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Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

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Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been looking for something like this for ages. I have a small project I need to do and I'm not really a web developer. Muddling through setting all this stuff up for the first time would be far more work than the actual website. How hard would it be for me to integrate with Authorize.net?

I also suggest using frontendor.com, it'll help you build a beautiful HTML interface for your website by copy-paste.

Thank you kindly.

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#182

I created https://huntr.co back in 2017, just reached $15k mrr last month. Looking to hire someone to help with sales in the next few months. It's been fun to work on such a variety of things in the past 3 years (design, development, sales, etc), but I'm ready to grow the team :)

Looks cool! How are you getting customers?

Thanks! About half of revenue comes from job seekers upgrading to a paid plan (freemium model). The other half from an Enterprise version for organizations that help large groups of job seekers get placed.

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Some sites have already been approved prior. We generally discourage our users to apply for AdSense initially (most likely it'll get rejected anyway) - so instead we recommend using other ad platforms (there are plenty).

I couldn't PM you via your contact details on HN. I can help you with this. Is there a way I can message you?

Sure thing! hello@newsy.co look forward to talking to you!

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#184
I'm building a custom email forwarding services for your domain. Only have 2 customers right now though.

https://hanami.run/

Every time I bought a new domain and need to setup DNS or verify email, all I want is to receive email from that domains. But setting up postfix or configuring lambda/ses is a pain. So I build this service.

All you have to do is point MX records to my servers and you will be able to receive incoming email.

This is the first time I have a side project that almost finished :-) after 10 years wanting to build a SaaS. To me that is a success.

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#185
I sell ebooks [0] and currently they are my only source of income (if you don't count savings interest). I started writing books as a last-ditch effort in late 2018. Had left my job in 2014, was living on savings and the occasional workshops I conducted in colleges. I had plenty of material prepared for workshops, so I started converting them to books.

First book didn't sell much but initial sales of the second one got me enough to cover about 2 months of expenses. Combined with workshops, books helped me through 2019 and early 2020. (Note that I live alone, in outskirts of a city in India - my monthly living expenses is around $150, which includes rent and domestic help)

Pandemic meant I didn't get workshops anymore, but fortunately, my ebooks sale picked up enough to more than cover that loss. I even spent about 5 months to just update my earlier books. Currently working on 9th book that I hope to publish by end of this month.

[0] https://learnbyexample.github.io/books/

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#186

I'm building a custom email forwarding services for your domain. Only have 2 customers right now though. https://hanami.run/ Every time I bought a new domain and need to setup DNS or verify email, all I want is to receive email from that domains. But setting up postfix or configuring lambda/ses is a pain. So I build this service. All you have to do is point MX records to my servers and you will be able to receive inc…

Quick heads-up: There are some grammar problems on your landing page (e.g. "it can be send out to multiple email address like mail group." should be "it can be sent out to multiple email addresses like a mail group."), and there's "superful", which I'm not sure I understand ;)

Good luck!

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#187
post #186

I'm building a custom email forwarding services for your domain. Only have 2 customers right now though. https://hanami.run/ Every time I bought a new domain and need to setup DNS or verify email, all I want is to receive email from that domains. But setting up postfix or configuring lambda/ses is a pain. So I build this service. All you have to do is point MX records to my servers and you will be able to receive inc…

Quick heads-up: There are some grammar problems on your landing page (e.g. "it can be send out to multiple email address like mail group." should be "it can be sent out to multiple email addresses like a mail group."), and there's "superful", which I'm not sure I understand ;) Good luck!

Oh. Thanks you so much. I was meant to type `superhelpful`. Thanks so much. If you need an account, please reach out. I can give you a free account for life.

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#188

I'm building a custom email forwarding services for your domain. Only have 2 customers right now though. https://hanami.run/ Every time I bought a new domain and need to setup DNS or verify email, all I want is to receive email from that domains. But setting up postfix or configuring lambda/ses is a pain. So I build this service. All you have to do is point MX records to my servers and you will be able to receive inc…

Your pricing is high for this service. Exceptionally high, given the limits and no sending ability. I'd suggest taking a good look at competitive services.

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#189

I'm building a custom email forwarding services for your domain. Only have 2 customers right now though. https://hanami.run/ Every time I bought a new domain and need to setup DNS or verify email, all I want is to receive email from that domains. But setting up postfix or configuring lambda/ses is a pain. So I build this service. All you have to do is point MX records to my servers and you will be able to receive inc…

Your pricing is high for this service. Exceptionally high, given the limits and no sending ability. I'd suggest taking a good look at competitive services.

Thank you so much for your feedback. I'm still working out on the price. What do you think is a reasonable price?

Re: Ask HN: Successful one-person online businesses in 2021?

#190
post #180

https://next-episode.net is a service I run for more than 15 years now. It's a TV / Movies tracking website/community that helps people organize what they watch and find new shows to watch. I started it for myself (because I couldn't find such tool back in the day) while I was working as a front end developer in an outsourcing company and it slowly grew and became my (only) day job. There is a lot to do in terms of u…

Are you able to do this full time to support yourself?

Do you feel like you’re competing with the many other app options out there with larger teams?

I’m currently building something in a similar space. I’d like to be able to devote myself to it but am worried about viability (both overall and as a solo developer). That is to say, inspired to see your post!

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