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I spent two years launching tiny projects

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Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#81

Post by pid-1 »

marban wrote: post #78
techsin101 wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

how do you stay motivated? what's your stack? do you talk it out with someone?

2h sports and a 1h walk every day but that's it. I get motivated from failures because they're the default I expect from having taking actions. Also helps to lower your expectations from life and stay away from comparing your track record with those of others. You know, those 18y olds who flipped their newsletter for 20 millions.

> but that's it

That's waaay more than your avg office worker though.

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#82

Post by acegopher »

marban wrote: post #46

I started my professional life ~25y ago with a side project that by 2022 led to roughly 50 more side projects — The vast majority failed, some turned into 200 employee businesses, some others got acquired. In essence, I make a living out of side projects. Side projects are life.

Perhaps a more important question is when do you know to pull the plug? At what point do you stop investing resources into the project?

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#83

Post by eftychis »

mmcdermott wrote: post #67
soperj wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like this quote is why I can't have a removable battery, a headphone jack and an sd card in a new phone.

Perhaps. I always assumed it had more to do with offering better waterproofing, but maybe that's naive.

Or maybe more to do with users buying more of a particular brand of Bluetooth headphones and not having an arbitrary and universal input (you can do a lot of crazy stuff with an audio jack see square).

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#85

Post by zrail »

jhassell wrote: post #35
dcchambers wrote: post #23

Does anyone let the tax implications of launching (several) tiny projects prevent them from even starting? I know LLCs allow for pass-through taxation and you don't have to file as a business, but I get frozen by the idea that generating a few hundred dollars in revenue from some silly side project means I have to spend hours/days of my time the next Spring figuring out how to properly pay taxes on it.

As a side hustler, even with pass-through taxation, you will still have to pay the self-employment tax (15.3% of net earnings) on top of taxes at your federal and state tax bracket. However, side-hustle money spent on qualified business expenses, is not taxable. (Tax people please chime in.)

Also, Social Security tax has a cap. If your day job + side project net income exceeds the cap, the excess will only incur Medicare tax.

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#86

Post by frollo »

dcchambers wrote: post #23

Does anyone let the tax implications of launching (several) tiny projects prevent them from even starting? I know LLCs allow for pass-through taxation and you don't have to file as a business, but I get frozen by the idea that generating a few hundred dollars in revenue from some silly side project means I have to spend hours/days of my time the next Spring figuring out how to properly pay taxes on it.

That's me. Note that I'm not a US citizen (in fact, I never set foot on US soil, nor I intend to, in my whole life), so your mileage may vary.

In the end, I decided to launch all my side-projects for free (sometimes I outright include a "non commercial" clause because I don't see why somebody should profit off my free work). I find this reduces all the project related stress to a fraction.

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#88

Post by marban »

acegopher wrote: post #82
marban wrote: post #46

I started my professional life ~25y ago with a side project that by 2022 led to roughly 50 more side projects — The vast majority failed, some turned into 200 employee businesses, some others got acquired. In essence, I make a living out of side projects. Side projects are life.

Perhaps a more important question is when do you know to pull the plug? At what point do you stop investing resources into the project?

There's no exact rule but I'd say 12 to 16 months is a good time to expect some sort of positive trend. I don't do any of that MVP stuff and go full-blown right away because user expecations are high and I'm too old to get pleasure from starting something out of a notion-hosted website. Cash-wise I try to keep it under 20k - keeping in mind that I don't do physical projects and all by myself (no freelancers, contractors, etc).

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#89

Post by Kon-Peki »

dcchambers wrote: post #23

Does anyone let the tax implications of launching (several) tiny projects prevent them from even starting? I know LLCs allow for pass-through taxation and you don't have to file as a business, but I get frozen by the idea that generating a few hundred dollars in revenue from some silly side project means I have to spend hours/days of my time the next Spring figuring out how to properly pay taxes on it.

A few hundred dollars?

Put it on Schedule 1 line 8z and work on making it a few thousand dollars for next time!

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040s1.pdf

Re: I spent two years launching tiny projects

#90

Post by petercooper »

dcchambers wrote: post #23

Does anyone let the tax implications of launching (several) tiny projects prevent them from even starting? I know LLCs allow for pass-through taxation and you don't have to file as a business, but I get frozen by the idea that generating a few hundred dollars in revenue from some silly side project means I have to spend hours/days of my time the next Spring figuring out how to properly pay taxes on it.

I know HN leans heavily US, but if anyone is in the UK, you can now earn up to £1000 in side income without having to declare it or file a self assessment tax return.
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