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Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

indiehackers.com

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Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#41

Post by gigatexal »

limelight wrote: post #36

I really love these IndieHackers interviews but surprisingly find them somewhat demotivating. Even the more successful interviewees make less revenue per month than I can make through straight consulting. And they're the success stories—most people (including myself) make far less per month from their products. How do people keep motivated to work on side projects when consulting is so much more profitable?

These side gigs and businesses can scale to something larger than just one consultant is what I think the point is

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#42

Post by callmeed »

limelight wrote: post #36

I really love these IndieHackers interviews but surprisingly find them somewhat demotivating. Even the more successful interviewees make less revenue per month than I can make through straight consulting. And they're the success stories—most people (including myself) make far less per month from their products. How do people keep motivated to work on side projects when consulting is so much more profitable?

Because the common perception is that a software product has a marginal cost of near zero and can scale, whereas consulting limits you to your billable hours and requires constantly chasing down new clients. You may debate the merits of that argument and it doesn't take into account product maintenance and support–but I think there is some validity to it.

Also, some SaaS/product success stories take the path of CONSULTING/AGENCY -> PRODUCT -> SUCCESS (e.g. Basecamp, SEOmoz, FreshBooks) but you rarely hear of the reverse.

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#43

Post by morgante »

callmeed wrote: post #42
limelight wrote: post #36

I really love these IndieHackers interviews but surprisingly find them somewhat demotivating. Even the more successful interviewees make less revenue per month than I can make through straight consulting. And they're the success stories—most people (including myself) make far less per month from their products. How do people keep motivated to work on side projects when consulting is so much more profitable?

Because the common perception is that a software product has a marginal cost of near zero and can scale, whereas consulting limits you to your billable hours and requires constantly chasing down new clients. You may debate the merits of that argument and it doesn't take into account product maintenance and support–but I think there is some validity to it. Also, some SaaS/product success stories take the path of CONSU…

> You may debate the merits of that argument and it doesn't take into account product maintenance and support–but I think there is some validity to it.

That's very true, but I'd also speculate that the vast majority of software products never pay back the flat cost of development.

IndieHackers is a compendium of founders who were successful enough to be worth interviewing, and even the vast majority of them make less from their projects than consulting can make.

> most SaaS/product success stories take the path of CONSULTING/AGENCY -> PRODUCT -> SUCCESS (e.g. Basecamp, SEOmoz, FreshBooks) but you rarely hear of the reverse

Arguably that's because it's so common that it's not worth talking about. I know tons of people who have launched projects which ended up failing, so they fell back on consulting revenue. Far more people than have successful side projects.

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#44

Post by erikrothoff »

limelight wrote: post #36

I really love these IndieHackers interviews but surprisingly find them somewhat demotivating. Even the more successful interviewees make less revenue per month than I can make through straight consulting. And they're the success stories—most people (including myself) make far less per month from their products. How do people keep motivated to work on side projects when consulting is so much more profitable?

For me it's the drive to try to build something that might become something. (I was interviewed for indiehackers but only have 3k recurring revenue, so did not really peak any interest here on HN :)

Sure I can consult 110% and probably earn enough as three full time jobs. But I already have everything. Gadgets are not very exciting when your employer gives you top-of-the-line Macbooks and iPhones. I don't play video games. It's just an itch. Like hobby level soccer players who don't earn a cent yet play matches during weekends and train weeknights. It's a hobby, with an added benefit of actually maybe sustaining a full time developer (lower end of salary tier) in the future.

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#45

Post by morgante »

merpnderp wrote: post #38
limelight wrote: post #36

I really love these IndieHackers interviews but surprisingly find them somewhat demotivating. Even the more successful interviewees make less revenue per month than I can make through straight consulting. And they're the success stories—most people (including myself) make far less per month from their products. How do people keep motivated to work on side projects when consulting is so much more profitable?

If you can make more than $17k/month from straight consulting, I would like to subscribe to your newsletter please.

I don't have a newsletter, but if you send an email to me@morgante.net I'll let you know if I ever start one.

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#46

Post by 20years »

limelight wrote: post #36

I really love these IndieHackers interviews but surprisingly find them somewhat demotivating. Even the more successful interviewees make less revenue per month than I can make through straight consulting. And they're the success stories—most people (including myself) make far less per month from their products. How do people keep motivated to work on side projects when consulting is so much more profitable?

Don't get me wrong, I think IndieHackers is cool and enjoy reading these stories but I also think people who are running very profitable SaaS businesses may be hesitant on doing an IndieHackers interview.

We don't think of our projects as "side projects" and don't really want to be grouped in as an Indie Hacker.

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#47

Post by senko »

limelight wrote: post #36

I really love these IndieHackers interviews but surprisingly find them somewhat demotivating. Even the more successful interviewees make less revenue per month than I can make through straight consulting. And they're the success stories—most people (including myself) make far less per month from their products. How do people keep motivated to work on side projects when consulting is so much more profitable?

They're (at least somewhat) passive income, while your consulting work is not.

Once up and running, these projects typically require far less time and effort to maintain, and majority of time is spent in improvements so the revenue grows in the future. Or the owner can just sit back, relax, and enjoy the Four Hour Work Week [tm].

As a contrast, consulting gig is good money while you're working. When you stop (vacation, illness, whatever), the money flow stops as well.

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#48

Post by morgante »

20years wrote: post #46
limelight wrote: post #36

I really love these IndieHackers interviews but surprisingly find them somewhat demotivating. Even the more successful interviewees make less revenue per month than I can make through straight consulting. And they're the success stories—most people (including myself) make far less per month from their products. How do people keep motivated to work on side projects when consulting is so much more profitable?

Don't get me wrong, I think IndieHackers is cool and enjoy reading these stories but I also think people who are running very profitable SaaS businesses may be hesitant on doing an IndieHackers interview. We don't think of our projects as "side projects" and don't really want to be grouped in as an Indie Hacker.

> We don't think of our projects as "side projects" and don't really want to be grouped in as an Indie Hacker.

That's a fair point and maybe something csallen could take into consideration for branding.

The success story for side projects should generally be that they cease to be side projects. I'd be very interested in hearing about more businesses which started as bootstrapped side projects.

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#50

Post by morgante »

erikrothoff wrote: post #44
limelight wrote: post #36

I really love these IndieHackers interviews but surprisingly find them somewhat demotivating. Even the more successful interviewees make less revenue per month than I can make through straight consulting. And they're the success stories—most people (including myself) make far less per month from their products. How do people keep motivated to work on side projects when consulting is so much more profitable?

For me it's the drive to try to build something that might become something. (I was interviewed for indiehackers but only have 3k recurring revenue, so did not really peak any interest here on HN :) Sure I can consult 110% and probably earn enough as three full time jobs. But I already have everything. Gadgets are not very exciting when your employer gives you top-of-the-line Macbooks and iPhones. I don't play video…

I'm definitely with you on the hobby aspect. That's why I keep trying: I do love building new products. The problem is that I don't really enjoy the other aspects of building a side business (marketing, sales, etc.) so it's hard to sustain those when the revenue is so pitiful.

Would you mind linking to your interview? $3k/m is certainly respectable and more than I've ever reached.

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