy to get paid for offering free advice. I hope it lasts.

Im a dev who just moved to Berlin. Found your website and content IMMENSELY well done and useful. Breathe of fresh air to see how up to date the articles were. Made the German bureaucracy much more manageable tbh. Let me know if you'd like some user feedback on anything!

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#203

Post by jealousgelatin » Sun, Jan 03, 2021, 11:42 AM UTC

I built a react-native app https://skintheory.app to help people get rid of their acne in a manegable way.

Currently working on an iteration to add affiliate marketing links to skincare products. The amount of money I'm making is comparable to losing my wallet (multiple times).

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#204

Post by tomcam » Sun, Jan 03, 2021, 12:08 PM UTC

athinggoingon wrote: post #161

tomcam wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

eSnipe.com

I loved your story and that's the kind of business I am trying to build with my wife. One quick question. There exists many other sites offering the same service at even cheaper price points (e.g. EZ sniper, Myibidder, BidSlammer, GIXEN, JBidWatcher, esniper, AuctionStealer, Goofbit, etc.) How do you survive in such a commoditized market?

Word of mouth, dedication to customer service, being first... and probably a good dose of luck.

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#205

Post by tomcam » Sun, Jan 03, 2021, 12:09 PM UTC

wyclif wrote: post #178

tomcam wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

eSnipe.com

Thanks, I used your service to buy a guitar I really didn't want to miss out on. You should update the copyright notice from 2015, though.

Thanks for the business and the tip! I bought the site itself due to my guitar addiction!

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#206

Post by tomcam » Sun, Jan 03, 2021, 12:10 PM UTC

tmaly wrote: post #172

tomcam wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

eSnipe.com

I used it once to buy a laptop on ebay in 1999. It saved me.

How cool is that! And thank you.

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#207

Post by listenallyall » Sun, Jan 03, 2021, 12:15 PM UTC

kureikain wrote: post #189

listenallyall wrote: post #188

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your pricing is high for this service. Exceptionally high, given the limits and no sending ability. I'd suggest taking a good look at competitive services.

Thank you so much for your feedback. I'm still working out on the price. What do you think is a reasonable price?

Well, if I was shopping around, I might notice that an account at MXRoute costs less than half of your Pro plan, with fewer limits. And that's a full mail service, with mailboxes/POP/IMAP/SMTP etc, but it could also certainly be used simply as a forwarding service for custom domains. And they have many years in business, high credibility (well, higher than a brand new service). That's just one alternative.

Obviously if you have limited needs, just 1 or 2 domains, and can get by on the $1 plan, that is price competitive even with free services (like many domain registrars offering free mail forwarding). But the jump to $10 month is far too much, IMO.

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#208

Post by fileeditview » Sun, Jan 03, 2021, 12:18 PM UTC

I run my side project https://namesmith.io for about 5 years now. It is a domain name generator which can also check the domain availability. It is covering the server cost plus a bit extra. About $200 per month.

I didn't work on it for about 3 years but I recently decided to give it some love. I still think it has potential.

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#209

Post by akfaew » Sun, Jan 03, 2021, 1:15 PM UTC

I'm able to support myself from my online business now, but it took three years of learning and struggle to get here. This was not time wasted, as I grew a lot.

I get a compliment from time to time from my users asking if I'm really running my product solo.

The tool is https://syften.com and it's a keyword notification service for Reddit, Hacker News, Indie Hackers, Slack communities, Facebook groups etc.

I think that the biggest help was the Indie Hackers community.

Interestingly, after reading all of Paul Grahams essays and going through startup school I saw no spike in my MRR. On the other hand, reading a handful of James Clear articles had a profound effect. It's important to keep in mind that if what you read doesn't change your behaviour then it's just entertainment.

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#210

Post by nicbou » Sun, Jan 03, 2021, 1:48 PM UTC

jealousgelatin wrote: post #202

nicbou wrote: post #5

I write content to help people settle in Germany. They need certain services, and I get a commission when I refer them to those services. I don't think I could trivially reproduce the results, but I'm happy to get paid for offering free advice. I hope it lasts.

Im a dev who just moved to Berlin. Found your website and content IMMENSELY well done and useful. Breathe of fresh air to see how up to date the articles were. Made the German bureaucracy much more manageable tbh. Let me know if you'd like some user feedback on anything!

I'd certainly love feedback. If there's anything on your mind, just drop me a few lines. It doesn't matter if it's about the content or the website itself.