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Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

indiehackers.com

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Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#71

Post by cardine »

20years wrote: post #46
limelight wrote: post #36

I really love these IndieHackers interviews but surprisingly find them somewhat demotivating. Even the more successful interviewees make less revenue per month than I can make through straight consulting. And they're the success stories—most people (including myself) make far less per month from their products. How do people keep motivated to work on side projects when consulting is so much more profitable?

Don't get me wrong, I think IndieHackers is cool and enjoy reading these stories but I also think people who are running very profitable SaaS businesses may be hesitant on doing an IndieHackers interview. We don't think of our projects as "side projects" and don't really want to be grouped in as an Indie Hacker.

I would agree with this. Several years ago we were averaging $50k/mo with me and one employee, and we are now bigger in terms of both revenue and people. However I consider myself a profitable bootstrapped startup, not a side project or anything of that nature.

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#72

Post by traviswingo »

limelight wrote: post #36

I really love these IndieHackers interviews but surprisingly find them somewhat demotivating. Even the more successful interviewees make less revenue per month than I can make through straight consulting. And they're the success stories—most people (including myself) make far less per month from their products. How do people keep motivated to work on side projects when consulting is so much more profitable?

Its more about earning passive income from something that was fun to build. I built my side projects simply because I thought it would be fun to build them. The passive income from something I only maintain a few hours a week is just a nice bonus.

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#73

Post by kc10 »

merpnderp wrote: post #38
limelight wrote: post #36

I really love these IndieHackers interviews but surprisingly find them somewhat demotivating. Even the more successful interviewees make less revenue per month than I can make through straight consulting. And they're the success stories—most people (including myself) make far less per month from their products. How do people keep motivated to work on side projects when consulting is so much more profitable?

If you can make more than $17k/month from straight consulting, I would like to subscribe to your newsletter please.

$17k/month in consulting is actually not too much. For 22 working days, 8hrs a day, for about $100/hour you can earn $17k month.

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#74

Post by rebuilder »

erikrothoff wrote: post #44
limelight wrote: post #36

I really love these IndieHackers interviews but surprisingly find them somewhat demotivating. Even the more successful interviewees make less revenue per month than I can make through straight consulting. And they're the success stories—most people (including myself) make far less per month from their products. How do people keep motivated to work on side projects when consulting is so much more profitable?

For me it's the drive to try to build something that might become something. (I was interviewed for indiehackers but only have 3k recurring revenue, so did not really peak any interest here on HN :) Sure I can consult 110% and probably earn enough as three full time jobs. But I already have everything. Gadgets are not very exciting when your employer gives you top-of-the-line Macbooks and iPhones. I don't play video…

3k a month seems entirely in line with this article, which is about a company of six people bringing in 17k a month.

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#75

Post by rebuilder »

erikrothoff wrote: post #44
limelight wrote: post #36

I really love these IndieHackers interviews but surprisingly find them somewhat demotivating. Even the more successful interviewees make less revenue per month than I can make through straight consulting. And they're the success stories—most people (including myself) make far less per month from their products. How do people keep motivated to work on side projects when consulting is so much more profitable?

For me it's the drive to try to build something that might become something. (I was interviewed for indiehackers but only have 3k recurring revenue, so did not really peak any interest here on HN :) Sure I can consult 110% and probably earn enough as three full time jobs. But I already have everything. Gadgets are not very exciting when your employer gives you top-of-the-line Macbooks and iPhones. I don't play video…

3k a month seems entirely in line with this article, which is about a company of six people bringing in 17k a month.

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#76

Post by user5994461 »

emerongi wrote: post #30
user5994461 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rent in UK (not London), Germany, France (not Paris), Italy, Spain, Portugal, etc... are under $1k a month. Romania is eastern Europe. It should be way cheaper than that.

Rent most likely ~200, food ~100-200, misc ~100. You can get by with 300-500/month in eastern Europe, but you will have to monitor your expenses really closely. 300 if you live with friends/parents, cook at home and don't really do much else other than eat, sleep and work. Get a decent apartment, have some fun in your free time and 1000 does turn into a "barely getting by"-wage. 1.5k-2k is comfortable wage, but media…

It seems that your 1000 may be rather comfortable, compared to the major tech cities. Different places have different standards for "barely getting by".

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#77

Post by hueving »

emerongi wrote: post #30
user5994461 wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The rent in UK (not London), Germany, France (not Paris), Italy, Spain, Portugal, etc... are under $1k a month. Romania is eastern Europe. It should be way cheaper than that.

Rent most likely ~200, food ~100-200, misc ~100. You can get by with 300-500/month in eastern Europe, but you will have to monitor your expenses really closely. 300 if you live with friends/parents, cook at home and don't really do much else other than eat, sleep and work. Get a decent apartment, have some fun in your free time and 1000 does turn into a "barely getting by"-wage. 1.5k-2k is comfortable wage, but media…

>1000 does turn into a "barely getting by"-wage

That's a very privileged view of "barely getting by". All you've described is someone spending everything they make on luxuries (nicer apartment, "having fun" - whatever that implies). By that token, someone could easily be "barely getting by" in San Francisco on an income of $400k by getting a nice 2 bedroom apartment to themselves in a hot location.

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#78

Post by csallen »

cardine wrote: post #71
20years wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't get me wrong, I think IndieHackers is cool and enjoy reading these stories but I also think people who are running very profitable SaaS businesses may be hesitant on doing an IndieHackers interview. We don't think of our projects as "side projects" and don't really want to be grouped in as an Indie Hacker.

I would agree with this. Several years ago we were averaging $50k/mo with me and one employee, and we are now bigger in terms of both revenue and people. However I consider myself a profitable bootstrapped startup, not a side project or anything of that nature.

You should consider doing an interview, too! Indie Hackers is for both businesses and side projects, and features interviews with lots of startup founders. As long as you have a venture that people could learn from, it'd be awesome to feature your story on the site or in the upcoming podcast! If you're interested, hit me up at courtland@indiehackers.com.

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#79

Post by beberlei »

morgante wrote: post #43
callmeed wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because the common perception is that a software product has a marginal cost of near zero and can scale, whereas consulting limits you to your billable hours and requires constantly chasing down new clients. You may debate the merits of that argument and it doesn't take into account product maintenance and support–but I think there is some validity to it. Also, some SaaS/product success stories take the path of CONSU…

> You may debate the merits of that argument and it doesn't take into account product maintenance and support–but I think there is some validity to it. That's very true, but I'd also speculate that the vast majority of software products never pay back the flat cost of development. IndieHackers is a compendium of founders who were successful enough to be worth interviewing, and even the vast majority of them make less…

Sunk cost fallacy at work here. Yes, side projects may never pay back dev investment, but if you have already written all that code and invested, then you should not use that as a cost factor to make decisions about the future.

Re: Creative Tim: Growing a side project into a $17k/month business

#80

Post by morgante »

beberlei wrote: post #79
morgante wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> You may debate the merits of that argument and it doesn't take into account product maintenance and support–but I think there is some validity to it. That's very true, but I'd also speculate that the vast majority of software products never pay back the flat cost of development. IndieHackers is a compendium of founders who were successful enough to be worth interviewing, and even the vast majority of them make less…

Sunk cost fallacy at work here. Yes, side projects may never pay back dev investment, but if you have already written all that code and invested, then you should not use that as a cost factor to make decisions about the future.

That's not the sunk cast fallacy.

The time you spend on developing previous side projects (which saw minimal return) should absolutely be a factor in deciding whether to start new ones.

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