Previously asked on:
2023 → https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34482433
2022 → https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29995152
2021 → https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29667095
2020 → https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24947167
Ask HN: Those making $500+/month on side projects in 2024 – Show and tell
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Re: Ask HN: Those making $500+/month on side projects in 2024 – Show and tell
#2I've been writing an email newsletter on backend dev for the past few years - https://quastor.org/
Basically, I look through all the Big Tech engineering blog posts and look for interesting posts. Then I'll write up an article talking about the tech stack and the main takeaways.
I've been learning Adobe Illustrator + After Effects recently and am now starting to add some visualizations + graphics to accompany the articles.
I make more than $500 per month but this is more of a passion project and the income is honestly not competitive (at all) with what I earn as a dev.
It also gives me a way to learn about marketing/growth + monetization. Hard to learn that stuff w/o doing.
Re: Ask HN: Those making $500+/month on side projects in 2024 – Show and tell
#3I started a travel inspired bakery with my partner in the bay area - https://kayabakerysf.com/
We do popups once a week alongside our day jobs. It's been a long journey and we would like to open a storefront at some point. The bakery makes well over $500/month, but not quite enough to sustain ourselves full time yet.
It's a great way for me to learn about design and marketing as well.
Re: Ask HN: Those making $500+/month on side projects in 2024 – Show and tell
#4Out of all the side projects I’ve tried, the one that’s been the most lucrative consistently is buying boring index funds.
I kinda wish I just doubled down on the boring route sooner .
Re: Ask HN: Those making $500+/month on side projects in 2024 – Show and tell
#5I've been writing an email newsletter on backend dev for the past few years - https://quastor.org/ Basically, I look through all the Big Tech engineering blog posts and look for interesting posts. Then I'll write up an article talking about the tech stack and the main takeaways. I've been learning Adobe Illustrator + After Effects recently and am now starting to add some visualizations + graphics to accompany the art…
How do you earn money? By selling customer emails?
Re: Ask HN: Those making $500+/month on side projects in 2024 – Show and tell
#6I've been writing an email newsletter on backend dev for the past few years - https://quastor.org/ Basically, I look through all the Big Tech engineering blog posts and look for interesting posts. Then I'll write up an article talking about the tech stack and the main takeaways. I've been learning Adobe Illustrator + After Effects recently and am now starting to add some visualizations + graphics to accompany the art…
If you don’t mind me asking, how did you grow your readership?
Re: Ask HN: Those making $500+/month on side projects in 2024 – Show and tell
#7I work as head of ML & Innovation at my day job.
On the side, as a technical consultant, I help teams to ship products with ML under the hood.
I live in Vienna, so that makes it convenient for evening calls with USA/Canada, where my three clients operate.
Usually this involves weekly 30min calls with the teams to show them shortcuts, working recipes and save time by avoiding pitfalls. Mostly around ChatGPT/Local LLMs and RAG/Business automation type of things.
I run a newsletter [1] to try extending my client base. Not very efficient yet, since all clients came through the LinkedIn [2] and personal contacts.
[1] https://abdullin.substack.com/ [2] https://www.linkedin.com/in/abdullin
Re: Ask HN: Those making $500+/month on side projects in 2024 – Show and tell
#8I've been writing an email newsletter on backend dev for the past few years - https://quastor.org/ Basically, I look through all the Big Tech engineering blog posts and look for interesting posts. Then I'll write up an article talking about the tech stack and the main takeaways. I've been learning Adobe Illustrator + After Effects recently and am now starting to add some visualizations + graphics to accompany the art…
How do you earn money? By selling customer emails?
I just subscribed to the newsletter. I found out that there's a pro content section on the site.
Re: Ask HN: Those making $500+/month on side projects in 2024 – Show and tell
#9I've been writing an email newsletter on backend dev for the past few years - https://quastor.org/ Basically, I look through all the Big Tech engineering blog posts and look for interesting posts. Then I'll write up an article talking about the tech stack and the main takeaways. I've been learning Adobe Illustrator + After Effects recently and am now starting to add some visualizations + graphics to accompany the art…
How do you earn money? By selling customer emails?
No, I've never shared customer emails and doing so would obviously be grossly unethical (and illegal!).
I sell sponsorships to tech companies (ex. PostHog, InfluxData, Hubspot) + have a premium version of the newsletter that is $12 a month.
Re: Ask HN: Those making $500+/month on side projects in 2024 – Show and tell
#10I've been writing an email newsletter on backend dev for the past few years - https://quastor.org/ Basically, I look through all the Big Tech engineering blog posts and look for interesting posts. Then I'll write up an article talking about the tech stack and the main takeaways. I've been learning Adobe Illustrator + After Effects recently and am now starting to add some visualizations + graphics to accompany the art…
If you don’t mind me asking, how did you grow your readership?
Sure! Newsletters get shared on HN + Reddit. I'm also posting on LinkedIn.
I've also done some paid ads using Facebook ads and doing ads in other newsletters.