3 ms·

"I make about $12k a month, which is not very much in the global scale of things, but it's fine." I'm sorry, what?

by jorsh 17y ago

SwellJoe 17y ago
That's about what one can make doing contract work, assuming you're good and reliable and get a bit of referral and repeat business happening. But, the point of starting a company is usually to do better than contracting, eventually. You trade current comfort for a steadily rising income that, hopefully, some day far surpasses what you could make doing contract work, or working for a major corporation, and most importantly does not scale based on the number of hours you can work, but instead scales on how effectively you build your organization. With taxes, health insurance, retirement savings, having a place big enough to work out of, etc. $12k/month is comfortable, but not particularly wealthy. It's a modest goal by most startup founders ("entrepreneurs") standards, I would think. I think most tech startup founders are at least looking for "fuck you" money, which is somewhere in the millions for most people. It'd take ~10 years at $12k/month to reach multiple millions. So, yes, $12k/month isn't very much for the audience he's speaking to, though it's certainly respectable.
- wgj 17y ago
  He ended by implying he still has his day job. If I read that correctly, that means $12K above his salary and benefits, and with only part time effort.
  - SwellJoe 17y ago
    Right...that does make a difference, doesn't it? So, yeah, I reckon $12k/month for part-time effort is awesome.
  - gcheong 17y ago
    Actually he ended by saying that he wouldn't quit his job to start a company. This could mean that he started a company on the side and quit once it got to where it paid enough.
jeremyw 17y ago
Hmm, 12K/mo was 8K/mo a few days ago. Not that this particularly detracts from his points, but .. grain of salt included. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1014220 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1014220
- maxklein 17y ago
  In that post, I was just talking of one particular income source, which is the main one I am doing now. I'll write another post in a few days breaking down exactly where I make the money from. It's not standard landing page crap - it's actually a bit more unexpected (for standard web ppl) than that.
- chris123 17y ago
  Maybe it's $12k before tax, $8k after tax?
petercooper 17y ago
Just to back up your exclamation, an income of $144k per year would easily put him/her in the top 15% of US households.. let alone individuals in the world as a whole. According to http://www.globalrichlist.com/ http://www.globalrichlist.com/ - an income of $144k per year on an international basis would put you in the top 0.37% earners in the world.. more people than that alone live in North Korea.

"I make about $12k a month, which is not very much in the global scale of things, but it's fine." I'm sorry, what?

by jorsh 17y ago

"I make about $12k a month, which is not very much in the global scale of things, but it's fine." I'm sorry, what?

That's about what one can make doing contract work, assuming you're good and reliable and get a bit of referral and repeat business happening. But, the point of starting a company is usually to do better than contracting, eventually. You trade current comfort for a steadily rising income that, hopefully, some day far surpasses what you could make doing contract work, or working for a major corporation, and most importantly does not scale based on the number of hours you can work, but instead scales on how effectively you build your organization. With taxes, health insurance, retirement savings, having a place big enough to work out of, etc. $12k/month is comfortable, but not particularly wealthy. It's a modest goal by most startup founders ("entrepreneurs") standards, I would think. I think most tech startup founders are at least looking for "fuck you" money, which is somewhere in the millions for most people. It'd take ~10 years at $12k/month to reach multiple millions. So, yes, $12k/month isn't very much for the audience he's speaking to, though it's certainly respectable.

wgj 17y ago
He ended by implying he still has his day job. If I read that correctly, that means $12K above his salary and benefits, and with only part time effort.
- SwellJoe 17y ago
  Right...that does make a difference, doesn't it? So, yeah, I reckon $12k/month for part-time effort is awesome.
- gcheong 17y ago
  Actually he ended by saying that he wouldn't quit his job to start a company. This could mean that he started a company on the side and quit once it got to where it paid enough.

jeremyw 17y ago

Hmm, 12K/mo was 8K/mo a few days ago. Not that this particularly detracts from his points, but .. grain of salt included. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1014220 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1014220

maxklein 17y ago
In that post, I was just talking of one particular income source, which is the main one I am doing now. I'll write another post in a few days breaking down exactly where I make the money from. It's not standard landing page crap - it's actually a bit more unexpected (for standard web ppl) than that.
chris123 17y ago
Maybe it's $12k before tax, $8k after tax?

petercooper 17y ago

Just to back up your exclamation, an income of $144k per year would easily put him/her in the top 15% of US households.. let alone individuals in the world as a whole. According to http://www.globalrichlist.com/ http://www.globalrichlist.com/ - an income of $144k per year on an international basis would put you in the top 0.37% earners in the world.. more people than that alone live in North Korea.