Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Those making $1,000+/month on side projects – what did you make?

news.ycombinator.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

1–10 of 547 posts

Re: Those making $1,000+/month on side projects – what did you make?

#2

Post by MichaelCrawford »

It's been a few years, but at one time I averaged $3,500.00 per month, with two months at $5,000.00, from two AdSense units on just one single, quite lengthy but well-researched and well-written essay on legal music downloading.

I am, today, skeptical that it's worth anyone's while to try to make money from ads published alongside one's articles. At one time that was widely accepted as the very best way to make money online, but no more.

I'm getting ready to do a KickStarter project so I can devote myself full time to this:

http://www.warplife.com/jobs/computer/

So far I have some remote employers and clients, and some employers in a few large US cities. After I have lots more remote employers, as well as some in a few other countries, I'll do the kickstarter.

Someone managed to make fifty-six grand from a KickStarter in which he said "I'm making potato salad". Not that he was going to sell it commercially, or had come up with a killer potato salad recipe. I mean like he was fixing his lunch for the day.

Just a couple days ago, I read that three times as much money is raised from crowdfunding than from VC.

Consider that with crowdfunding, you don't lose any equity. You also don't have the problem with a bad VC giving you bad advice, or even demanding you do stupid things.

There are some VCs who are very, very good. Despite having to fork over lots of equity, the good VCs are very worthwhile, but IMHO a bad VC is far worse than not getting funding at all.

Re: Those making $1,000+/month on side projects – what did you make?

#3

Post by getdavidhiggins »

MichaelCrawford wrote: post #2

It's been a few years, but at one time I averaged $3,500.00 per month, with two months at $5,000.00, from two AdSense units on just one single, quite lengthy but well-researched and well-written essay on legal music downloading. I am, today, skeptical that it's worth anyone's while to try to make money from ads published alongside one's articles. At one time that was widely accepted as the very best way to make money…

Side projects usually enjoy a brief moment in the sun, and then start losing traffic (or in modern parlance - money). Any further effort to promote them is fruitless, because the chances are; the same people you are targeting have already seen your project. It's like when movie franchises (Dumb and Dumber for example) try and milk the format.

A golden rule I try to live by is try many different things. Try every single avenue you can. When one avenue burns out, go down another one.

Re: Those making $1,000+/month on side projects – what did you make?

#4

Post by MichaelCrawford »

getdavidhiggins wrote: post #3
MichaelCrawford wrote: post #2

It's been a few years, but at one time I averaged $3,500.00 per month, with two months at $5,000.00, from two AdSense units on just one single, quite lengthy but well-researched and well-written essay on legal music downloading. I am, today, skeptical that it's worth anyone's while to try to make money from ads published alongside one's articles. At one time that was widely accepted as the very best way to make money…

Side projects usually enjoy a brief moment in the sun, and then start losing traffic (or in modern parlance - money). Any further effort to promote them is fruitless, because the chances are; the same people you are targeting have already seen your project. It's like when movie franchises (Dumb and Dumber for example) try and milk the format. A golden rule I try to live by is try many different things. Try every sing…

I still write lots of articles and essays, but I don't focus on any one topic.

I'm not running ads anymore. Some of my articles still have affiliate ads for books, but I placed those ads years ago. My new material doesn't have any ads.

I figure that if my writing is well-received, something good is bound to happen to me. Other than my plan for the KickStarter - which I am not dead certain I will actually pursue - I don't have any specific plans for monetizing my site.

Re: Those making $1,000+/month on side projects – what did you make?

#5

Post by mrfusion »

MichaelCrawford wrote: post #2

It's been a few years, but at one time I averaged $3,500.00 per month, with two months at $5,000.00, from two AdSense units on just one single, quite lengthy but well-researched and well-written essay on legal music downloading. I am, today, skeptical that it's worth anyone's while to try to make money from ads published alongside one's articles. At one time that was widely accepted as the very best way to make money…

I always assumed you had to know how to make a compelling video to succeed at kickstarter. And as a correlate be charismatic and photogenic.

Re: Those making $1,000+/month on side projects – what did you make?

#6

Post by SSilver2k2 »

mrfusion wrote: post #5
MichaelCrawford wrote: post #2

It's been a few years, but at one time I averaged $3,500.00 per month, with two months at $5,000.00, from two AdSense units on just one single, quite lengthy but well-researched and well-written essay on legal music downloading. I am, today, skeptical that it's worth anyone's while to try to make money from ads published alongside one's articles. At one time that was widely accepted as the very best way to make money…

I always assumed you had to know how to make a compelling video to succeed at kickstarter. And as a correlate be charismatic and photogenic.

I ran a successful Kickstarter with what I believe to be a cruddy video. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1985705009/pimame

I think there are two spectrums to successful Kickstarter videos: Over the top really well done quality videos, and super low budget (read: $0) iMovie videos that show sincerity.

Anywhere in between that and you come off looking like a scam.

Re: Those making $1,000+/month on side projects – what did you make?

#8

Post by zrail »

I wrote a book[1] a year and a half ago that just recently crossed $42k in total revenue. These days it consistently earns $1.5k/mo without much further input from me, other than tweaks to the landing page copy and updates once in awhile when Stripe or Rails changes significantly.

[1]: https://www.masteringmodernpayments.com

Edit: If you'd like to read a preview, you can do so here: https://www.masteringmodernpayments.com/read

Post reply on HN