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I Just Hit $100k/year On GitHub Sponsors

calebporzio.com

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Re: I Just Hit $100k/year On GitHub Sponsors

#251

Post by ct520 »

Ndymium wrote: post #132

Reading these makes me sad about the law in my country, Finland. The lowest tier of OP ($7 for no reward) would be illegal here. We have a law called "Money Collection act", which states that to gather donations (i.e. payments with nothing in return), you have to get a permit. This permit costs money, is not given to individuals, and is given only for non-profit activities. So this means that if you see a donation/sp…

In the states non-profit means a company that is not for profit. It doesn't mean you can't pay yourself a wage that is inline for the duties and title you have.

Re: I Just Hit $100k/year On GitHub Sponsors

#252

Post by koheripbal »

StevenRayOrr wrote: post #115
jfengel wrote: post #4

Props. Well done. The thing that struck me most was the podcast appearance. I was distantly affiliated with the music industry at one point and I saw over and over the value of being in the right place at the right time. Great bands languish because they just weren't seen. I don't mean to diminish the work, either the technological or the effort of finding sponsors. I just want to caution about extrapolating success…

> Success is more random than we'd like to believe, and there is a risk when failure leads to victim blaming. An excellent sentiment, if less common these days than it should be. Reminds me of a quotation from Chapter XXV[0] of Machiavelli's The Prince : "Nevertheless, not to extinguish our free will, I hold it to be true that Fortune is the arbiter of one-half of our actions, but that she still leaves us to direct t…

Over the course of an entire lifetime, the random good vs bad luck tend to wash out and people usually end their lives financially roughly in line with their capabilities. - my personal opinion and experience.

Re: I Just Hit $100k/year On GitHub Sponsors

#253

Post by aphexairlines »

jermaustin1 wrote: post #231
mullen wrote: post #213

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would like to point out that Universal Healthcare would be funded by a separate tax and probably would not come out of Income Taxes.

I believe this is how the UK does it as well. You pay income tax, then you pay your NHS fee.

the NHS is mostly funded from general taxation

https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/nhs-in-a-nutshell/how-...

Re: I Just Hit $100k/year On GitHub Sponsors

#254

Post by devmunchies »

johannes1234321 wrote: post #193
NickBusey wrote: post #85

I hit $500/yr on Patreon this week for my open source work! :) Nice work, I should think about having paid only videos as well, I believe I can do that pretty easily on Patreon. Good tips in here.

I for myself, coming from a privileged situation wonder if 500$/yr would be worth it for me. Do calling it "work" it is too little. Won't pay the time spent on a job. At the same time it is an amount of money, causing responsibility. Giving the feeling that one has to return something for it ... So how does at affect your fun-level?

I have my own little company and I feel like since its profitable (7 figures/year) I'm able to take my time and perfect parts of the project (like SQL indexing, UI/UX, new features). The money allows me to have the freedom to have fun. I've built internal libraries where I could have just used an open source version, but its mine and I enjoy it.

I had started another company before that I spent over a year on and I made $0. Not fun.

Re: I Just Hit $100k/year On GitHub Sponsors

#255

Post by drummer »

>Now, people watching the screencasts will naturally encounter these “private” screencasts and if they like the free ones, they will sponsor me (at $14/mo.) to get access.

Why are we calling this 'sponsoring'? It just factually is selling a product to people for a specific amount. Sponsoring/donating is more like people giving money for something that would otherwise be free. Otherwise Microsoft could also require a 500 usd 'sponsorship or donation' for a Surface Go. And requiring it monthly is just plain subscription service payment.

Re: I Just Hit $100k/year On GitHub Sponsors

#256

Post by jermaustin1 »

bklyn11201 wrote: post #141
komali2 wrote: post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is news to me so I'm just saying, if you wrote about this in more detail, I'd read the shit out of it.

I think what he's generally saying: aggressively deduct expenses used to support your business. This would include rent, home office, computers, phones to conduct business, business meetings, travel, health insurance, retirement, etc. Then the member and spouse would draw low salaries putting you in low income bracket and thus low taxation. The 2017 TCJA further reduced taxation for business owners via the Qualified…

> draw low salaries

The IRS has rules (typically unenforced) regarding this. You are supposed to draw a salary that matches your job in your local area. So if you are based in Tinyton, Flyover State, you could probably get away with paying yourself $30k/yr, but in NYC (where I'm based), my accountant told me $70/hr is basically as low as I can safely go. So I do $70/hr and then $14/hr in my retirement account.

The $70 turns into ~$78 after all the employer taxes add into it, and I take home only $52 after employee side of taxes are taken out of it.

Re: I Just Hit $100k/year On GitHub Sponsors

#257

Post by sushid »

sytelus wrote: post #249

I hate sponsorware concept OP is proposing. It seems to work for him but it’s opposite to the spirit of open source. His idea is that keep code secret until you find N sponsors. Further, he will hide important tutorials if you are not sponsor. I would hate to use this kind of open source project. Here is more viable freelancing: - create framework/library that everyone needs - for feature requests/bug fixes, prioriti…

That sounds more like straight up working to me. This way he's building features he's interested in and allowing some people to get a sneak peek, if you will.

I'm not sure how sponsorware is the opposite to the spirit of open source but your proposal would essentially allow someone to buy out the product roadmap which seems worse.

Re: I Just Hit $100k/year On GitHub Sponsors

#258

Post by chrisandchips »

koheripbal wrote: post #248
marcus_holmes wrote: post #196

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sell licenses. People can buy a licensed version of your project. It's exactly the same as the free version, but it comes with a different licence.txt (which allows the purchaser to say that they supported you). If you're not allowed to sell copyright licenses in Finland, then your whole software business is screwed.

I don't even see the point. If there's no enforcement of this law, why even bother with the illusion of legality? Just accept donations - and likely no one will ever bother coming after you.

Well, if they reach the 100k mark like the article’s author, the risk of a tax audit may start to keep them up at night

Re: I Just Hit $100k/year On GitHub Sponsors

#259

Post by shafyy »

toyg wrote: post #97
shafyy wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You must be kidding. $100k a year is more than enough to not think about money (for one person) in all European cities, including London. Except if you suck at personal finance and spend all your money for unnecessary things.

If you have more than a single child of school age, £90k in London is not that much. Two kids at a private school in Northern England will run you £30k, I imagine in London it will be a tad more.

I explitliy mentioned: for one person. Of course, if you want to raise a family with private schols and a big house in the middle of London, that won't work. But let's not twist my words here.

Re: I Just Hit $100k/year On GitHub Sponsors

#260

Post by drummer »

sytelus wrote: post #249

I hate sponsorware concept OP is proposing. It seems to work for him but it’s opposite to the spirit of open source. His idea is that keep code secret until you find N sponsors. Further, he will hide important tutorials if you are not sponsor. I would hate to use this kind of open source project. Here is more viable freelancing: - create framework/library that everyone needs - for feature requests/bug fixes, prioriti…

These are great ideas thanks.
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