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Who is living off their startup fulltime?

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Re: Who is living off their startup fulltime?

#151

Post by HackrNwsDesignr »

toast76 wrote: post #125
HackrNwsDesignr wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Toast,I am pretty decent at graphic/web design, but have trouble finding consulting work in order to make this work. Mind if I ask where do you look? Craigslist seems saturated, and elance seems too much of a hassle with outsourcing companies and others with years reputation on the site.

I'm a programmer (and in Australia), so maybe that makes it a bit easier. I think it's mostly a case of knowing people. Nearly all of my work is from people who already knew me before they needed the work, or knew someone who I had previously done work for. Referrals and recommendations are worth more than anything else, and people will pay more for someone they know will do a good job. My two current side projects a…

Toast, great advice, thanks for sharing. How do you estimate how much to charge for a project? I'm more of a designer than a coder (though I can technically do both), and I'm always seeing price estimates all over the board on craigslist and other places. Any advice on this?

Re: Who is living off their startup fulltime?

#152

Post by WillyF »

One Day, One Job (http://www.onedayonejob.com/) is my startup, and it's just reached the point where it's covering all of my business and personal costs. The site, along with its sister site One Day, One Internship, help college students learn about interesting career opportunities.

Nearly 45% of this year's revenue has come from direct advertising.

Another 40% of the revenue comes from contextual job advertising which directs users to a private label job search engine.

About 10% comes from product sales (an online job search course), and the rest comes from various affiliate programs.

I've also been able to get some significant referral credits with a few online clothing retailers. That's enabled me to be well dressed, despite just scraping by for most of the year.

Re: Who is living off their startup fulltime?

#153

Post by WillyF »

zingo wrote: post #38

I think there are differences between an "aspiring startup" i.e. self-employment, small business, cooperative etc. and a startup. To me you are running a startup when you are ready to take funding that will mainly be used for growth. People can of course call their businesses whatever they want, but using a term like "seed stage startup" would be helpful for clarity.

I don't agree. Readiness for funding should not be a litmus test for whether a business is a "startup." There are plenty of startups that never need funding.

I think that if you want to differentiate between startups and self-employment, a good litmus test would be to ask yourself whether someone would potentially buy your business. If the answer is yes, then it means that there's something more than the income stream from an individual's labor.

Re: Who is living off their startup fulltime?

#154

Post by abailin »

paraschopra wrote: post #121
Sephr wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Copyright 2011"? Are you a time-traveler?

Maybe he is smart! He may be travelling for whole of 2011 after all :)

i dont get why people don't use copyright assuming they have access to a server side language

Re: Who is living off their startup fulltime?

#155

Post by justinchen »

chopsueyar wrote: post #53
justinchen wrote: post #18

Menuism ( http://www.menuism.com/ ) - bootstrapped in 2006 and profitable for a few years now. 2 FT founders.

Who enters the menu data for the restaurant?

Users, owners or partners. We also aggregate online menus from around the web.

Re: Who is living off their startup fulltime?

#156

Post by nischalshetty »

My part time app http://justunfollow.com rakes in wayyy more than my day job. I'll be doing the "obvious" in a few months time. The reason it's taking me long is the people I currently work with. They are all talented and something gives me a feeling I'll find a "co-founder" in one of my colleagues ;)

Re: Who is living off their startup fulltime?

#157

Post by DJN »

Bootstrapped from day 1, I'm pleased to say Trafficspaces (http://www.trafficspaces.com) is now profitable enough to sustain operations without requiring additional capital.

I've learned five lessons.

1. Charge from day 1

2. Focus on business customers (the Average Selling Price is much higher)

3. Pump all your profits back into marketing.

4. Never stop innovating.

5. Put a phone number on your site (it does wonders for trust)

Re: Who is living off their startup fulltime?

#159

Post by kylebragger »

Andrenid wrote: post #123
kylebragger wrote: post #6

Forrst ( http://forrst.com/ ) makes more than enough to cover all costs, including some of my salary. The rest comes from a seed round I took in March.

I'm a big Forrst fan, thanks for the site! It has become my new place to go for inspiration/motivation when I need it. Now when do we find out what Acorns are for? ;)

Thank you so much. Means a lot to hear.

Acorns are currency.

Re: Who is living off their startup fulltime?

#160

Post by kylebragger »

ericlavigne wrote: post #147
Andrenid wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm a big Forrst fan, thanks for the site! It has become my new place to go for inspiration/motivation when I need it. Now when do we find out what Acorns are for? ;)

I just signed up to try it out. May I have an invite? Name: Eric Lavigne Email: lavigne.eric@gmail.com Twitter: ericlavigne Something I made: https://github.com/ericlavigne/island-wari

I sent you one earlier, Eric. Happy to hear feedback at kyle AT forrst.com
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