Ask HN: How much recurring income do you generate, and from what? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: How much recurring income do you generate, and from what?

#221

Post by nihaar » Mon, Sep 23, 2013, 7:04 PM UTC

santa_boy wrote: post #124

nihaar wrote: post #60

I make about $300/mo with https://broker.mapthatpad.com . Not even close to what I originally was intending (and the amount of time I've spent building it) but to be honest, I have not been doing a whole lot in terms of marketing and selling it at the moment. I hope to do more selling/marketing in the future and get this monthly number higher.

What is your revenue model? How are you able to reach out to users and make them pay for it? What are the marketing tactics you have in mind? That is decent revenue btw! Good luck!

Its a monthly recurring model. I actually partnered with a small company in NY that sells a tangential product to the same market. They do the marketing within the NYC market for me.

I can try to sell this more actively to other markets, SF being next since I live here, but with a full-time job and a baby, its hard! In terms of marketing, I think I could manage a small AdWords budget to run but it would initially be more just me cold calling and setting up demos - starting with smaller shops with a shorter sales cycle first.

Re: Ask HN: How much recurring income do you generate, and from what?

#222

Post by snori74 » Mon, Sep 23, 2013, 7:05 PM UTC

smu wrote: post #216

snori74 wrote: post #192

My Linux server tutorial course site http://GREP101.com brings in $700 on a good month and $100 on a bad one. Simply a reflection of the fact that I don't have the necessary things in place to drive consistant traffic to the site - when traffic comes then I get good conversion and a full course, but if not, not. I keep it going mainly because the feedback is very encouraging, (people really do get a buzz out of learn…

Seems like you have an extra dot in your link. Should it be: http://grep101.com ?

Yup, fixed now. Thanks - maybe I need a coffee.

Re: Ask HN: How much recurring income do you generate, and from what?

#223

Post by emhart » Mon, Sep 23, 2013, 7:05 PM UTC

jsleuth wrote: post #185

emhart wrote: post #154

I've usually read these threads without thinking about my own situation, but suddenly realized, I'm getting checks every month. It's not much, only $100-$250 per month, based on advertisements on my youtube channel, most coming from a 24 part series I made on locks & lockpicking a few years ago, but it's passive to the point that I literally forget about it. Unfortunately I'm the sort who is very uncomfortable asking…

Now that's interesting. Please do share more about your disposition away from revenue. What does that mean to you?

I'm trying to think how to explain it without using anecdotes, as I want to understand it myself without punting to simile. I know that I undervalue the importance of money in my own life (I have been poor to the point of homelessness once, poor the point of selling possessions to get rent/food money a few times). I also undervalue my worth, almost never charging an appropriate amount for my time.

I've cultivated a niche expertise that I translate well to a wide range of communities, but when asked politely I tend to give my time and even tangible goods away for free.

Now, I'm actively trying to change that. I'm getting married next year and am very excited to have a family in the relatively near future, so I'm paying off debts, I re-entered the workforce at a decent salary, and have been trying to train myself to be comfortable asking people for money in exchange for my time & expertise.

It has been harder than you might imagine, but I'm making progress. Being able to externalize the need to earn money via the idea of a future family has helped me, but I remain very uncomfortable asking and often find myself under-reporting hours spent, transportation costs, etc.

If I could just produce content, conduct research, give workshops & lectures & have someone else handle the money, I would be in heaven, but the few people I've spoken to about it, despite initial enthusiasm, have never followed through. Considering my own disposition, I obviously don't blame them at all :)

Re: Ask HN: How much recurring income do you generate, and from what?

#224

Post by jsonau » Mon, Sep 23, 2013, 7:06 PM UTC

xur17 wrote: post #181

I make anywhere from $300 to $800/month on http://pizzacodes.com . About 3 or 4 months ago I switched domain names to make it more memorable, and I dropped out of search results for everything but my site name. Traffic has increased pretty substantially from other sources over the past few months, so I'm back just over $600/month again.

Haha good job! Interesting niche and decent site!

Re: Ask HN: How much recurring income do you generate, and from what?

