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Here's a brief list! * Wakeup.io - Simple Phone Wake-up Calls @ https://wakeup.io https://wakeup.io and it is fully automated and runs itself with actually rea
by niftylettuce 10y ago
Here's a brief list!
* Wakeup.io - Simple Phone Wake-up Calls @ https://wakeup.io https://wakeup.io and it is fully automated and runs itself with actually really good profits. It was built in 2-3 days.
* GetProve, Simple Phone Verification @ https://getprove.com https://getprove.com and it is fully automated and runs itself with again, really good profits. It was built in a week or so.
* Teelaunch, Kickstarter/Indiegogo Fulfillment Service (exited/sold) http://teelaunch.com http://teelaunch.com (the site is different now than it used to be here https://web.archive.org/web/20140110204830/https://teelaunch.com/ https://web.archive.org/web/20140110204830/https://teelaunch...). As you can see from Wayback Machine, the site was just a landing page when I had it... took me day to put it up!
* Standard Signature, Email Signature Automation for Gmail Business @ https://standardsignature.com/ https://standardsignature.com/ (built in 48 hours)
* Glazed, a Rapid MVP boilerplate for NodeJS @ http://glazed.io http://glazed.io (built in a week or so, but this was work/thoughts accumulated over like 5+ years of hacking - this landed me paying clients, so I still consider it a side project)
* Asynchrosend, a MailChimp competitor (site is down now, but I did have paying clients and successful startups like Notehall.com had used it), built in a week in college!
* I have a bunch, at least 20 more on my list TODO still, if you want to build one with me let me know! I really would love to find super talented people, or people that are motivated. It's really hard to find good people if you know what I mean. I am not working on these right now though as I'm solely focused on one big project.
I have a bunch more projects I've built, that are also profitable that I can share. Email me and I can share more!
Update #1 - I really wanted to mention the most important thing about this. I read a Max Klein blog post that flipped the switch on me before to get into this hack and ship fast mode; it was something like build small little projects, but build a dozen of them. Once you build and release one quickly, it's addictive. You soon start to release more and more, and you get so creative and confident. You can literally build ANYTHING you want in a matter of days if you truly focus and WANT to.
Update #2 - I added a few more side projects since this topic is fun!
- tmat 10y agoi've been trying to come up w/ these really simple ideas like this which turn small profits. Death by a thousand paper cuts I guess. Having trouble coming up w/ one :(
- niftylettuce 10y agojust clone what someone else did and make it simpler to use and easier to understand, haha
- soulbadguy 10y agoI am really curious about which software stack (especially the backend) you are using to iterate this fast
- niftylettuce 10y agoI just released Glazed, my latest boilerplate that I use for this stuff. You can find it here https://github.com/glazedio/glazed https://github.com/glazedio/glazed. However I have a HUGE absolutely STELLAR update coming probably in the next week for Glazed. I basically dog fed this on my own startup/project and have a ton of little but important updates to the project.
- bduerst 10y agoWhat's the benefits of using Nunjucks, in your opinion?
- niftylettuce 10y agoIt's incredibly fast, I still may try using https://github.com/marko-js/marko https://github.com/marko-js/marko on v2 though since it seems to be much faster. Haven't really tried their plugin/system yet. I came from using Jade for like five years straight and when performance time came around with it, it hurt. Nunjucks is really nice!
- ZeroBasedIX 10y agoI really like it, had some issues getting it up and running on Windows but I should have read the Requirements section above it. Oops. Your RapidMVP site is down by the way.
- niftylettuce 10y agoIf I used a SPA framework on these projects they would take me 100x longer to build a MVP with. If the project is viable and gets traction, then you could consider rewriting with a SPA like React or something.
- cheez 10y agoWhat do really good profits look like? Enough to quit a regular job?
- niftylettuce 10y agoEnough for true ramen profitability. http://www.paulgraham.com/ramenprofitable.html http://www.paulgraham.com/ramenprofitable.html
- Nemant 10y agoI recently came across getprove when looking for no. verification. I always wondered why anyone would use it when there's cheaper options (nexmo, twilio, etc). I also thought that since this more expensive service exists, perhaps it's worth building my own wrapper around twilio and provide a single service that does 1 thing and does it simply just like you do. Which service are you wrapping for getprove? Edit: Just saw at the bottom of the page that you're using twilio :)
- niftylettuce 10y agoI think on that one I'm using Twilio.
- mathattack 10y agoGreat to see your success. How many projects have you launched total? How much marketing time and money did you put in?
