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Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2021 – Show and tell

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Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2021 – Show and tell

#441

Post by rapind »

vladstudio wrote: post #439

I've been drawing pictures and publishing them as desktop wallpapers for ~20 years now, selling Vlad.studio accounts with unlimited access to downloads [0]. In 2021, I earned $4761, which means ~$400/month. It's not horribly little amount, especially for Russia (where I live), given it's a side project. However, I feel I need to do something more active, rather than just drawing new pictures. Promoting and marketing…

You know that if you really did just keep up the pace of new art and enjoyed it as a side project you might have a sustainable business in a few years stress free… or you could go the marketing route and possibly end up eventually hating the work.

I mean it could go either way, just make sure you also consider the upside of a fun (slowly / organically growing) side business.

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2021 – Show and tell

#442

Post by scary-size »

quanganhdo wrote: post #398

I built a new Pinboard.in client for iOS and macOS called Pins (Show HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25881622 ) If it were back in the old days, I would've charged for it upfront for $5 or so. Instead I decided to make it free to try with an in-app purchase to remove all limitations. Targetting a niche customer base that have already paid at least $22/year for a Pinboard.in subscription and are likely to be…

Cool! How did you recruit the beta users? Shared among friends? Or did you use dedicated service?

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2021 – Show and tell

#443

Post by vladstudio »

rapind wrote: post #441
vladstudio wrote: post #439

I've been drawing pictures and publishing them as desktop wallpapers for ~20 years now, selling Vlad.studio accounts with unlimited access to downloads [0]. In 2021, I earned $4761, which means ~$400/month. It's not horribly little amount, especially for Russia (where I live), given it's a side project. However, I feel I need to do something more active, rather than just drawing new pictures. Promoting and marketing…

You know that if you really did just keep up the pace of new art and enjoyed it as a side project you might have a sustainable business in a few years stress free… or you could go the marketing route and possibly end up eventually hating the work. I mean it could go either way, just make sure you also consider the upside of a fun (slowly / organically growing) side business.

I was there actually :-) Some time in 2010+-, Vlad.studio was my primary source of income. Good times! Then, life events happened, and I left wallpapers abandoned for several years. I've been increasing my pace of drawing last couple of years, and I do enjoy the comeback! However, I'm also honest with myself that you can't step in the same river twice. Or maybe you can :-) I'll draw and see!

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2021 – Show and tell

#444

Post by hydershykh »

I have about 6 years of applied AI experience and I have been trying to work on something that can use that experience and be useful to others.

Ended up building an analytics based platform that uses data analysis techniques to generate trade ideas for retail investors [0]. Started it as a hobby July 2019, but it ended up growing quite big. The plan was to generate about $1k/mo but we are generating about $120k/mo these days with over 3000 paid users. I think I'm the most fortunate person in the world, never in my wildest dreams did I imagine this much.

I still work on it solo and have no plans on hiring a team, because solo is where I have most fun, and that's important.

[0] https://tradytics.com

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2021 – Show and tell

#446

Post by mongol »

crobertsbmw wrote: post #25

My little hardware book, Computer Engineering for Babies launched on Kickstarter a few months ago and blew my mind by raising almost $250k. It’s a simple book with buttons and LEDs to demonstrate different logic gates. I just shipped out the first batch of books a week ago and now waiting for the next batch of books. It’s gotten pretty demanding pretty quickly but I’m really excited about it. I’m hoping I can soon em…

Jeff Geerling tweeted something about that he got 1 million TikTok views from a video he spent two minutes to make. I think it featured this book.

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2021 – Show and tell

#447

Post by koonsolo »

Benjamin_Dobell wrote: post #373

I helped my wife (a primary school teacher) start a social emotional development book & activity subscription service. https://mybookbag.com.au/ It's slowly growing, but to be honest the pricing needs to be increased. Profit margins are paper thin (ha!). Still though, it's been fun putting together the website, integrating Stripe etc. Biggest issue is book publishers. Wow their ordering systems are archaic! We can't…

That is a cool service!

My wife recently published such an emotional development book in Slovakia [0], and it became a bestseller there. She's now translating and expanding into other countries.

It would be nice for our wives to connect :).

[0] https://www.sebavedomie.com/knihy-pre-deti/

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2021 – Show and tell

#448

Post by Aulig »

hemmert wrote: post #402
hemmert wrote: post #401

Mine scaled to about $800/month this year (from $200/month in the previous years): Escape Team, a printable escape room https://www.escape-team.com All revenue is generated via in-app purchases, and it is about 60% iOS, 40% Android. People download and print a mission PDF with all the physical cut-fold-and-draw puzzles, then the app offers a $1.99 in-app purchase to unlock the audio narrative/gameplay for that missio…

(I am really happy paying the App Store/Play Store the commission, by the way, as they handle the global tax management - I wouldn’t want to send a tax report to every country in which some user made a $1.99 in-app purchase…)

Definitely a valid point, which is why I use Paddle on my website. 30% is still a huge fee for that, Paddle only charges 5% for example (and that includes payment processing fees).

Re: Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2021 – Show and tell

#449

Post by tonyedgecombe »

AussieWog93 wrote: post #400
simonbarker87 wrote: post #393

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Now that Brexit has happened and the UK's laws have changed to something sane Interesting perspective - in the main everything around international trade got a whole lot more complicated for us here in the UK since leaving the EU.

Oh, I'm not commenting on the overall effect. From what I understand, international trade absolutely did get more complicated. On the other hand, though, it gives the UK a bit more freedom to set its own laws and make its own agreements. VAT laws that are actually designed to collect VAT, for example, plus we finally have a UK-AU FTA!

VAT is just as complicated as it used to be, especially if you sell into Northern Ireland. The only thing that improved is we don't have to do those bloody EU sales lists.
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