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Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses?

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

#371

I run https://www.soundslice.com/ with one other full-time person. We're self-funded and make a profit at this point. Soundslice is interactive sheet music synced with audio/video recordings — the Internet's best software for learning pieces of music. We make money by licensing the technology, taking a cut of lessons in a video-lesson marketplace, plus charging $20/month for a "pro" version (Soundslice For Teachers).…

soundslice is awesome!

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

#372
I built a plugin to connect WordPress with MailChimp (https://mc4wp.com) while hospitalised in Vietnam a few years ago and it has been selling well enough to support me in my travels & now back home in The Netherlands from day 1 (right after I started offering a paid version, that is).

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

#373
post #127

I run an ecommerce store from Shopify which fulfills the orders by drop-shipping through AliExpress. This is definitely doable for one person, and it isn't technically challenging for a software developer--but the hardest part (at least for me) is marketing, creating content, advertising, and so on. Actually running a Shopify store and fulfilling by drop-shipping is simple. I would definitely recommend that as a good…

Is it feasible to get your own warehouse storage, go direct with manufacturers and buy wholesale instead of just reselling Aliexpress items?

I can't definitively speak to that, because I've never tried -- but if you have the capital, then it should be doable.

AliBaba (as opposed to the "express" version) is generally used for buying direct from manufacturers, and there are other sources, as well.

If you order from AliBaba, many manufacturers will put your branding on items, and you can do custom orders as well--if you have a design for a new item. However, they usually have minimum order quantities (MOQ's) of 500+. So you'll be out a few thousand dollars to get started, even for a cheap item.

I haven't done it, simply because it's very expensive to get started, but I've read some blog posts from people who've done what you're saying.

The biggest selling point of AliExpress and drop-shipping is that it's low-cost to get started. You can build a business with only about $250 of capital. (Or less.)

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

#374
post #40

In 2016 I took content creation somewhat seriously and the end result was enough income to sustain living in NY. Not sure if it's worth blogging about yet. Are other developers interested to see how to potentially make software engineer-tier salaries without having to work for another company? (Note: I also started with nothing. No mentors, no following, no existing profile, no paid advertising, etc.). Edit : If you'…

I can't take any of this "how to work for yourself and make money" seriously, if the main way that you make money is by charging for these lessons. It's like a pyramid scheme where the real money is in getting people to learn from you and pay for the privilege. It would be a lot more credible if you made the ideas freely available, but, alas, that will not pay for your rent in NYC.

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

#375
post #372

I built a plugin to connect WordPress with MailChimp ( https://mc4wp.com ) while hospitalised in Vietnam a few years ago and it has been selling well enough to support me in my travels & now back home in The Netherlands from day 1 (right after I started offering a paid version, that is).

I'm also thinking about developing my first product and wanted to start with wordpress, I think a Saas would be too ambitious, how did you start promoting it?

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

#377

I run a site that teaches organic chemistry online. Started in 2010. 7 million visits last year. Most content is free, but has some "cheat sheets" and other study guides that are for sale. I have some contractors for various tasks but am the only employee. http://www.masterorganicchemistry.com/blog

7 million

Wow. Very well done.

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

#378

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you mean Fahrenheit? 20 degrees Celsius (68F) wouldn't even qualify as insulation in a sleeping bag, may as well use a garbage bag and newspapers. 20 degrees Fahrenheit would make for a good 3 season bag though.

I bet you could get 4 seasons out of it in the south, don't you think? I don't know much about sleeping bags, though.

It's a good idea to think of the temperature rating of sleeping bags as "survivable" rather than "comfortable."

I camp year round in CA. I use a 20 degree bag for late spring/summer/early fall and a 0 degree bag for the rest.

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

#379
I recently quit my (great) job to work on my online business which was once my side project. I'm not solo - I have a partner (@dmtintner). > Our business is a newsletter, blog & podcast called Hacking UI - http://HackingUI.com (for designers, developers and creative entrepreneurs like ourselves)

> I wrote ALL about how we started, and also how we scaled it to the point where we could leave our jobs http://hackingui.com/product-hacking/side-projects/

> We were so overwhelmed that we pulled this off that we actually also opened an online course to teach others EVERYTHING we know and all our workflows: https://sideprojectaccelerator.com/

Actually - my partner David is going to talk about that live in an hour here: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/talks-david-tintner :)

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

#380
I recently quit my (great) job to work on my online business which was once my side project. I'm not solo - I have a partner (@dmtintner). > Our business is a newsletter, blog & podcast called Hacking UI - HackingUI.com (for designers, developers and creative entrepreneurs like ourselves)

> I wrote ALL about how we started, and also how we scaled it to the point where we could leave our jobs http://hackingui.com/product-hacking/side-projects/

> We were so overwhelmed that we pulled this off that we actually also opened an online course to teach others EVERYTHING we know and all our workflows: https://sideprojectaccelerator.com/

Actually - my partner David is going to talk about that live in an hour here: https://www.crowdcast.io/e/talks-david-tintner :)

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