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Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

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Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#261

I do stand up comedy, get a couple gigs per month (~1500$), sometimes I get more sometimes less. Every sunday I shut myself off to write, and perform on weekdays, been doing this for 7 years now and it only started to pay for about 2 years.

Are you a programmer during the day?

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#262
post #78

Betting on politics on PredictIt. I wouldn’t recommend it as an income stream, but having an interest in probability, markets, and international politics, it has taught me to read the news more objectively.

hey! another one in the wild. cool, ive had the same experience

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#263
post #84

I buy cars, repair them and recondition them to my level of satisfaction, and send them back out the door, typically targeting 55-65 year olds. I focus mostly on entry level luxury crossovers around 7 to 10 years old, though starting to also do hybrids since there’s more profit in it since everyone is seemingly allergic to batteries and pack replacement/rebuilds. Parts are cheap, I listen to music or a podcast, I do…

May I ask what car brands do you usually work on?

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#264

I'm an amateur musician. I have a website where I review music gear, especially MIDI keyboards (have a bunch of them). It brings in a steady $1k+/month almost completely passively through Amazon affiliate commissions

Am interested in a MIDI keyboard that can be used to come up with basic tunes. Any recommendations?

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#266
post #89
post #84

I buy cars, repair them and recondition them to my level of satisfaction, and send them back out the door, typically targeting 55-65 year olds. I focus mostly on entry level luxury crossovers around 7 to 10 years old, though starting to also do hybrids since there’s more profit in it since everyone is seemingly allergic to batteries and pack replacement/rebuilds. Parts are cheap, I listen to music or a podcast, I do…

You must have fixed up cars when you were a kid? How do you handle paint matching?

Not really, except out of necessity. Mechanics aren't, cheap, and where I am, really not cheap. Cars are just giant metal Lego.

As for paint matching, I don't. If I car needs any significant paint work, I'm not interested in buying it. It's also a sign that when I get underneath a car, I'm going to find other issues which are going to be an immediate no sale (as in welding required).

Even at normal, non-insurance repair rates (as in, full price), an independent mechanic charges around twice as much per hour than a body shop does for your average paint work (high end a very different story) -- I can get much more $/hour for my labor doing repairs than I ever will doing anything more than leveling a clear coat.

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#267

I have craft cocktail catering business with a couple other cocktail lovers who work technical jobs

I’ve always thought about starting a side business doing that. I love making cocktails and want to practice and actually serve people. How do you do it? Do you have a website?

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#268
post #9

Investing. It takes a lot of time to have an understanding of filtering the good long term stuff from the bad short term strategies, but it's worth it.

Online? If yes, which platform do you use?

If you're conversant in financial accounting, I can recommend https://www.portfolio123.com . They use Compustat data. However, building your own models will require significant effort, but it's worth it. I think of it as a site for the thinking investor.

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#269

Launched in 2016 for free. Started making money in 2018 with $3,000+ MMR. Referral only (side) business. I work full-time as an engineer/principal in growth. I conduct a form of ethnography, embedding myself in the lives of consumers the way Margaret Mead did among Samoans. I interviews my subjects and the people around them, itemizing the contents of their home (photographing and videotaping), and accompany them as…

On ethnography what books would you recommend?

Re: Ask HN: What is your money-making side project outside programming?

#270

Not really a productive venture, but it was profitable. I used a 3% cashback credit card on a financial company's money sending service with no fees, and sent my sister $3,500 every two days. She'd then eventually pay me back through bank ACH (also free). Then I'd pay off my credit card every week so my credit balance remained low. Made about $1,500 a month for a year, before they stopped giving cashback for transfer…

This seems a tad unethical

I was actually thinking about ethics a lot while I was doing this little project. By ethics do you mean morals or something different? What framework would you suggest for determining the ethics/morals of doing something like this, where we're playing by the legal rules by trying to optimize for our own benefit?
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