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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?

#411

Post by rayraegah »

michaelscott wrote: post #164
rayraegah wrote: post #13

Launched in 2016 for free. Started making money in 2018 with $3,000+ MMR. Referral only (side) business. I work full-time as an engineer/principal in growth. I conduct a form of ethnography, embedding myself in the lives of consumers the way Margaret Mead did among Samoans. I interviews my subjects and the people around them, itemizing the contents of their home (photographing and videotaping), and accompany them as…

As others have mentioned this is a very interesting side gig. How did you find leads on these companies to turn this profitable though? I imagine any company that does this sort of research would have to be relatively forward thinking.

I used to be in technology consultancy and I built relationships and kept in touch. I sent out a newsletter, some reached back and asked for more information, others made introductions and got me connected. Most of the business I get is through referrals / word of mouth.

My base of operations is in Tokyo right now and there's a lot of demand for these services once people hear about it. Often people approach it for curiosity and then I work my leads to turn them into clients.

Not all companies were forward thinking but they have a common traits: empathy, more concerned on providing value to their customers, and emphasize long-term problem solving over quick fixes.

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

#412

Post by IanCal »

FPGAhacker wrote: post #410
IanCal wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Uber are obviously trying to get people to use their service. If using their service is bad for them, that's their fault because they were deliberately trying to encourage a behaviour that was detrimental to their business. That is different from finding a way through the rules which is clearly unintended.

You don't think offering cash back is a way to get people to use their service?

Of course it is. Do you really think that they wanted to pay eighteen thousand dollars for someone to rapidly transfer money back and forth?

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

#413

Post by robert_foss »

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…

I'm a long-term reader and listener, and DI is a fantastic source of interesting stories.

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

#414

Post by fredsted »

pmorici wrote: post #41

I taught myself circuit board design and found a niche market that I designed a few products for that sold like gangbusters with zero marketing for a few years until the market cooled off and low cost knock offs started entering the market. I also found that you could use the same CAD program that I learned to design PCB's to draw outlines to cut out on the laser CNC machine at the local maker space. I ended up findi…

That last paragraph perfectly describes and encapsulates how to find a niche project.

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

#415

Post by tunesmith »

mrfusion wrote: post #310
electricslpnsld wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would then have to deal with finding tenants, property maintenance issues, etc (or pay someone to do this), which is more than I really want to do right now. At that point I would be closer to a full time landlord, not a full-time software engineer who enjoys working on houses on the side!

Run the numbers and compare in your next sale. As a rule of thumb if you can get 1% of the sale price per month in rent you’re doing awesome. And a good property manager should take away 95% of the hassle.

You're saying that if the house sold for $500,000, you should keep it if you can rent it for $5,000 / month or more?

I've heard of 5% of 1/12th of the projected sale price, which seems more realistic.

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

#416

Post by astura »

pmorici wrote: post #173
0x00000000 wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't that illegal everywhere in the US without a dealer license?

No, there is no law anywhere in the US prohibiting you from selling a used car in a private transaction.

It's only a "private transaction" if you aren't doing it for the intention of making a profit. (depending on exact laws).

Unless the laws in their state are solely based on volume, they are almost certainly acting as a dealer, which requires a dealer license and a bunch more legal requirements. In most states once someone buys a car with the intention of reselling it rather than using it, they automatically become a dealer.

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

#417

Post by ccantana »

I run a popular weekly newsletter that makes fun of the tech industry. Think: The Onion meets TechCrunch.

Newsletters can generally charge a much higher CPM than a social media accounts or even podcasts in some cases. You can start making beer money with only a few thousand subscribers.

We’re also thinking of hosting a few live events as well once our audience is large enough.

(P.S. for the curious, the newsletter is called TechLoaf: https://techloaf.io)

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

#418

Post by tunesmith »

m0zg wrote: post #351
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.

Wealth Multiplier Protip: if you're a business owner (even if your business is just a single person LLC) you can put away up to $56K a year pre-tax into your "solo" 401k.

If you're a solo business owner, do NOT forget about Form 5500. Your payroll company and 401k host will likely not tell you about it.

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

#420

Post by quicklyfrozen »

MrFoof wrote: post #238
ryandrake wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an amateur shade tree mechanic myself I have so many questions! Feel free to ignore if you feel you'd be giving away your secret sauce. 1. Where do you find buyers? I'd be concerned about inventory either piling up or taking too long to sell at a price that even breaks even when you are spending time/money on fixing. 2. Do you feel your value-add is more on the sales side as a broker or is it in the repairs? I kno…

1. Mostly Craigslist, with a bit of AutoTrader. The reality is AutoTrader is swamped with dealer listings and sponsor listings that I don't feel I'm receiving any additional value for their listing fees. 2. Repairs and preventative maintenance. We average ~4 feet of snow a year, so tie rod ends, wheel bearings, control arms, bushes, flex pipes, exhaust hangers, etc. suffer since no one really maintains a steel car pr…

Those Bendpak Quick Jacks look pretty nice -- seems like you'd have good access to everything. Any drawbacks?
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