Ask HN: How did you make your first $10,000?

Or even $1,000, if you're yet to make $10,000.

From an entrepreneurial or self-initiated venture.

My first company (a sales force automation product, back in 2002) made 10k in its second month of existence by selling integration services to two customers. We were only able to make 10k of RECURRING revenue (by selling product licenses) YEARS later, however (and the consulting/integration side, although lucrative, doesn't scale that well and was VERY time-consuming).

As for a "consumer" product, myguestmap.org (2005 - about to go defunct in a couple of weeks due to changes on google maps' licensing) made 10k in donation revenue in its first year (it paid VERY handsomely for a product that took me a day to make, both in donations and in ads). It never generated enough revenue to sustain itself, though, but was a very fun ride (most donations came along with a great story on why they were using the service - and that included all sorts of groups, from cancer patients to sheep farmers trying to connect with fellow strangers).

Running bots for poker, backgammon, blackjack: https://github.com/alexhanh/Botting-Library

Buying a domain and selling it for £1,200 a few months later.

I made a 3D animation using 3D Studio for the Thomas J Watson Research Center. I was subcontracted - and very young, and I'm pretty sure the people that sub-contracted me made a LOT more than I did.