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Ask HN: Best resources on starting a lifestyle business?

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Re: Ask HN: Best resources on starting a lifestyle business?

#61

Post by luismedel »

hermitcrab wrote: post #2

I've been running a bootstrapped, lifestyle software business since 2005. I've linked to some articles you might find relevant here (for free!): https://successfulsoftware.net/starting-a-microisv/

I read you since the golden days in "The Business of Software" forums. Congrats for a successful career as a solo dev :-)

BTW, I have the feeling that nowadays is way harder to live from "traditional" software than some years ago, except for some system software that a SaaS can't replicate, of course.

Re: Ask HN: Best resources on starting a lifestyle business?

#62

Post by j45 »

hermitcrab wrote: post #58
j45 wrote: post #53

While lifestyle businesses are the first step in their process to free your own time to swing for something bigger, check out the Microconf channel on YouTube. Covers all the angles including for non technical founders.

Why would you have to 'swing for something bigger'? Having a low stress, enjoyable and profitable small business is enough for some of us. https://successfulsoftware.net/2013/11/06/lifestyle-programm...

You don’t have to swing for something bigger at all.

I promise you I’m on your side.

I made the reference as the channel presents 3 incrementally larger ways to go from lifestyle to solopreneur.

Re: Ask HN: Best resources on starting a lifestyle business?

#63

Post by hermitcrab »

codeonline wrote: post #40
hermitcrab wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Contrary view. Your success running a lifestyle software business is likely to be far more dependent on your marketing skills and efforts that what what tech stack you use.

So wouldn't it follow that choosing a low effort stack translates to more time being available for the real task of marketing and business activities?

I was being a bit contrarian. Obviously choice of tech stack is important. But, in my experience, people obsess too much over that and sepnd way too little time thinking about marketing. Also, choose reliable 'devil you know' tech over the latest flashy framework.

Re: Ask HN: Best resources on starting a lifestyle business?

#64

Post by hermitcrab »

luismedel wrote: post #61
hermitcrab wrote: post #2

I've been running a bootstrapped, lifestyle software business since 2005. I've linked to some articles you might find relevant here (for free!): https://successfulsoftware.net/starting-a-microisv/

I read you since the golden days in "The Business of Software" forums. Congrats for a successful career as a solo dev :-) BTW, I have the feeling that nowadays is way harder to live from "traditional" software than some years ago, except for some system software that a SaaS can't replicate, of course.

Thanks.

The downloadable software has been shrinking for years. But there is still a market and all the 'cool kids' are doing SaaS, so less competition.

Re: Ask HN: Best resources on starting a lifestyle business?

#66

Post by Leftium »

Dane Maxwell has done this himself multiple times, and he's trained others to do it, too: https://startfromzero.com/

His method is based on focusing on the end-user and understanding them more than they understand themselves.

Your suspicion is a natural objection, and Dane can teach you how to overcome such objections.

Of course, Dane practices everything he preaches. If his marketing still leaves you suspicious, then maybe his method is not for you.

Re: Ask HN: Best resources on starting a lifestyle business?

#68

Post by golergka »

moltar wrote: post #54
golergka wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a JS developer, I second this. I love node, react and typescript, but they're great tools to build very complex web apps — think Figma or an in-browser IDE. If you're building a typical CRUD app and don't have a VC-backed budget, just use a Django or Rails.

I’m a TypeScript developer. Don't understand why it requires complexity? You can just as easily build crud APIs in TypeScript.

Of course you could, but it doesn't mean you always should. Typescript doesn't have a kitchen sink framework like Django or Rails.

Re: Ask HN: Best resources on starting a lifestyle business?

#69

Post by namaria »

sho wrote: post #52
cpursley wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Phoenix is just as easy as Rails to get started and now with LiveView, easier than needing to know Ruby and JavaScript. It’s a secret weapon for indie hackers.

Come on. I am a huge phoenix/elixir fan - I am procrastinating from elixir dev writing this very comment - but this is not even close to true. It is a big learning curve. It's absolutely worth it, IMO, but there is no way it is as easy to get started with as rails. Not even close. It's my framework of choice and a secret weapon indeed but let's not pretend it's rails-easy. It's just not.

Difficulty with Elixir is logarithmic, with Python is exponential. As the product accretes features, Python/JS tends to require much more expertise to deal with all the corner cases. Elixir keeps it long term maintainable. If you wanna explode and sell out, go for the early ease. If you plan on owning it forever, I'd say the upfront investment is more than worth it.

Re: Ask HN: Best resources on starting a lifestyle business?

#70

Post by ensignavenger »

legostormtroopr wrote: post #31
monkey26 wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't want to hijack this thread, but what does Django do? I ask, cause I have a service that is a Rust backend (kind of specialized in what it does) + a SolidJS frontend... But I've seen a potential area for growth, I didn't imagine at first, and that would be stuff like user profiles, authentication, and managing stuff. And I really don't want to cut all this more "CRUD" like stuff in Rust and an SPA. I don't kno…

Out of the box Django offers: authentication, database management and migration, a web server, a template engine, URL routing, and probably more - pretty much everything an app needs in a single framework.

Django also has some GIS tools builtin if you need to do anything with geographic data. It has a solid library of error handling, messages, and web security tooling you will probably need, and, the third party ecosystem, both Djano specific modules and the wider Python ecosystem are very powerful.
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