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Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses?

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

#321
post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If your job is less than 10% of your income, why keep it?

Good question, my career is very important to me. It gives me an identity. I just can’t sit at home all day. I’m gonna die with boredom.

It's also a good cover story that makes it easier to downplay your wealth.

It's also an effective means to make sure you don't spend all your time spending your income and thereby end up broke.

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

#322
I've recently moved to somewhere where it's much cheaper to live (Europe -> Latin America) and I'm creating products that scratch my own itch.

In a couple of months it's already paying for my expenses.

For now I'm fixing things that frustrate me while I work on my Mac (managing windows, tracking all my devices).

I have a long list of things I'd like to see fixed in products I use and products I'd like to see come to life, so I'm planning to spend this year working on that.

Site: https://fadel.io/

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

#323

I run https://updown.io since 2012, a website monitoring service I created. I'm working about 5-10 hours per week on it. It makes about $6,000 per month and is still growing linearly. I also keep a full-time job alongside for now as an engineering manager. The key for me is to take time, make something useful, delight your clients, and don't try to become uber or airbnb.

I just checked it and looks awesome! I’d have used it in a previous startup job if I just knew about your product back then.

Special mention goes to the landing page as you list all the features right away, no bs and a clear cost calculator. Couldn’t ask for more :)

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

#324

I run https://updown.io since 2012, a website monitoring service I created. I'm working about 5-10 hours per week on it. It makes about $6,000 per month and is still growing linearly. I also keep a full-time job alongside for now as an engineering manager. The key for me is to take time, make something useful, delight your clients, and don't try to become uber or airbnb.

Awesome! Happy updown.io customer here. We use it for https://www.pickfu.com Always happy to support fellow entrepreneurs.

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

#325
post #267
post #255

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All those things require certain skills and whatnot though. If someone has a good thing going and doesn't want to plunge into the abyss, I'd say good on them. The abyss is full of pitfalls and ways to lose life savings and go into major debt when the lucrative side gig can no longer pay for the vision. Employment is at least guaranteed no debt, especially while the lucrative side gig is going. Correspondingly, when t…

There is not much financial risk involved in his case, and it looks like he already has the skills needed. He already makes over 10 times his salary. In one year of employment, he spared the equivalent salary of 10 years. I think people exaggerate the dive into the abyss thing and risking it all. If you have some savings, you can try to launch a business and if it doesn't work you can always go back to work for someo…

What you're forgetting is that running an online business all day is isolating. Going to work with colleagues, all working towards a common goal, gives a sense of community. When you are not dependent on the money from your job, it also gives you a certain amount of leverage people normally don't have.

Then on top of this, for this gentleman to see a big change in his/her lifestyle, considering they are already earning $6K/month, any new business would need to make substantially more than that. Is making another $6K/month going to seriously change his/her life? Probably not. Maybe it affords a bit of a nicer house, staying at 5 star hotels VS. 4 star hotels.

The reality is to see a major difference in lifestyle from a new business, it would need to make $20-30K a month, or more.

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

#326

I run https://updown.io since 2012, a website monitoring service I created. I'm working about 5-10 hours per week on it. It makes about $6,000 per month and is still growing linearly. I also keep a full-time job alongside for now as an engineering manager. The key for me is to take time, make something useful, delight your clients, and don't try to become uber or airbnb.

how much time do you spend maybe talking to people who are constant clients? or is there little interaction?

Probably half of the time (~2-3h per week) is spent answering questions/requests from clients or helping them diagnose downtime. I try to improve the product to make sure my clients don't need me so that when they do I can help them properly.

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

#327
post #302
post #267

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is not much financial risk involved in his case, and it looks like he already has the skills needed. He already makes over 10 times his salary. In one year of employment, he spared the equivalent salary of 10 years. I think people exaggerate the dive into the abyss thing and risking it all. If you have some savings, you can try to launch a business and if it doesn't work you can always go back to work for someo…

Perhaps he genuinely enjoys his job? Why should he have to launch another business? He already started one and it's very successful! Let the man enjoy his freedom and have a regular job if he so pleases!

That is highly unlikely, such a mundane job as a sysadmin compared to having your own online business.

If he liked it that much, then probably he wouldn't have started a whole side project that must have consumed evenings and weekends for years.

If he would have found professional fulfillment in his job, he would not likely have started a side project in the first place.

As he mentions in his own reply, he stays because he feels that his job defines him as a person, and he would lose his social identity if he left.

This is a surprisingly lucid reply, he can do whatever he wants and I wish him the best, but it's clear to me that he has other much better options available.

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

#328
post #323

I run https://updown.io since 2012, a website monitoring service I created. I'm working about 5-10 hours per week on it. It makes about $6,000 per month and is still growing linearly. I also keep a full-time job alongside for now as an engineering manager. The key for me is to take time, make something useful, delight your clients, and don't try to become uber or airbnb.

I just checked it and looks awesome! I’d have used it in a previous startup job if I just knew about your product back then. Special mention goes to the landing page as you list all the features right away, no bs and a clear cost calculator. Couldn’t ask for more :)

Thanks <3

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

#330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But if you get paid to do what you personally value, isn't that the ultimate win?

This might sound harsh, but if the best thing in life is IT administration for some company then you haven’t looked very far. But hey, who knows, maybe they work for a charity or something?

At a personal level, I'm not a fan of this generalization that being an IT admin (or any other boring job) is inherently inferior than, I don't know, skateboarding or playing the guitar for a living.

Different people like different things.

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