Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses? • Hacker News Board

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

#231

Post by temp_throw » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 2:16 PM UTC

crispyporkbites wrote: post #222

temp_throw wrote: post #106

I have a UK based e-business, I've turned over between £750,000 and now £950,000 over the past four years (ex VAT). (~76% net profit margin) Its just me, I'm a developer, which meant I could bootstrap the whole thing for zero cost (time not included) but I've always felt I knew I had what it takes to make a small business successful. Its an online service, we have a web site and apps in the app stores. I'd rather not…

Is this B2C or B2B? Why is it a one off purchase instead of a subscription?

It's actually both. When I started it was just B2C but as it grew new opportunities opened up.

>Why is it a one off purchase instead of a subscription?

I, personally, hate having to subscribe to something if I don't feel I benefit from it all of the time. Netflix fine, something I use occasionally, not so much. The product is low cost enough, and changes enough over time that customers come back and buy the product again (I appreciate this is a little unusual). I was always trying to build a pricing model that I would use, no tie in, people respect that and are MUCH more likely to pay for it (in this case).

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

#232

Post by dbancajas » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 2:18 PM UTC

insaider wrote: post #208

I made https://www.golfforecast.co.uk - an ML algorithm to predict golf. After 5 years it's making enough from subscriptions for me to live off (3K gbp/mo). The algorithm is always a work in progress but it's seeing consistent returns now so I'm making money from that too :) plus it makes golf a lot more entertaining.

if you have an edge why not keep it to yourself and bet the farm as they say?

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

#233

Post by bekman » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 2:18 PM UTC

naveen_ wrote: post #211

bekman wrote: post #129

I run a popular Quiz website. I make around $6,000 per month from Google adsense. I work between 2-3 hours a week usually posting quiz links on my Pinterest page. My only expense is hosting which is around $20 per month (Digital Ocean). I have never advertised my website and it gets all the traffic from Pinterest Organically. Compare to my salary, I'm an IT Administrator in my day job and make $400 per month. I live…

Hey, What's your Quiz website URL?!

Sorry I can’t share the url.

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

#234

Post by pc86 » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 2:22 PM UTC

esquire_900 wrote: post #163

throwaway21212 wrote: post #108

I have a one-person lifestyle business. I like it primarily because it gives me the flexibility to live anywhere in the world. I hated my old desk job and the idea of 2 weeks vacation every year. I run a SaaS product that integrates with ERPs. I pretend to my customers that I have a team (so much so that I have multiple email addresses to people that don't exist that actually just forward to me). One of our customers…

Don't you find that whole pretending part to be unethical? With those kind of revenues it shouldn't be hard to either hire 2 and make factual claims, or just drop the whole we're-a-team claim. I can't imagine that building a foundation on these kind of lies towards your clients is going to be sustainable in the long run?

It is unethical, whether they find it that way or not. Nearly $1MM/year in revenue and they feel the need to email multiple times from different fake emails? Pathetic.

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

#235

Post by phito » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 2:23 PM UTC

Insanity wrote: post #229

phito wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

of course, it is https://phito.be/

I see your Belgian as well. How's the tax situation for something like this? Not giving you too much trouble? EDIT: This also explains why you say "6 month winter" :D

Previously I was under a certain revenue per year that allowed me to pay almost no taxes, but now I have to put the regular 21% tax on

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

#236

Post by agota » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 2:25 PM UTC

fidla wrote: post #105

I teach mandolin and violin lessons online, and sell related products https://sweetmusicstudio.net . I make a modest income and profit.

Do you mind me asking how you got your first clients?

P.S. I clicked on the link, the website doesn't load, at least for me.

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

#237

Post by josephwegner » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 2:25 PM UTC

Everytime I see these threads I end up feeling inadequate. For the rest of the folks like me, I will share a small tidbit of wisdom:

Starting a business is really hard and it's totally OK to just go work for Salesforce. You do you.

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

#238

Post by mtbcoder » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 2:26 PM UTC

biztos wrote: post #216

codingdave wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Banks are looking for stability in your income. A regular salaried job counts as stability. But proven bank deposits over multiple years also counts. I wouldn't shy away from self-employment just because of banks. Source: I worked at a bank, and wrote algorithms for loan acceptance which evaluated such things.

For loans, banks are looking for expected future stability in your income. I would never discourage anyone from self-employment, but right now I'm watching a good friend try to get a mortgage in Germany... and he's been running his own company for 20 years... in a highly volatile industry... and let's say they'd be treating him a whole lot better if he had a boring day job at some big company. If you're planning on s…

> I would never discourage anyone from self-employment

I would, especially if they are in their prime earning years and are trying to become independent contractors. Software engineering jobs command high salaries and benefits these days. The opportunity costs are just too high and the odds of sustaining a one-person contracting show for 5, 10, 20+ years is slim to none.

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

#239

Post by agota » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 2:30 PM UTC

kolinko wrote: post #24

I recently sunsetted it (as in - no longer accepting payments for it), but over 7 years I was running AppCodes.com. It’s a tool for app store seo, would be the first one on the market of it’s kind, if I launched it just 2 weeks earlier :,) Upon launch I announced it on hacker news, and wrote to the TC journalist that covered my competition. Got to front pages on both sites, and it was rather smooth sailing after that…

Do you question your decision not to sell in order to protect customer data?

I also find this aspect of selling a company worrisome, but then doesn't everyone dream of an exit?

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

#240

Post by nlh » Wed, Oct 23, 2019, 2:31 PM UTC

stephen wrote: post #162

fastbeef wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you read the latest blog post? I has financials for 2019

Hey! Been using pinboard for years, so I love it/huge thanks... but please make the web UI a responsive layout so that it's usable on mobile. :-) (I use the Android apps, and recently flipped from PinDroid to Pinkt, and both are usable but not enjoyable. The Pinkt UX looks great, it's just slow on all my bookmarks. If you don't like Android, maybe do a mini-partnership with the Pinkt guy to polish it into a great exp…

FYI the person you replied to isn’t the owner (that would be user ‘idlewords’). Typo of It I might have caused confusion.