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Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses?

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

#51
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not many expenses, though.

Then why not just list the profit? Typically when I see revenues posted it means the profit must only be a fraction of that amount.

I guess it's mostly his living expenses and some hosting fees.

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

#52
post #39

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.

It is far easier to become a bastard when running a one man business than if you had a team. With a team no one person can take all the credit.

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

#53

Pieter Levels is the creator of: - https://nomadlist.com/ - https://remoteok.io/ - https://hoodmaps.com/ And he just broke €50,000/m a few days ago: https://mobile.twitter.com/levelsio/status/96802754410347315...

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!)

I think that's right. But there's a limit to what kind of business you can create with a single php file in 2018, and typically those spaces are pretty competitive.

Pieter's approach of what lead him to land on Nomadlist is I think where the value is - scratch your own itch, and do a lot of business experiments - don't spend more than a month or two on a business idea if it hasn't gained traction, move to the next one. Again, only works for some type of businesses.

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

#54
post #46
post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Rarely. Returns are a bother to handle, I put it off then go through a bunch of boxes every so often.

That's interesting. I just heard about a guy who is in the returns auction business where he'll take all your returns and then get rid of them without you ever having to get involved, then you get a cut after he sells the product.

I know a couple services like that but aren't using them for various reasons

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

#56

I run BugMuncher on my own ( https://www.bugmuncher.com ), I've been working on it full time since October 2015, and it's been profitable since November 2016, providing all of my income. If you're interested I've been documenting the entire process of taking BugMuncher from a side project to my full-time job on my blog starting here - https://www.bugmuncher.com/blog/from-side-project-to-profita...

Just checked out your website - great stuff, and super professional also.

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

#57
post #50

I run one-man security consulting business. Pays well enough to live comfortably and provides enough free time to work on side-projects. Six months ago I started transitioning from service to product oriented approach with online vulnerability scanning service https://getroot.sh aimed at network administrators and webmasters. I have another product targeted at penetration testers in works, to be released in couple of…

How long did it take to get your first client and do you have any advice for someone who would want to become a security consultant without having a large network of business contacts?

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

#60
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It is far easier to become a bastard when running a one man business than if you had a team. With a team no one person can take all the credit.

I think you underestimate the human capacity for opportunism/narcissism :p
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