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Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer

blog.pragmaticengineer.com

81–90 of 123 posts

Re: Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer

#81
post #20
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I recently threw $100 at jvns because of this model. I wanted the docker zine and it was $10 for one, or $100 for the lot. It doesn't take that many $100 purchases to be a respectable income source

Depending on where you live, you can get discount too. For example, I get this: > Hello! It looks like you're in India, where this zine might be expensive. If you need it, please use code at checkout to get 70% off the regular price.

It's pretty cool jvns took the location of purchaser into account. Don't see that happening often.

Re: Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer

#82
I've been running a technical podcast focused on interview prep/insights for the last two years that has OKAY traction but is still a long way from making me any money. It's hard! It cost me money. About $500 a month right now, not counting my time. I enjoy doing it but I've certainly had tough months when I wanted to stop.

Doing freelance work has been the easiest way to bring in some extra cash as an engineer but damn do taxes really hurt that extra income.

Re: Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer

#83

Has anyone who posted a 'Show HN' had success with a paid product and no prior audience or following when their product launched? Building an audience remains a difficult business task. It would be inspiring to hear success stories of products which launched with no following or prior audience.

I created Video Hub App and sell about 100 copies at $5 each (originally for $3.50 four years ago at launch). Had no audience, just shared it on Reddit a bit, on some forums, AlternativeTo, and a few random places (never paid).

Sold over 4,000 copies in the last 4 years - probably with help of luck (some people wrote reviews of the app) and also probably because people search for "porn hub" as "video hub".

https://videohubapp.com/ - and it's open source - https://github.com/whyboris/Video-Hub-App

Re: Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer

#84
post #65

Any advice I can offer are things that seemed to work for me. I got "lucky" and struck gold on my first idea/project (consistently making high six figures over seven years running). I have tried other projects but none were nearly as successful. 1) Find your competitive advantage. I happened to work in a niche industry and learned it inside and out. I became somewhat of a "domain expert". I used that to my advantage…

If I may ask, for point #5, do you mean cold emailing here? If so, how do you differentiate your email with that of other generic cold emails? Or do you just email people you already know?

Re: Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer

#85
post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Use Reddit. You don't need an existing audience for that. Make sure to follow the rules of the subreddit. Write a few tips/tutorial posts, help other learners, etc. Then you can try self promoting within the rules. And parallelly, you can build an audience on sites on Twitter. Read about marketing. Follow other creators. And so on. (Edit: You can self promote without existing audience with Show HN too, provided it fi…

How do you keep your expenses so low? That includes rent, utilities, and groceries?

GP indicated in another comment that they are in India. Anybody living on that amount of money in the US would have to be homeless and/or surviving off of government or charity assistance, I would think …

Re: Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer

#86
post #65

Any advice I can offer are things that seemed to work for me. I got "lucky" and struck gold on my first idea/project (consistently making high six figures over seven years running). I have tried other projects but none were nearly as successful. 1) Find your competitive advantage. I happened to work in a niche industry and learned it inside and out. I became somewhat of a "domain expert". I used that to my advantage…

If I may ask, for point #5, do you mean cold emailing here? If so, how do you differentiate your email with that of other generic cold emails? Or do you just email people you already know?

It really depends on your customer. In my case, I did cold emailing. I was able to narrow down my customer by their job title/role and knew exactly who to email.

I don't really buy into gimmicks or tricks to differentiate my emails. You can read a lot of "tricks" out there, but they come across as inauthentic to me and that isn't how I wanted to establish a business relationship.

The thing I did was send very targeted emails (to people I honestly believed would benefit from my service) and every email was personalized (and I don't mean using a template and swapping out variables). I sent each and every email from scratch, one at a time.

I did read a few books on sales outreach and prospecting ("Predictable Revenue" and "Predictable Prospecting"). They were helpful and I did pick up a few ideas from them, but I mainly took the knowledge and paved my own prospecting/outreach strategy from it.

With that being said, I haven't done any outreach in over three years. All of my customers come to me, mainly referred to my service by existing customers. Or customers that leave a company and advocate for my service at their new company.

Re: Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer

#87
post #65

Any advice I can offer are things that seemed to work for me. I got "lucky" and struck gold on my first idea/project (consistently making high six figures over seven years running). I have tried other projects but none were nearly as successful. 1) Find your competitive advantage. I happened to work in a niche industry and learned it inside and out. I became somewhat of a "domain expert". I used that to my advantage…

Mind sharing your url? I'm interested b/c I'm in your industry: ETL/Data Transformations. Thanks in advance.

I assume you read my submissions and came to that conclusion-- but my service isn't in the ETL industry (although I do process very large amounts of data).

I don't really share my service publicly and maintain a high level of privacy (hence no social media, etc).

Re: Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer

#88

I've been running a technical podcast focused on interview prep/insights for the last two years that has OKAY traction but is still a long way from making me any money. It's hard! It cost me money. About $500 a month right now, not counting my time. I enjoy doing it but I've certainly had tough months when I wanted to stop. Doing freelance work has been the easiest way to bring in some extra cash as an engineer but d…

Not sure how you have your business setup but have you

  1. Formed an LLC
  2. Filed for S-Corp status
Not a tax lawyer so take with a grain of salt but you might be able to save significantly on taxes. Lots of tax breaks as a small business owner.

Re: Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer

#89
post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If I may ask, for point #5, do you mean cold emailing here? If so, how do you differentiate your email with that of other generic cold emails? Or do you just email people you already know?

It really depends on your customer. In my case, I did cold emailing. I was able to narrow down my customer by their job title/role and knew exactly who to email. I don't really buy into gimmicks or tricks to differentiate my emails. You can read a lot of "tricks" out there, but they come across as inauthentic to me and that isn't how I wanted to establish a business relationship. The thing I did was send very targete…

Got it, thanks for the reply!

Re: Becoming a Full-Time Creator as a Software Engineer

#90
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mind sharing your url? I'm interested b/c I'm in your industry: ETL/Data Transformations. Thanks in advance.

I assume you read my submissions and came to that conclusion-- but my service isn't in the ETL industry (although I do process very large amounts of data). I don't really share my service publicly and maintain a high level of privacy (hence no social media, etc).

Sounds like you're scared of competitors =)
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