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5 side projects in 6 years, earning $0

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Re: 5 side projects in 6 years, earning $0

#51

Post by redisman »

kjksf wrote: post #38
herval wrote: post #15

All these have a thing in common: he gave up because they weren’t immediate successes. Some even had traction: 5 users in 3 months isn’t the incredible outlier story you hear time and time again, but it’s 5 people you can talk to, listen to what they want (and why they signed up anyway), then you gear up from there. We’re too conditioned to believe in the stories of immediate success and MVPs making tens of thousands…

I don't think "just stick with it" is a good advice in general and especially not for his projects. He was smart to abandon his minimal time tracker, minimal metronome and jobs website. BTW: he didn't get 5 users for minimal time tracker, he got 5 people who signed up for a mailing list based on screenshots of non-existing product. Even smarter would be to not do such projects in the first place. With jobs websites y…

Yeah the first step if you want to be successful on some metric is to type “time tracker” into AppStore search and see that is completely hopeless and pick something else that doesn’t already have 100+ professional and commercial implementations

Re: 5 side projects in 6 years, earning $0

#52

Post by jabl »

ghaff wrote: post #44
ChuckMcM wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So much this sentiment. I ask people I mentor "why do you measure yourself in dollars?" and they often respond with something like "all the successful people I admire are rich." or something along those lines. Money is a 'first derivative' of success and a lagging indicator. Measure yourself by what you learn not by what you earn and you will be sticking to projects longer because the payoff will be in what they are…

One the one hand, I'd observe that most people's side-projects, aka hobbies, were never expected to make money. Short of opening a shop your pottery or whatever wasjust something you did. On the other hand I recognize it's somewhat privileged to just shrug off making money with "side hustles."

Well, it's also kind of privileged to expect to have such a "side hustle" that you enjoy doing, and that generates income.

Sure, people used to have side hustles back in the day, but maybe more like weeding your potato plants after a back-breaking day at the factory.

Re: 5 side projects in 6 years, earning $0

#53

Post by ChuckMcM »

ghaff wrote: post #44
ChuckMcM wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So much this sentiment. I ask people I mentor "why do you measure yourself in dollars?" and they often respond with something like "all the successful people I admire are rich." or something along those lines. Money is a 'first derivative' of success and a lagging indicator. Measure yourself by what you learn not by what you earn and you will be sticking to projects longer because the payoff will be in what they are…

One the one hand, I'd observe that most people's side-projects, aka hobbies, were never expected to make money. Short of opening a shop your pottery or whatever wasjust something you did. On the other hand I recognize it's somewhat privileged to just shrug off making money with "side hustles."

I would be interested in how you got to here:

> On the other hand I recognize it's somewhat privileged to just shrug off making money with "side hustles."

Was it from what I wrote or was it unrelated?

Re: 5 side projects in 6 years, earning $0

#54

Post by crispyalmond »

I wouldn't consider projects which make $0 to be failures, unless your intent was to make money from them. I like making tools/games in my spare time with no intention of profiting from them. I simply enjoy the programming aspect way more than any monetary value. I'm not saying that I wouldn't like the money, but it's not my primary focus for making these projects.

Re: 5 side projects in 6 years, earning $0

#55

Post by ZephyrBlu »

tppiotrowski wrote: post #46
martincmartin wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of "Good Software Takes Ten Years. Get Used To it." by Joel Spolsky. https://www.joelonsoftware.com/2001/07/21/good-software-take...

https://i1.wp.com/www.joelonsoftware.com/wp-content/uploads/... This chart is a good example of having no traction for years and then growing exponentially. We usually hear about a company once it hits the inflection point so it seems like an overnight success.

"no traction" lol. After 2 years that chart shows 35k users. That's only no traction in relation to the final outcome.

Imagine this was money instead, where the final result was $1B and after the first 2 years it was only $1M.

$1M is only "no traction" in relation to $1B. In absolute terms it's pretty damn good.

Re: 5 side projects in 6 years, earning $0

#57

Post by ghaff »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #53
ghaff wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One the one hand, I'd observe that most people's side-projects, aka hobbies, were never expected to make money. Short of opening a shop your pottery or whatever wasjust something you did. On the other hand I recognize it's somewhat privileged to just shrug off making money with "side hustles."

I would be interested in how you got to here: > On the other hand I recognize it's somewhat privileged to just shrug off making money with "side hustles." Was it from what I wrote or was it unrelated?

I was just referring to expectations that projects you do outside of your main job can be turned into money-making enterprises. And, from my perspective, this is usually not the case and I'm fine with it but it's easy to see that being dismissive of side hustles assumes a well-paying 9-5 job.

Re: 5 side projects in 6 years, earning $0

#58

Post by zapstar »

I hope this write-up was a healthy and effective way to help you mourn these losses. (And then move on to the next big idea!) Kudos to you for experimenting like this.

Would you consider adding them to the Project Cemetery[0]? Then others could learn from them too!

[0] https://projectcemetery.com

Re: 5 side projects in 6 years, earning $0

#59

Post by brailsafe »

What a lot of loud successful people wouldn't like to admit, is that even if you show up and do the work, you have to be very lucky to get traction for anything, regardless of novelty. True for being an employee or a business. For the latter, it helps to be very lucky and opportunistic with timing to begin with.

Re: 5 side projects in 6 years, earning $0

#60

Post by prox »

kjksf wrote: post #38
herval wrote: post #15

All these have a thing in common: he gave up because they weren’t immediate successes. Some even had traction: 5 users in 3 months isn’t the incredible outlier story you hear time and time again, but it’s 5 people you can talk to, listen to what they want (and why they signed up anyway), then you gear up from there. We’re too conditioned to believe in the stories of immediate success and MVPs making tens of thousands…

I don't think "just stick with it" is a good advice in general and especially not for his projects. He was smart to abandon his minimal time tracker, minimal metronome and jobs website. BTW: he didn't get 5 users for minimal time tracker, he got 5 people who signed up for a mailing list based on screenshots of non-existing product. Even smarter would be to not do such projects in the first place. With jobs websites y…

As Guy Kawasaki once said in Art of the Start : “You want to be high and on the right.” You make something everyone wants and is of great value, and only you can make it. The worst place is making something that 50 others do and is of no value to the customer.
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