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Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

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Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#341

Post by jotakami »

lazyasciiart wrote: post #302
asciident wrote: post #208

Not really a productive venture, but it was profitable. I used a 3% cashback credit card on a financial company's money sending service with no fees, and sent my sister $3,500 every two days. She'd then eventually pay me back through bank ACH (also free). Then I'd pay off my credit card every week so my credit balance remained low. Made about $1,500 a month for a year, before they stopped giving cashback for transfer…

This is called "manufactured spending" and there are people who do this big-time, if you look into the credit card churning/points area.

Yep, the standard practice nowadays is buying Visa gift cards and then using them to purchase money orders. It’s usually only worth the time and effort if you have a good sign up bonus on your credit card. However, I’ve also been looking into some creative and profitable ways to utilize the “float”—the pile of cash you’re sitting on for 4-6 weeks until the bill is due. It’s definitely worth my time if I can use that productively and roll it over each month...

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#342

Post by tehlike »

hkhanna wrote: post #93
tehlike wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is your specialization in corporate law?

My practice is corporate law, yes. Everything from basic stuff like commercial contracts, incorporation and financings to complex mergers & acquisitions.

That is pretty cool. I have a friend who mentioned he helped another friend sell his company once. He was a business guy, not corporate, but it kind of piqued my interest.

Did you think of scaling your prqctice?

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#343

Post by nisse72 »

j_b_s wrote: post #106

In a previous life, I became a scuba instructor that kept me in the latest dive gear. (This was along side working towards a Ph.D.) Eventually it burned me out -- instructing is a stressful "service" gig; and it turned me off of diving for years. This is something that I've observed with other folks in "lifestyle" businesses, e.g., I know yoga and martial arts instructors that ultimately quit not only the instructing…

How to ruin a great hobby: make it your job.

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#344

Post by jamestimmins »

gottebp wrote: post #32

Breville coffee grinders are impossible to get internal parts for. I designed a 3D printed upgrade for the main wear-part in their BCG800XL and BCG600SIL Grinders. The storefront is through ShapeWays[1] and I use iFixit[2],[3] to drive the traffic. It passively makes enough to cover my own coffee needs forever. I spend about 20 minutes per month fielding questions. This all happened because my grinder failed and I co…

This is awesome! I'm curious tho, is there not a trademark/patent that prevents you from making/selling these?

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#345

Post by sink »

DamnInteresting wrote: post #229

I established DamnInteresting.com in 2005, a place where myself and handful of others produce original long-form non-fiction in article and podcast form. Despite plenty of traffic, it didn't reach the break-even point for several years, because I despise advertisements and I refused to add them to my site. I funded the project in other ways, such as donations, publishing a book, licensing content, etc. Nowadays it st…

Thank you! I found your site long ago and I’ve enjoyed every article. I often wondered what your plan for it was and would be. This puts a little closure on it. I feel the same way about advertising and wonder what alternate business models could happily maintain such a place while keeping it mostly free and open.

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#346

Post by jotakami »

xiphias2 wrote: post #65
samsonradu wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would like to hear more about this, specially from an European perspective and EUR-denominated investments.

I'm focusing on Bitcoin and physical gold / silver, as I view stocks and houses overvalued, but I always get downvoted here on HN when I go into details, that's why I prefer if people read a lot for themselves. I like Mike Maloney's youtube series as a start on macroeconomics.

I got into crypto investing last year but with a strategy that nobody else seems to be doing (except maybe hedge funds). I don’t have the stomach or emotional stability for risky trades so everything I do is delta-neutral. Mostly leveraged futures basis trades, i.e. selling contango futures and buying spot, or vice versa on backwardated futures.

It will never generate the same returns that skilled long/short trading can pull, but I also never have a drawdown. Still managed >50% return last year so I’ll tale it.

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#347

Post by xiphias2 »

jotakami wrote: post #346
xiphias2 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm focusing on Bitcoin and physical gold / silver, as I view stocks and houses overvalued, but I always get downvoted here on HN when I go into details, that's why I prefer if people read a lot for themselves. I like Mike Maloney's youtube series as a start on macroeconomics.

I got into crypto investing last year but with a strategy that nobody else seems to be doing (except maybe hedge funds). I don’t have the stomach or emotional stability for risky trades so everything I do is delta-neutral. Mostly leveraged futures basis trades, i.e. selling contango futures and buying spot, or vice versa on backwardated futures. It will never generate the same returns that skilled long/short trading…

I hope you know what you're doing and making money, as I was afraid to go into futures / leveraged trading so far.

I'm also working on making more money with some trading, but I don't want to talk about it, and even in the best case it has only a small of upside compared to just holding Bitcoin itself.

I understand your viewpoint totally, as I saw many friends getting into deep depression because of the volatility of the Bitcoin price. It is very serious thing. One friend of mine got very strong into cocaine, another friend's marriage burned down, another friend started day trading alts and lost half of his Bitcoins, and another friend (the smartest one) realized that he can't take the volatility and sold after a 10% loss. I view holding Bitcoin as a revolution, so I'm emotionally attached to holding it even if its value goes to 0. Still, I'm a software engineer, so even in the worst case I just work and get a high salary and probably start investing again.

One thing you could do is to just buy Bitcoin with 1-2% of your net worth, which is a great hedge for the current financial system, and also maybe that loss / volatility you are able to stomach. You're upside will be tiny, but you will get used to volatility a bit more.

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#348

Post by m0zg »

georgeburdell wrote: post #235
ynac wrote: post #109

* Act as a standby for dish pits at the local restaurants - filling in only when someone doesn't show since I don't want to take what could be a lifeline job for someone AND having a standby like me means they can keep their job instead of just being a no-show * Write articles for other people - usually on topics I really don't have a lot of knowledge or feeling about to start. * Mow lawns - I'm allergic to grass. Bu…

> Sell plant starts - a little late for this year, but it's one of those things you can save seeds from your regular groceries / food prep at home and early Spring...ba-da-bing ba-da-bang...kind of almost free plants! Might work with vegetables, but aren't most grocery fruits derived from cuttings?

Actually it doesn't even work with most vegetables. To get the kind of yields people are used to, many vegetables are hybrids. The kicker is, the second generation plant (the one that you'd grow from the seeds) is no longer a hybrid, so you won't get the same plant.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_seed

And as you point out, most fruits can't be grown from seeds either. _Something_ will grow, but you aren't going to get Sweetango apples from seeds.

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#349

Post by uchman »

mdorazio wrote: post #159
denormalfloat wrote: post #72

Invest in an S&P 500 ETF. This is probably the lowest effort side project you can have which still makes money. Also, if you learn about the stock market, it makes you more confident in how your savings looks, how your retirement will look, how to manage money, etc.

As an alternative if you want cash flow instead of long-term margins, you can go for a dividend-oriented ETF and get 5%+ for doing literally nothing.

Totally agree. I set aside some funds in REITs for good dividends and then some value stocks

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#350

Post by adamzerner »

Playing poker!

My winrate online is only a couple dollars an hour. I don't play live very often so I don't have the sample size to say what my winrate would be, but I'd guess $10-20/hr. So, ultimately, not too much money. But if I keep improving, my winrate should keep going up.

It also makes a lot of sense because I'm developing a poker app - https://premiumpokertools.com/. So I guess it is sort of tied into programming/CS for me in a way.

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