Too many people try to find work in competitive fields where there are fewer jobs than applicants and spend years tearing their hair out trying to make it happen without success, and all for nothing. Go where you're wanted, especially if you're already broke. Find a job in construction, they'll hire anyone who can show up on time every day and can work hard, or is smart, and the pay isn't even bad. Join the union if you can, and figure your path out from there. Maybe you'll make it back to tech, maybe not, and maybe it's ok either way.
How do I make $10k (What are you guys doing?)
21–30 of 48 posts
Re: How do I make $10k (What are you guys doing?)
#22> Up until last year, I was working as a technical writer in ML/AI. Those roles basically 'disappeared'
Ouch, hoisted by your own petard. Start a Substack positioning yourself as a reformed AI enthusiast who now rails against the economic havoc the technology leaves in its wake. I'm only half joking. A lot of folks on Substack are pretty hostile toward AI, and they would probably eat that up.
Re: How do I make $10k (What are you guys doing?)
#23Right now, you need a guaranteed paycheck, not a speculative project.
A side hustle might replace your income one day, but it won’t move fast enough to solve a six-month rent deficit. Focus 100% of your energy on securing a job first; once your housing is stable, you can use your off-hours to build that $10k idea.
Re: How do I make $10k (What are you guys doing?)
#24You might laugh, but selling cheap marketing websites is an easy $10,000.
Selling ten $1,000 websites to small businesses is easy. It isn't fun or exciting, but it works.
It's 50% sales, 30% chasing people, and 20% building.
Find small local businesses with bad websites, or better yet no website. They honestly do exist.
Resist the urge to make your own anything. Just use Squarespace or Wix!
You don't need to hide SS or Wix from the client. Tell them you just charge for your time to set it all up. If they complain then move onto the next customer, they would likely be a pain anyway.
People will say "small marketing websites are dead with SS or Wix about", but it's not true. Most small businesses just don't want to learn how!
If you cold call all week I bet you can have a couple of deals done by Friday! Good luck.
Re: How do I make $10k (What are you guys doing?)
#25You might laugh, but selling cheap marketing websites is an easy $10,000. Selling ten $1,000 websites to small businesses is easy. It isn't fun or exciting, but it works. It's 50% sales, 30% chasing people, and 20% building. Find small local businesses with bad websites, or better yet no website. They honestly do exist. Resist the urge to make your own anything. Just use Squarespace or Wix! You don't need to hide SS…
> People will say "small marketing websites are dead with SS or Wix about", but it's not true. Most small businesses just don't want to learn how!
Even if they want to, they have approximately 500 other problems to deal with that are more urgent.
Just figure out how you handle support after the initial project phase: It's a lot easier to get a small business to spend $1000 on a website than to get them to spend $100/year for the constant trickle of small changes they'll inevitable need later.
Re: How do I make $10k (What are you guys doing?)
#26You might laugh, but selling cheap marketing websites is an easy $10,000. Selling ten $1,000 websites to small businesses is easy. It isn't fun or exciting, but it works. It's 50% sales, 30% chasing people, and 20% building. Find small local businesses with bad websites, or better yet no website. They honestly do exist. Resist the urge to make your own anything. Just use Squarespace or Wix! You don't need to hide SS…
How do you convince a small business or individual that $1k is a good price for their website? As someone that has learned web development as a hobby many years ago, I’ve helped build sites for several people through word of mouth but I can never seem to ask much for the work I’ve done for some reason. I work really fast, it’s easy, and even fun for me. This idea sounds great and I even have access to create unlimited sub-accounts on a CRM platform paid for by my real job. I can make full websites with storefronts, blogs, forms, galleries, email/sms flows, you name it. My issue is knowing how to convince others how valuable the work is. Any suggestions?
Re: How do I make $10k (What are you guys doing?)
#27You might laugh, but selling cheap marketing websites is an easy $10,000. Selling ten $1,000 websites to small businesses is easy. It isn't fun or exciting, but it works. It's 50% sales, 30% chasing people, and 20% building. Find small local businesses with bad websites, or better yet no website. They honestly do exist. Resist the urge to make your own anything. Just use Squarespace or Wix! You don't need to hide SS…
How do you convince a small business or individual that $1k is a good price for their website? As someone that has learned web development as a hobby many years ago, I’ve helped build sites for several people through word of mouth but I can never seem to ask much for the work I’ve done for some reason. I work really fast, it’s easy, and even fun for me. This idea sounds great and I even have access to create unlimite…
Well the first point is don't ask for payment after the work is done. No one will pay because you've already solved their pain. You're in a weaker position at that point.
Tell them how much you charge before you start work and ask if they want you to start work. It can only go one of two ways.
The easiest way to convince them is to compare it to sales. If they are an electrician with an average job of $500, that website only needs to earn them two extra jobs per year to break even.
But the easiest way is to be a sociopath and not care. Ask the question and they will either say yes or no. No one is going to assassinate you for pitching a marketing website to them.
If they say yes, do you care where the money has come from? Would it matter if that was their last $1k? If they're loaded would you feel more confident? What if you do a great job and then it turns out that money came from illegal sources?
What about if they say no? Will you stay awake at night worrying that their business is losing work because people think they're weird for not having a website? What if your marketing website lands them a big client because of the "authenticity factor" of having a professional marketing website?
None of these things actually matter. But getting paid $1k feels good, especially if you've done a good job and earned it. :)
Re: How do I make $10k (What are you guys doing?)
#28Right now, you need a guaranteed paycheck, not a speculative project. A side hustle might replace your income one day, but it won’t move fast enough to solve a six-month rent deficit. Focus 100% of your energy on securing a job first; once your housing is stable, you can use your off-hours to build that $10k idea.
In general yes, but there are no regular jobs now. Only gaslit interviews, if you can even get a response.
Re: How do I make $10k (What are you guys doing?)
#29You might laugh, but selling cheap marketing websites is an easy $10,000. Selling ten $1,000 websites to small businesses is easy. It isn't fun or exciting, but it works. It's 50% sales, 30% chasing people, and 20% building. Find small local businesses with bad websites, or better yet no website. They honestly do exist. Resist the urge to make your own anything. Just use Squarespace or Wix! You don't need to hide SS…
How do you convince a small business or individual that $1k is a good price for their website? As someone that has learned web development as a hobby many years ago, I’ve helped build sites for several people through word of mouth but I can never seem to ask much for the work I’ve done for some reason. I work really fast, it’s easy, and even fun for me. This idea sounds great and I even have access to create unlimite…
You can charge a lot more than you think. IMO, $1,000 for a website is too low. I provide commercial electrical services and $1,000 would get you one of my electrician’s labor for six hours, which does not include material. For specialized electricians who do things like work on generators and do switchgear testing, $1,000 only covers around 5 hours.
Re: How do I make $10k (What are you guys doing?)
#30Too many people try to find work in competitive fields where there are fewer jobs than applicants and spend years tearing their hair out trying to make it happen without success, and all for nothing. Go where you're wanted, especially if you're already broke. Find a job in construction, they'll hire anyone who can show up on time every day and can work hard, or is smart, and the pay isn't even bad. Join the union if…
These jobs are often locked up, good luck.