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Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

indiehackers.com

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Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#141

Post by coldtea »

cheez wrote: post #88
lemming wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because money isn't everything. What I'm working on isn't a side project, it's my main gig, but it's paying the bills nicely. But I started this after quitting from a post-acquisition job at Google paying $400k plus 4 years of retention bonus totalling a lot of money. I would absolutely have been financially much, much better off at Google. But I would have had to live in the US which I didn't want to do, and I would…

"Money isn't everything" - guy who obviously made more than 2 million USD working at Google for 4 years... I don't want to say you're wrong, but money isn't everything is easy to say when you have it.

>I don't want to say you're wrong, but money isn't everything is easy to say when you have it.

Yes, but you can trivially find people who say it even though they don't have the money. And that they have made proven sacrifices for other causes (e.g. left lucrative careers for much less good paying ones that they love more).

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#142

Post by coldtea »

Hbthegreat wrote: post #94
csallen wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In his defense, he's really comparing ~$200k to ~$400k, not poverty to $400k. Beyond a certain point, the more money you have, the less extra money matters.

This mentality is what drives people to mediocrity. Not reaching your full potential just hurts yourself, your family and your community in the long run. If you have the capability to learn more, earn more and create great businesses don't sit on the sidelines the world needs more action takers.

>This mentality is what drives people to mediocrity. Not reaching your full potential just hurts yourself.

This mentality is what drives people to misery, greed, depression, stress, strained personal life and ill health.

One's "full potential" is not about making as much money as one could make.

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#143

Post by ensiferum »

jasim wrote: post #136
ensiferum wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The indiehacker guy is known for aggressively beating his own drum and posting and reposting his blog links. Appears effective.

Speaking from personal experience - nothing magically happens even if you create something valuable and put your heart and soul into it. You have to beat that drum, even if you hate every note that comes out of it. Which is why there are roles called Sales and Marketing. Being a salesman is an under-appreciated, arduous but honorable job. They create mutually beneficial relationships between parties that might otherw…

Oh yes I know this. Sadly great products don't sell themselves, but proper sales people can make shit sell like gold.

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#144

Post by biztos »

rocgf wrote: post #138
biztos wrote: post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's probably worth noting to the US audience that salaries in Europe are almost always quoted as net, with (usually) no further taxes due. So if someone's getting $2.5K per month it's not the same as an American getting 12x that in annual salary, because it's (presumably) the after-tax number in Romania while it'd be the pre-tax number in the US. Still, I get that tech talent is a great value in Romania. I wonder if…

Yeah, generally salaries in Romania (any maybe other Eastern European countries) are quoted as net, per month. In the USA/UK it's almost always yearly-based, with hourly rates for contractors. In Romania people mainly talk about how much they take home from their salary every month. With regards to the tech talent, I definitely think there is some truth to that. I'm no expert, but I'd say it might have something to d…

There did seem to be a little bit of PR about it... Cluj positioning itself as a very startup-friendly city, a documentary about all he evil hackers in Râmnicu Vâlcea IIRC, though it does seem a bit random.

Any idea how it compares to neighboring Hungary?

In Budapest there's anecdotally a lot of software talent and a fairly visible coworking/hipster-hacking/startup scene, but I still see Tata bringing people in from India to work.

And in Berlin there are people from all over the world toiling in the Salt Mines of Samwer, I would assume a lot of them from the former Eastern Bloc.

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#145

Post by nkkollaw »

I read some of the comments, many saying that $17,000/mo. isn't a lot of money, but don't forget that Creative Tim is based in Romania.

Salaries in Romania aren't as good as in the States.

I'm currently based in Italy and a programmer can make as little as 1,200/mo. (salaries in Italy are much higher than in Romania, possibly 100-200% more). I make more than that freelancing, but I don't think 17,000/mo. is bad, both in general and for a company based in Romania.

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#146

Post by elbear »

alexbanks wrote: post #37
elbear wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not easy , but you can do it. Source: I'm Romanian and I work remotely. I found the job here in the monthly Who's Hiring thread.

My point was not "Romanians can't get remote jobs," but rather "It's not so easy to get remote jobs that all Romanians can simply get a remote job."

It's as easy or as difficult as getting any other programming job. The more you know your stuff and good English, the better the job you'll find.

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#147

Post by hiddencost »

ZeroFries wrote: post #139
hiddencost wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've billed $40k in one month. Typical months are closer to $30k. I have fairly specialized machine learning skills.

Do you need an advanced degree to do this? How did you land on your niche?

You need to be well known in the academic community, have worked on important and well known products, and spend a lot of time on potential clients. We have one person (the one with the most connections) who just finds contracts by going to trade shows and curating connections, and the rest of us work on them.

I've worked on products that you've used :)

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#149

Post by kristian_io »

cheez wrote: post #88
lemming wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because money isn't everything. What I'm working on isn't a side project, it's my main gig, but it's paying the bills nicely. But I started this after quitting from a post-acquisition job at Google paying $400k plus 4 years of retention bonus totalling a lot of money. I would absolutely have been financially much, much better off at Google. But I would have had to live in the US which I didn't want to do, and I would…

"Money isn't everything" - guy who obviously made more than 2 million USD working at Google for 4 years... I don't want to say you're wrong, but money isn't everything is easy to say when you have it.

Actually, if you think about it, those who have money are really only people who are qualified to say such a thing.
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