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Personally I made some websites and started selling my apps from then. I quickly started making more than most salaried jobs and get complete control without ha

by feelix 11y ago

Personally I made some websites and started selling my apps from then. I quickly started making more than most salaried jobs and get complete control without having to be horrible to anybody. I don't understand why more people don't do it.

erikb 11y ago
That actually sounds like a good plan!
mdpopescu 11y ago
I wanted to reply "I never get good ideas for websites / apps", but then I realized I actually meant "I never get good ideas IN FIVE SECONDS". Maybe I should spend more time thinking about this :)
- slazaro 11y ago
  I think getting ideas is not the hard part, just do some quick or clever search on places like reddit and you can find lots of ideas or suggestions that people have but can't or won't create. As they say, execution is what actually matters.
- a3n 11y ago
  Maybe you should spend more time making apps, whether they're a good idea or not. Often ideas in an area come from working in the area, solving problems in the area, talking to other people about the area, thinking about the area in the shower ...
  - mdpopescu 11y ago
    Thank you, that is a GREAT point.
CodingGuy 11y ago
That model is working for me too. In the beginning it might be hard, but now I'm making more than three times the money I could make in a normal job. edit: And I only have to work two hours a day!
- crispyambulance 11y ago
  That's very inspiring but are you talking about something like US $300000/year? Or are you in a low-cost-of-living situation... US$30000/year? "3x the money you make a normal job" could mean a lot of different things !
  - feelix 11y ago
    For me I tend to earn between 120k and 240k USD / year, but I only ever work part time on that job, I used to just spend about 3 months of the year on it, but during those 3 months I would do 100 hour weeks. I'd spend the rest the time traveling for fun. If I was working full time constantly it would be double or triple that by now I think. Right now the sales are slumping a little, but that's because I'm neglecting that work a bit while I pursue my side passion a little more (which will hopefully become profitable later).
ionforce 11y ago
Some people (i.e. myself) don't want the added work that independence demands. I like the traditional setup. Some stuff is abstracted away nicely (benefits, office space, working hours).
eswat 11y ago
Recently had a brief chat with a friend about this, why she wouldn’t consider moonlighting as a freelancer since she seemed to have lost passion in her day-to-day work. “I wouldn’t be able to handle the added stress” was the response, and I can see why from that answer more people don’t do this. Decide to freelance in addition to doing a 9-5 and you’ll not only put more work on your table but other sorts of responsibilities - accounting, client relations, being your own project manager, etc. - will make it much more harder to decompress if you had a shit day at work.
cableshaft 11y ago
The reason the wind got taken out of my sails for creating my own apps is I worked for three small businesses in a row that had trouble getting enough marketing and visibility for their apps/software to sell enough to stay in business, and I'm hesitant to take on the risk myself, even though I think I have better ideas than some of the projects I worked on. For the Apple store in particular I've seen it get so crowded without adequate app discovery mechanisms in place that it seems like without serious marketing money you're essentially rolling the dice on how successful your app is going to be. I don't really want to spend a bunch of my time on that, when I could spend it on other pursuits. But maybe this is a mistaken perception? Why do you think it's so simple to do? Just because you've found success or is your approach different than the norm somehow?
- feelix 11y ago
  Actually, probably not. Sometimes I still make an app that doesn't do too well. I guess this is the downside. To get started you have to be prepared to make several apps (maybe even up to 10) to be reasonably sure you'll start getting a good income. But when you do get one, it can generate revenue for a long time coming. I think with some good market research you could probably be more sure though. And also going into partnership with somebody lowers the risk as you can churn out more apps then share the profits when you do get a successful one. Personally I have not had much luck with the Apple app stores because of their crowded/discovery issues etc, but I also have not put much effort into them due to their horrible restrictions (the sandbox is a killer with the way they've implemented it, and a lot of my software needs admin privs to run)

by feelix 11y ago

erikb 11y ago

That actually sounds like a good plan!

mdpopescu 11y ago

I wanted to reply "I never get good ideas for websites / apps", but then I realized I actually meant "I never get good ideas IN FIVE SECONDS". Maybe I should spend more time thinking about this :)

slazaro 11y ago
I think getting ideas is not the hard part, just do some quick or clever search on places like reddit and you can find lots of ideas or suggestions that people have but can't or won't create. As they say, execution is what actually matters.
a3n 11y ago
Maybe you should spend more time making apps, whether they're a good idea or not. Often ideas in an area come from working in the area, solving problems in the area, talking to other people about the area, thinking about the area in the shower ...
- mdpopescu 11y ago
  Thank you, that is a GREAT point.

CodingGuy 11y ago

That model is working for me too. In the beginning it might be hard, but now I'm making more than three times the money I could make in a normal job. edit: And I only have to work two hours a day!

crispyambulance 11y ago
That's very inspiring but are you talking about something like US $300000/year? Or are you in a low-cost-of-living situation... US$30000/year? "3x the money you make a normal job" could mean a lot of different things !
- feelix 11y ago
  For me I tend to earn between 120k and 240k USD / year, but I only ever work part time on that job, I used to just spend about 3 months of the year on it, but during those 3 months I would do 100 hour weeks. I'd spend the rest the time traveling for fun. If I was working full time constantly it would be double or triple that by now I think. Right now the sales are slumping a little, but that's because I'm neglecting that work a bit while I pursue my side passion a little more (which will hopefully become profitable later).

ionforce 11y ago

Some people (i.e. myself) don't want the added work that independence demands. I like the traditional setup. Some stuff is abstracted away nicely (benefits, office space, working hours).

eswat 11y ago

Recently had a brief chat with a friend about this, why she wouldn’t consider moonlighting as a freelancer since she seemed to have lost passion in her day-to-day work. “I wouldn’t be able to handle the added stress” was the response, and I can see why from that answer more people don’t do this. Decide to freelance in addition to doing a 9-5 and you’ll not only put more work on your table but other sorts of responsibilities - accounting, client relations, being your own project manager, etc. - will make it much more harder to decompress if you had a shit day at work.

cableshaft 11y ago

The reason the wind got taken out of my sails for creating my own apps is I worked for three small businesses in a row that had trouble getting enough marketing and visibility for their apps/software to sell enough to stay in business, and I'm hesitant to take on the risk myself, even though I think I have better ideas than some of the projects I worked on. For the Apple store in particular I've seen it get so crowded without adequate app discovery mechanisms in place that it seems like without serious marketing money you're essentially rolling the dice on how successful your app is going to be. I don't really want to spend a bunch of my time on that, when I could spend it on other pursuits. But maybe this is a mistaken perception? Why do you think it's so simple to do? Just because you've found success or is your approach different than the norm somehow?

feelix 11y ago
Actually, probably not. Sometimes I still make an app that doesn't do too well. I guess this is the downside. To get started you have to be prepared to make several apps (maybe even up to 10) to be reasonably sure you'll start getting a good income. But when you do get one, it can generate revenue for a long time coming. I think with some good market research you could probably be more sure though. And also going into partnership with somebody lowers the risk as you can churn out more apps then share the profits when you do get a successful one. Personally I have not had much luck with the Apple app stores because of their crowded/discovery issues etc, but I also have not put much effort into them due to their horrible restrictions (the sandbox is a killer with the way they've implemented it, and a lot of my software needs admin privs to run)