Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2021 – Show and tell

Post by Kaze404 » Fri, Dec 24, 2021, 1:21 PM UTC

_3u10 wrote: post #518

deanmoriarty wrote: post #511

After reading all this, I admit I feel kind of silly for working so hard (50-60h a week on average) to earn my Silicon Valley FAANG comp. I am wondering how much survivorship bias is at play here, some ideas look relatively simple compared to the amount they bring in. Or maybe one really has to take the leap of faith and trust that there is demand for virtually anything? Maybe it’s not so simple, my partner opened a…

Why not pay someone to develop your side project? More importantly if you want to put survivorship bias on your side, never develop anything until you have a working sales funnel. Put $1000 aside a month on a design and site for your idea, followed by a marketing person w/ a budget. The screen following getting their card should be a page letting them know you aren’t onbaording new customers, their card hasn’t been c…

Post by crobertsbmw » Fri, Dec 24, 2021, 1:32 PM UTC

davchana wrote: post #247

crobertsbmw wrote: post #25

My little hardware book, Computer Engineering for Babies launched on Kickstarter a few months ago and blew my mind by raising almost $250k. It’s a simple book with buttons and LEDs to demonstrate different logic gates. I just shipped out the first batch of books a week ago and now waiting for the next batch of books. It’s gotten pretty demanding pretty quickly but I’m really excited about it. I’m hoping I can soon em…

I saw a TikTok of your book another day, & saved it. Would love this for my future kid. How do you manage sakes tax collection & other stuff like shipping & such? Assuming you are in US. Do you use Shopify or Etsy or dome online one? Did u apply for a seller's permit to deposit sales tax? If manually, how do you calculate sales tax, because its based on buyer's address right?

Post by Graffur » Fri, Dec 24, 2021, 1:41 PM UTC

czue wrote: post #289

I have two! An app for making wedding place cards that does about $1000/mo https://www.placecard.me/ A boilerplate for making SaaS apps with Python/Django that does $5k/month (highly variable) https://www.saaspegasus.com/ I also have a third that does around $150/mo. It's an app that adds analytics to GroupMe which is a WhatsApp alternative. https://chatstats.co/ I keep complete revenue and effort data here if you're…

Post by louwhopley » Fri, Dec 24, 2021, 1:42 PM UTC

Nexxxeh wrote: post #363

AussieWog93 wrote: post #195

Open Source Hardware! Specifically a USB Oscilloscope: https://espotek.com/labrador Sell maybe $1k/mo of these through the website and another $3k through Amazon at a margin of around 50%. The biggest things that I see a lot of people get wrong in the hardware business is the importance of manufacturing and logistics. It doesn't matter that you're constantly producing new and improved revisions of your board if you'r…

This literally made me say "WTF?!" when I went to the page. I think you're burying the lede here. It's only $29 inc worldwide shipping ! WTAF, that's awesome. I'll be ordering one as soon as Christmas is out of the way. Any plans to add an EU or UK distribution point? I'm prepared to wait the 2-3 weeks for free UK shipping tbh, but if you're adding more local distribution early next year I'd hold on.

Post by louwhopley » Fri, Dec 24, 2021, 1:45 PM UTC

AussieWog93 wrote: post #390

rexreed wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So how did you solve your manufacturing and logistics challenges?

The short answer is outsourcing. The logistics are covered by a mixture of Amazon FBA (USA/Canada) and a Chinese 3PL company (all other countries). The only orders I handle myself are the Aussie ones, as well as large orders to overseas universities. I try to keep at least 6 months' work of stock at any time spread across multiple locations. Given the way social media and online communities work, sales tend to be ver…