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Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

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271–280 of 448 posts

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#271

I have monetized ~50 of my unused domains via a tool I created called Newsy https://www.newsy.co All the domains I've purchased over the years, I haven't had time to develop them, but also didn't like the traditional parking pages. Newsy generates a content-aggregation site for given set of keywords related to your domains. It's automated and you can add your own ads.

Basically domain parking under a fancy coat. Honestly, fuck that.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#272
post #178

Left my job in 2014. Tried a few things that didn't succeed before selling programming ebooks came to my rescue (2018). From the danger of draining out my savings completely, I'm now earning more than double my needs (which isn't really that much for my modest lifestyle, living alone in a developing nation - $150/month). What's more, my ebooks are all free to read online. Only PDF/EPUB are sold, and I've always given…

Currently reading computing from the commandline, want to use it as a teaching aid in a series of videos.

I'd be honored, have fun :)

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#273
post #261
post #63

When I was in college I sold discarded text books on half.com. This isn’t my best income stream, but in many ways it was my favorite. After the Spring 2000 semester, I noticed that the bookstores had junk book bins. Students would dump into the bins any books that the bookstore would not buy back. Anyone was welcome to rummage through the bin and if they found something interesting they could keep it. The bookstores…

Yes, take the free books meant for poor students and sell them! (It's smart, but I think it is morally wrong.)

Somebody stole my calculus textbook and sold it to the bookstore. This textbook cost over USD 200 new iirc. I would have probably paid the thief more than what the bookstore paid them for my used book.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#275

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a bit confused - this doesn't look like a quick tool built to solve one issue - this links to what appears to be a whole company with many sophisticated products. You did this all yourself?

This used to be the way. Now it takes a whole team to put a textbox on a Web app.

or one ChatGPT

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#276
I sell public domain art prints on Etsy.

Haven’t done anything on it beyond fulfilling orders for years - I found a really high-quality printers who do the production and shipping - but it’s probably good for an extra £100-300 a month, depending on how Etsy’s algorithm is feeling at the time.

I could probably sell more if I put more effort into it, but it’s nice as a very low-effort, if small, income stream.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#277

I had partnering with a marketing agency for awhile doing implementation of their designs in WordPress. After a few years of clients breaking their sites doing upgrades and other ad-hoc questions/enhancement requests coming via email, I got tired of sending $100-200 invoices, so I started selling "WordPress Maintenance" as a product. It's not fun or sexy, but don't underestimate the number of organizations willing to…

Any tips on how to find clients? Many websites are flooded with ultra-low cost developers.

Which is why local businesses still want someone they know and can see/trust.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#278
post #104

I have created a software agency 4 years ago. we are full remote and 5 fulltime and 7 partime workers (some working students included). I pay myself 70k p.a. and reinvest the rest into the company. it is growing around 100% in revenue each year. in the beginning I asked myself whether it's worth it not to just develop for a big company, but now it pays. I don't even have to work the full 8 hours a day.

Quick question: what software „stack“ do you use to manage a fully remote team? What erp (if you have any), project tracking, cloud storage, chat, etc. I am really interested in logistics of running such a company. Thank you for your time!

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#279
post #54

I developed a Shopify app that solves a niche problem. It has grown slowly over 4 years. Current income at 80k/year with relatively low maintenance. I have a full time job as a software engineer on the side.

How have you stumbled upon this niche and recognized a need for this?
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