#225

Post by emhart » Mon, Sep 23, 2013, 7:06 PM UTC

npsimons wrote: post #211

jsleuth wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Now that's interesting. Please do share more about your disposition away from revenue. What does that mean to you?

Not the OP, but I can put forth that perhaps it's an ethical dilemma? Objections could be raised to collecting money without expending effort. Similar to objections to copyrights that last indefinitely.

I do think that it has some sort of knurled ethical/moral center in the middle there. It's definitely an emotional response, but logic & emotion are at odds on this one for me.

Re: Ask HN: How much recurring income do you generate, and from what?

#226

Post by oijaf888 » Mon, Sep 23, 2013, 7:08 PM UTC

vldx wrote: post #165

Phlarp wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did you break into this industry? I've done random work as a freelancer for a few different adults sites, but I've always felt like running my own was the real "money shot" as far as passive income goes. Can you elaborate on how you got started and how you keep an edge in such a competitive space?

I'm not really into the industry - my main income is coming from working for major brands in the ("mainstream") ad industry. I saw the service of acquaintance of mine and what revenue he's making, so I though I can do better. Generally, in this industry there's massive shortage of talent, ideas and innovation. This is a big opportunity for people who are delivering value in the "mainstream" startup scene and that was…

Is technology really that behind? I mean redtube/et al are some of the largest websites out there and the blog posts seem to show a pretty high level of technology behind them although with a larger focus on cost than most startups.

Re: Ask HN: How much recurring income do you generate, and from what?

#227

Post by gravitronic » Mon, Sep 23, 2013, 7:09 PM UTC

Last year I made a decent DJ application for Android. I probably invested a few thousand hours into it & the framework I built it on that could compile to Android, Blackberry Playbook, and HP Touchpad. I grossed just under $10k between sales on the three platforms, and advertising on Android. That works out to a few dollars per hour, last year.

This year, I don't have time to work on it further but between advertising and sales I'm still making ~400-600 USD/month. For 0 hours investment. I love the long tail.

Re: Ask HN: How much recurring income do you generate, and from what?

#228

Post by onebaddude » Mon, Sep 23, 2013, 7:14 PM UTC

romanovic wrote: post #94

mansigandhi wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing about what Apple and Google provide for developers/App Store is "passive".

I suppose Apple devotes a lot of manpower and is very "active" in excluding all developers and applications outside of its walled garden. Google is much different in that you have the option to publish on alternate app markets, or self-publish your own apps, of which Google gets a cut of $0. This lack of control over their own app marketplace is probably the cause of Google's flagging stock price and Android's failur…

>"the cause of Google's flagging stock price and Android's failure to effectively compete with iOS in the mobile market."

Was your comment sarcasm, or just terribly misinformed?

"Flagging" stock price? You mean the one that's hovering around all-time highs? Android's "failure to compete" with iOS for the mobile market? With 80%+ of global market share?

Re: Ask HN: How much recurring income do you generate, and from what?

#229

Post by alecthomas » Mon, Sep 23, 2013, 7:14 PM UTC

jdlshore wrote: post #204

tankbot wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your demo video is stuttering and unwatchable. I'm guessing it's getting hammered from this post. The site looks really nice, and appears to have really great content. Signup achieved.

Thanks! I have the videos on a geo-balanced CDN which is well overprovisioned, so it should be okay. I just tried it myself and everything seemed fine. Of course, because it's geo-balanced, there could be a problem I'm not seeing. If anybody else has problems, could you let me know?

It's unwatchable for me too. It appears to be buffering fine (I see the gray buffering bar quite a bit ahead), but just stalls and stutters quite a lot.

Re: Ask HN: How much recurring income do you generate, and from what?

#230

Post by peterjancelis » Mon, Sep 23, 2013, 7:15 PM UTC

europa wrote: post #180

Making $4000 + / Month profit . Running a consulting firm. I have two direct employees and few pass-through 's . Revenue is much bigger a number at $100,000 + /Month . Effort is very less to maintain this profit as only spend few hours /month to run payroll , invoicing clients and make timely payment out to the vendors. pass-through : Consultants not employed by my company but work for my clients.

You only take 4% profit margin? Seems very low.