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Ask HN: Side projects that are making money, but you'd not talk about them?

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Ask HN: Side projects that are making money, but you'd not talk about them?

#1
One night in 2013 I had this stupid idea that people would start searching google for "who is retargeting me" just like they do with "what's my ip" — I've created in 30 minutes, bought the domain whoisretargeting.me and put Google Ads. It's made €7000 in 7 years. (1) Do you have projects like this?

(1) https://pasteboard.co/JbPKJRs.png

Re: Ask HN: Side projects that are making money, but you'd not talk about them?

#2
I really don't like talking about my side projects, so I guess they all qualify, but I'm particularly excited about one at the moment.

Right now I'm working on a dog treat business - I make a treat mix that you add water to and freeze for a meat-based frozen treat. I feel really good about the product and the packaging design (and this is the first time I've ever worked on any kind of a physical product, so it's really cool to see the boxes), and I've sold a few boxes so far. Trying out some advertising now and working on building a presence on Instagram, since that seems like a great place to reach dog people, and the product is pretty photogenic.

https://coopersdogtreats.com/

Re: Ask HN: Side projects that are making money, but you'd not talk about them?

#3
post #2

I really don't like talking about my side projects, so I guess they all qualify, but I'm particularly excited about one at the moment. Right now I'm working on a dog treat business - I make a treat mix that you add water to and freeze for a meat-based frozen treat. I feel really good about the product and the packaging design (and this is the first time I've ever worked on any kind of a physical product, so it's real…

Do you have any experience with the marketing part? I am kinda in the same situation but have no clue how marketing works and was wondering if you could share any insights.

Re: Ask HN: Side projects that are making money, but you'd not talk about them?

#4
post #2

I really don't like talking about my side projects, so I guess they all qualify, but I'm particularly excited about one at the moment. Right now I'm working on a dog treat business - I make a treat mix that you add water to and freeze for a meat-based frozen treat. I feel really good about the product and the packaging design (and this is the first time I've ever worked on any kind of a physical product, so it's real…

Who did you use for your packaging? What made you choose them?

Re: Ask HN: Side projects that are making money, but you'd not talk about them?

#5
i've made $20 off of https://apps.apple.com/us/app/simple-and-sinister/id15132753... in the last 3 weeks. sales plummeted though for some reason and just stopped after release. going free for now until i release some new features that will be in-app purchase upgrades.

this is the first time i've actually made something to solve my problem though. i started using kettlebells due to covid lockdowns, etc, and thought the apps out there were way too bloated and shitty.

Re: Ask HN: Side projects that are making money, but you'd not talk about them?

#7
post #4
post #2

I really don't like talking about my side projects, so I guess they all qualify, but I'm particularly excited about one at the moment. Right now I'm working on a dog treat business - I make a treat mix that you add water to and freeze for a meat-based frozen treat. I feel really good about the product and the packaging design (and this is the first time I've ever worked on any kind of a physical product, so it's real…

Who did you use for your packaging? What made you choose them?

I ran a 99Designs contest for a logo, and the winner of that also had some experience doing packaging design, so I used her: https://99designs.com/profiles/bettymar.

I just thought she really captured the feel I was looking for - it's an upscale product, but it's for dogs so I still wanted it to feel fun.

Re: Ask HN: Side projects that are making money, but you'd not talk about them?

#9
post #3
post #2

I really don't like talking about my side projects, so I guess they all qualify, but I'm particularly excited about one at the moment. Right now I'm working on a dog treat business - I make a treat mix that you add water to and freeze for a meat-based frozen treat. I feel really good about the product and the packaging design (and this is the first time I've ever worked on any kind of a physical product, so it's real…

Do you have any experience with the marketing part? I am kinda in the same situation but have no clue how marketing works and was wondering if you could share any insights.

I started my career doing some marketing and then moved to product management, all in tech at small startups. Even as a PM, because I joined companies of Google Ads are pretty straightforward, so at this point I'm just running a couple and watching conversion rates - you basically just need to look at how much you're spending vs. how much revenue they're bringing in to figure out if they're worth it.

IG advertising is new to me - I'm planning to reach out to some dog accounts to see if I can offer free samples and possibly money for them to promote. No idea about what the going rate for that sort of thing is or how effective it'll be, but I'll find out soon :)

Re: Ask HN: Side projects that are making money, but you'd not talk about them?

#10
Yep I've been pushing ref links for cryptocurrency exchanges for several years. I make around 60k a year just off other people trading. For US based traders go here and make affiliate accounts so you yourself can disperse.

https://primexbt.com/?signup=97540 https://www.binance.us/?ref=35057005

and then I also push bybit referrals which is a 2 step process first you have to create a bybit account: (requires vpn that does not route via the US)

https://www.bybit.com/app/register?ref=DQJx6 and then you have to link a bybit affiliate account here to the email you used to signup to bybit here:

https://affiliate.bybit.com/register/en?affiliate_id=2786&gr...

These allow you to receive 30-40% commission for the lifetime of the accounts that sign up under you.

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