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Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

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Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#181

Post by dr_kiszonka »

sidlls wrote: post #141

None of my “passion projects” have paid nearly as well as my $dayjob’s IPO. Went from highly in debt to multi-millionaire over the course of about 6 hours one day last year. I published a few smutty short stories and a couple of apps that I’d made for my kids, all of which together might have netted me a few thousand in total. No marketing or anything.

I am curious how your current life compares to the pre-IPO one. Is it universally better? Is there anything poor people don't know or misunderstand about being rich? (I am more in the poor camp.)

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#182

Post by xxEightyxx »

I actually have a few:

1) Board member (advisor really) of a crypto/blockchain company. They pay me $5k per month to basically answer questions and help solve certain issues that might arise. There's also regular meetings but all in I spend 4 hours per week max.

2) Small contractor jobs. I was a contractor and home builder in a previous life. These days, I do side jobs both for the extra income and as a way to relax from my regular tech job. I build decks, sheds, small patios, and some indoor remodeling stuff. All of it is really basic because I have no interest in large jobs that would take a lot of time. A 10x12 shed will net me around $6k and I can build it in a weekend. A similar sized deck I'll charge $25k. Small patio pours I'll net $4k. During Christmas season (right now) I also hang lights. I'll charge between $1500 - $2500 and net most of that. Takes me around an hour for a normal two story house.

3) Tech consultant. I help administer various Wordpress and other sites for clients. Basic stuff like plugins, changing font, layouts, etc. Super easy and I get paid a monthly retainer.

4) I work two six-figure engineering jobs. Neither is super difficult which gives me time to do the other things and still have free-time to spend with my family, friends, and hobbies.

5) Rental income. I built a few single family homes and apartment buildings (12 units per building). Nets very good income but can also be demanding because I prefer to do most of the management work myself. Just sold one 12-plex for $1.6MM in August and am sitting on the others.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#183

Post by lukevp »

ipaddr wrote: post #166
mrichman wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why on earth do you bill by the hour? You should be doing fixed fee based on value.

Good luck holding the bag when your client changes/misunderstands requirements.

You just set milestones every couple weeks of effort and invoice at the end of each one, and withhold delivery of the finished product until full payment is received… if a client doesn’t want to pay or is too difficult, fire the client and move on. And don’t give clients net30 terms or something ridiculous if you’re a solo contractor. Invoice due on receipt.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#184

Post by whoIsYou »

yahelc wrote: post #180
holler wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know Meta pays a lot, but did you ever consider an alternate path where you didn't take that job and instead grew the service out further? $23k/month is good money.

I thought about it, but I hadn't originally built it to make money. It was a weekend hack project that I never expected to do that well, and suddenly the prospect of centering my life around a product I didn't really feel passionate about felt like a nightmare. I had a lot of anxiety about whether my external dependencies I'd built on top of would continue to work, and reached the point where a large payoff was worth…

smart move

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#185

Post by holler »

yahelc wrote: post #180
holler wrote: post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I know Meta pays a lot, but did you ever consider an alternate path where you didn't take that job and instead grew the service out further? $23k/month is good money.

I thought about it, but I hadn't originally built it to make money. It was a weekend hack project that I never expected to do that well, and suddenly the prospect of centering my life around a product I didn't really feel passionate about felt like a nightmare. I had a lot of anxiety about whether my external dependencies I'd built on top of would continue to work, and reached the point where a large payoff was worth…

gotcha, certainly a win so congrats! Would be interested to hear what it did.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#186

Post by zdyn5 »

xxEightyxx wrote: post #182

I actually have a few: 1) Board member (advisor really) of a crypto/blockchain company. They pay me $5k per month to basically answer questions and help solve certain issues that might arise. There's also regular meetings but all in I spend 4 hours per week max. 2) Small contractor jobs. I was a contractor and home builder in a previous life. These days, I do side jobs both for the extra income and as a way to relax…

Regarding 3, are you interested in another client? If so let me know how you’d like to connect.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#187

Post by MobileVet »

xxEightyxx wrote: post #182

I actually have a few: 1) Board member (advisor really) of a crypto/blockchain company. They pay me $5k per month to basically answer questions and help solve certain issues that might arise. There's also regular meetings but all in I spend 4 hours per week max. 2) Small contractor jobs. I was a contractor and home builder in a previous life. These days, I do side jobs both for the extra income and as a way to relax…

4) do your employers know that you are working another full time job?

Have you found the magical eighth day of the week??

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#188

Post by sanderjd »

xxEightyxx wrote: post #182

I actually have a few: 1) Board member (advisor really) of a crypto/blockchain company. They pay me $5k per month to basically answer questions and help solve certain issues that might arise. There's also regular meetings but all in I spend 4 hours per week max. 2) Small contractor jobs. I was a contractor and home builder in a previous life. These days, I do side jobs both for the extra income and as a way to relax…

Could you describe #4 in more detail? From adding this all up, I figure you must be working 30-35 hours a week between those two jobs, so less than 20 hours a week each. What is the process by which you limit your capacity to only fill a small number of hours? Do the teams believe you to be slower than you are? Is this an explicit understanding that you'll only work half time?

I have never had a job where there is not more than enough to be done, such that I could always fill more hours than I have with useful work.

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#189

Post by zdyn5 »

twodave wrote: post #132

Software consulting. You’d be surprised how many little businesses out there have a need for custom software. I make about $60-70k/year in my spare time (maybe 10 hours/week) doing everything from adding features to legacy products, building brand new applications and even simply conducting technical interviews. It’s also pretty nice to work on something besides the usual thing at work, experiment with new/different…

Are you interested in some additional work?

Re: Ask HN: What is the best income stream you have created till date?

#190

Post by bag_boy »

iamlolz wrote: post #72
imafish wrote: post #54

I developed a Shopify app that solves a niche problem. It has grown slowly over 4 years. Current income at 80k/year with relatively low maintenance. I have a full time job as a software engineer on the side.

I've recently been considering building a Shopify app(product renting) but I can't figure out if there is a demand. A similar app has <10 reviews. Do you have any advice?

Reddit has a good Shopify community - ask them if they’re familiar with the concept.

You can also do a 7 day trial of SEMRush and do some competitive research on the app’s domain.

See if they’re ranking for any keywords/how much search traffic the keywords have.

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