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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 #7

Hoping to start something free today that can add paid features in the future: https://www.upcount.app/

Just a heads up, there appears to be a typo on the front page. I think "Invocing" should be "Invoicing."

Thank you very much for the heads up. I have updated the title to fix the spelling mistake.

Thank you!

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

#52
post #12

Plugging my brother's one-person business because he'll be too humble to post himself: https://nanagram.co The product allows you to send pictures in the mail to your loved ones via SMS. It works great for getting fresh photos to your grandparents who might not be super savvy with a computer. My brother started it a few years ago and makes enough now to keep it going. Probably is the classic definition of a lifestyle…

This is easily one of my favorite monthly services I subscribe to. I will say that a good reason why I believe it has been so successful, 1 best its a good idea, but 2 because your brother has responded to all of my questions and issues immediately and gracefully. That is the sign of a business that cares.

Thanks you. It feels like I'm constantly chasing the inbox zero tiger. Words like these make it totally worth it.

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

#53
post #15

Plugging my brother's one-person business because he'll be too humble to post himself: https://nanagram.co The product allows you to send pictures in the mail to your loved ones via SMS. It works great for getting fresh photos to your grandparents who might not be super savvy with a computer. My brother started it a few years ago and makes enough now to keep it going. Probably is the classic definition of a lifestyle…

This has been a great service for our family to keep in touch with folks who aren't tech savvy. Thank you!

Thanks for being a NanaGrammer. :) If I haven't sent you some already, drop me an email and I'll mail you some sweet NanaGram stickers.

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

#54
post #22

Plugging my brother's one-person business because he'll be too humble to post himself: https://nanagram.co The product allows you to send pictures in the mail to your loved ones via SMS. It works great for getting fresh photos to your grandparents who might not be super savvy with a computer. My brother started it a few years ago and makes enough now to keep it going. Probably is the classic definition of a lifestyle…

You get a phone number number to which you send SMS that is tied to your billing and destination. You can share the number for others to send photos as well. This is an incredibly thoughtful and simple UX.

Thank you. Credit goes to @andygcook for the initial idea to handle photos over SMS. We also support email. I've thought about web uploads but hardly anyone has asked for it. Behind the scenes, we also support iCloud sharing albums, Google Photos albums, and Google Drive. I've been working on a WhatsApp integration which will be pretty neat; just a couple hurdles to overcome first.

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

#55
post #8

Plugging my brother's one-person business because he'll be too humble to post himself: https://nanagram.co The product allows you to send pictures in the mail to your loved ones via SMS. It works great for getting fresh photos to your grandparents who might not be super savvy with a computer. My brother started it a few years ago and makes enough now to keep it going. Probably is the classic definition of a lifestyle…

Tell your brother he's got a new customer coming up!

Right on! Shoot me an email if you have any questions: alex@nanagram.co.

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

#56

Plugging my brother's one-person business because he'll be too humble to post himself: https://nanagram.co The product allows you to send pictures in the mail to your loved ones via SMS. It works great for getting fresh photos to your grandparents who might not be super savvy with a computer. My brother started it a few years ago and makes enough now to keep it going. Probably is the classic definition of a lifestyle…

This looks super awesome and the testimonials about the founder made my day - nice guys do win! No Nanas to send this to :( but will keep it in mind for other uses. I find the online print services super clunky to print - but I could use this to send myself picture prints to frame? Just a thought!

Thank you. When I initially launched on Reddit, lots of folks asked for an "adopt a grandparent" mode. I talked with some nursing homes last week and we're exploring the possibility now. I've always been hesitant to do this, primarily out of concern for abuse (e.g. elderly financial abuse) but a partnership with nursing homes plus background checks could be the answer.

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

#57
post #37

Mine's not paying the bills yet, but I'm getting a couple new customers a week which is surprising.

As is, unless I am missing something painfully obvious, after looking at you HN profile and HN submissions - my guess is “Mike” is a typo for “Mine” — if so, suggest you edit your comment with a direct link to the one-person business you’re referring to with a quick pitch on its intended value/use too. If I had to guess, the business is the “FastComments” SaaS mentioned a few times in your recent HN submissions: http…

Right! Edited. Thanks for posting the link for me. I didn't since I want to seem more like a person than an ad ;)

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

#58

Not mine but Pinboard and Stratechery are both 1 person shops which are wildly successful.

I'm not positive, but I think Stratechery might have an employee now? I vaguely recall Ben mentioning something along those lines in his yearly "how things are going" report.

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

#60

Plugging my brother's one-person business because he'll be too humble to post himself: https://nanagram.co The product allows you to send pictures in the mail to your loved ones via SMS. It works great for getting fresh photos to your grandparents who might not be super savvy with a computer. My brother started it a few years ago and makes enough now to keep it going. Probably is the classic definition of a lifestyle…

Thanks for sharing, brother! I would like to take this moment to give a big shout-out to the USPS. NanaGram wouldn't exist without the postal service, in the US and abroad. Apparently, the USPS is struggling financially right now. You can help the USPS by buying stamps, which you can order online [1]. If you're new to the old-school hobby of letter-writing, I wrote some guides [2] to help you figure out how much postage you need for letters domestically and abroad (e.g. Canada [3]). Lastly, a delightful thing you can do for a family member or friend is send them old photos in the mail (just be sure to scan them in first if you're mailing originals) — I wrote a post about sending photos with stamps. [4]

[1] https://store.usps.com/store/results/stamps/_/N-9y93lv [2] https://nanagram.co/blog/how-many-stamps-usps [3] https://nanagram.co/blog/postage-to-canada [4] https://nanagram.co/blog/how-to-mail-photos

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