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

I spent two years launching tiny projects

tinyprojects.dev

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

171–180 of 199 posts

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#171

Post by creakingstairs »

imetatroll wrote: post #169
danielvaughn wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your career is what I aspired to when I started in this industry over a decade ago. But what ended up happening was that I (a) worked full-time while dabbling on nights and weekends, (b) spent several years trying to decide which project I wanted to really pursue in earnest, and then (c) after picking the project, obsessing over it so much that I never felt it was ready to release. So it's...not going well so far lol…

I launched my one and only three years ago and it still doesn't pay its own bills. I work on it when I can, but at this point I feel rather resigned to it never being something I can really be proud of.

By actually launching, you’ve achieved what most engineers only think about. I’m not sure if it would mean anything to you, but I look up to what you’ve achieved so far and hope I can ship something in the next 3 years.

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#173

Post by alfiedotwtf »

danielvaughn wrote: post #137
hiptobecubic wrote: post #134

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who is squarely outside the industry of "side project entrepreneurism," it sounds like the problem is obsessing over minor details about the project and never launching it. The other person literally said they tried like 50 things and you two haven't launched any yet.

I put that in there to make it more or less obvious that perfectionism was one of the reasons I haven't accomplished much yet. The point was to probe deeper and see if there's some other insight, because everyone already knows that perfectionism kills productivity.

At the same time, if you're doing it for a hobby, taking your time until you're happy can be meditative. That's why I'm taking my side project slowly - because I enjoy coding and am using my side project as a form of relaxation.

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#174

Post by alin23 »

xwowsersx wrote: post #128
alin23 wrote: post #112

I started doing the same but with macOS apps: https://lowtechguys.com Reading about the author's projects in the past is actually what inspired me to do it. I used Windows for a long time before as a power user (living my life in FarManager and WinAPI), then switched to Ubuntu with i3. After finally switching to the Mac, I loved its simplicity and how it freed my mind from micro-managing the system, but I also notice…

rcmd looks great. Going to give that a try. Nice work!

Thanks! Hope you find it as useful as I did :)

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#175

Post by cies »

jjeaff wrote: post #163
mediaman wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I just wanted to say that I love your phrasing of working on something that "you hate a little less". In general I believe the idea of "work on what you love" to be awful advice; I have found that I get deep satisfaction out of working on something that someone is willing to pay for, even if that means that sometimes it is a headache and I hate doing some of the things that need to be done. Once you accept that those…

I prefer to try to learn to love something that you believe can bring you success. It is very difficult to do something day in and day out that you don't love some part of. You just have to figure out your angle. I don't love my current business, but I love business in general and I love building things that people like to use.

The "love requirement" makes it hard to continue once you wake up one day and find you no longer love it. The "hate it a little less" is much more useful is you dont want to give up on stuff because you have a bad day/week/month with it.

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#176

Post by petercooper »

OJFord wrote: post #140
petercooper wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know HN leans heavily US, but if anyone is in the UK, you can now earn up to £1000 in side income without having to declare it or file a self assessment tax return.

'Now'? But yes, I was thinking of that ('entrepreneur's relief' I believe) too - it solves this problem nicely: don't worry about it until you know you're making money. (And also other problems like 'hang on I sold some old crap on eBay.. was that income')

Ha! I'm old enough that 2017, when the "trading allowance" was introduced, feels like a year or two ago.. :-|

(Entrepreneurs' Relief was a thing that let you get reduced capital gains of 10% on up to £10m of proceeds from selling certain types of shareholdings or assets of a personal business. It's now called Business Asset Disposal Relief and has been decimated to just £1m.)

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#177

Post by vmception »

mapmap wrote: post #164
vmception wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thats a dumb reason to get frozen. Just in case you needed that perspective. All your costs are tax deductions, whether you incorporate or not. The incorporation cost is negligible and you can ignore everything about a local/foreign llc registration simply because the consequences are improbable and inconsequential, just make the llc in the best states. If your employer is withholding any taxes, you’ll get so much mo…

What are the best states for an LLC?

Wyoming, followed by Delaware, but save Delaware for the C-Corp when you need formalities from outside capital.

Both offer levels of privacy, Wyoming’s aren't codified they just dont care (and will help you), there all you have to do is just have anyone else sign the organization documents. Your registered agent or your lawyer can.

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#178

Post by RupurtMurloc »

buf wrote: post #135

I also do the same as the author, but I only build websites with a clear monetization model. Every project I've done after my first successful one as been in an adjacent audience. Doing roughly $700k revenue yearly right now over the 2 main projects. Hopefully with a 3rd coming this summer. https://siliconvict.com/projects

Were you really a convict?

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#179

Post by buf »

RupurtMurloc wrote: post #178
buf wrote: post #135

I also do the same as the author, but I only build websites with a clear monetization model. Every project I've done after my first successful one as been in an adjacent audience. Doing roughly $700k revenue yearly right now over the 2 main projects. Hopefully with a 3rd coming this summer. https://siliconvict.com/projects

Were you really a convict?

Yes, for 17 years.

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#180

Post by muttled »

immigrantheart wrote: post #157
muttled wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Speaking from personal experience: just seeing what unsolved needs you have yields a lot of ideas. I had coworkers who would go to email something confidential to someone and click the wrong auto-complete contact and then we had a full-blown crisis. I thought "is there a way to stop that without the user hating me?" and that's how I got the idea for https://jiminyclick.com

Do people want to pay for that?

Yep. It costs a lot of money every time they make that mistake.
Post reply on HN