- niftylettuce 10y agoThanks, though I'm really just trying to focus on ONE project now as opposed to running ~30 side projects. An immense amount of time... Email me if you want to chat more! Let people tell you you're crazy if and when you say you're going to build this this this and that. Then go and build it. You will awe them.
- niftylettuce 10y agoI want to put together a timeline like @yegg had once, not sure where it went since his blog switched to Medium. But I've been working on side projects since I was at least 16, I have tried to build competitors to services like MailChimp, Facebook, etc. It's a ton of failure honestly, but it has been a fun ride. My biggest failure is due to lack of focus on ONE project, which I have changed recently and built the habits required to stay hyper-focused on just one or two things. I am doing contract work to help fund myself building and hiring a team to build a massive & global side project now. Who knows if it will get traction, but just like the others, it is merely a FUN experiment.
- warewolf 10y agoYou sound like me haha, always working on different things what I have found works best for me is working with others who have skills or experience in those projects directly. People who can help scale and maintain the product. I think of it as a investment. I'm currently working on 3 projects in all different areas. Looking for a partner for 4 which is a Saas for life automation. Also drewwilson.com has a cool timeline for his projects check it out
- mathattack 10y agoAs long as you're learning, failure is good. Better off work than on. Are you really going to fire yourself? :-) I appreciate your sharing the story.
- Jarcel 10y agoReally cool to see these, how do your customers get to your pages? Do you actively advertise?
- niftylettuce 10y agoAbsolutely zero advertisements. It's all natural growth. I would say I spend 2-3 days in time giving the services a little push. Just give them a push of traffic, whether it be Wakeup.io being featured in LifeHacker, or GetProve getting to the #1 spot on Google for SEO, you need to find the one viral thing that will boost you and give you credibility.
- ruffrey 10y agoWay to go man, I recall you kicking ass at CT back when I was there too. If you get a sec - which blog post?
- niftylettuce 10y agohaha thanks man, nice to see you here! you kicked butt too. I found it on the Wayback Machine, here's the blog post in particular: https://web.archive.org/web/20120424194627/http://maxkle.in/a-simple-hack-to-get-rich https://web.archive.org/web/20120424194627/http://maxkle.in/...
- ruffrey 10y agoThanks!
- laksmanv 10y agoGreat post. What's your email?
- niftylettuce 10y agoniftylettuce@gmail.com
- ontoillogical 10y agoCan you explain the liquid chalk concept more? I use chalk to absorb and dry sweat on my hands, how does liquid do that? Does the alcohol evaporate super fast and leave the chalk to soak up my sweat?
- niftylettuce 10y agoemail me at niftylettuce@gmail.com, I deleted that from my comment here because I haven't really publicly released that project yet, but basically the gist is you put the liquid chalk on as a base layer, then use regular chalk. the marketing & sales is the true magic in a business like this. the liquid evaporates near instantly.
- joshvm 10y agoLots of climbers use liquid chalk because it's less messy than using powdered or bagged-chalk. It comes out as a thick milky goo which you rub on your hands, the alcohol evaporates off and you're left with a coating of chalk. I've had mixed experiences with it, it lasts longer, but that only seems to be the case if your hands don't sweat. I gave up and went back to powder because I need to reapply often.
- aerovistae 10y agoI don't know how you find the time/focus to become proficient as a full stack web developer with like 10 different frameworks AND iOS AND Android, that's not normal.
- niftylettuce 10y agoHaha you're telling me!!!!
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- nojvek 10y agoWould love to have a chat and build some stuff on the side.
- taphangum 10y agosuper inspiring. Thanks for sharing man.
- vfulco 10y agoniftylettuce-- so does one have to leaarn node.js/react/etc. or ruby on rails to get involved with this stuff? Asking for a friend. Thank you,
- niftylettuce 10y agoif you want to start with something simple, have them install Node.js https://nodejs.org/ https://nodejs.org/ and learn to use Express (it's a simpler version than Glazed) at https://github.com/expressjs/express https://github.com/expressjs/express (see examples folder)
- zerr 10y agoInteresting, what service do you use for Wakeup.io?
- tixocloud 10y agoCongrats and wow, it's amazing how many of these micro-services you've launched. Did you do any customer interviews or did you just build these projects out of love and just released them?
- niftylettuce 10y agoI just built them because I wanted them for myself. The biggest motivator that makes me build something is when I see something that I know I could do better.
- tixocloud 10y agoI feel the same way and yet I get trapped trying to do so many customer interviews in the past.
- gillyb 10y agoHow much time did you spend on marketing each one of these, and through which channels ? I have built a few tiny services/tools myself, deployed them but usually get close to 0 traction...