6 ms·

Ask HN: What project can I start in my free time to make some side-cash?

71 points by redxblood 9y ago

Im currently working no more than 6-7 hours per day, which leaves me with a lot of free time during the evenings. What kind of side project could I start to make some extra money?

tmaly 9y ago
There are tons of opportunities out there. Checkout indiehackers.com for some ideas. OppsDaily newsletter is another good one. They send out daily problems that people are willing to pay for.
kamphey 9y ago
Nugget.one has a daily idea. Note: you're going to get broad answers. If we had some details about your experience or hobbies or skills... you might get some fantastic suggestions.
- jv22222 9y ago
  Direct url: https://nugget.one/daily https://nugget.one/daily
baccredited 9y ago
Learn how to invest your surplus dollars and start saving for financial independence. A simple Warren Buffet blessed approach is 90% VOO and 10% BND. Save 25 times your annual spending and never work again. Think of your extra dollars as employees and put them to work for you. http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/ http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-sim...
- toomuchtodo 9y ago
  Underrated comment.
- vdnkh 9y ago
  Do you have any good guides for beginner investing? I save most of my salary but have no idea where to get started with investing.
  - akg_67 9y ago
    Start here https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Main_Page https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Main_Page
    - vdnkh 9y ago
      Awesome thanks!
  - ptr_void 9y ago
    I'd advice against that, I don't think stock market is for beginners unless you are into gambling. Here's a good set of lessons, something that will give you enough info to know why you shouldn't put money into stock market: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK78nVl6dRdUemHszve34n0eb190K6FS8 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK78nVl6dRdUemHszve34...
    - ShinyCyril 9y ago
      Playing the stock market is just one facet of investing, and a widely-discouraged one at that (e.g. market timing). Long-term investments favour index trackers so that you can gain from the performance of the market as a whole.
      - ptr_void 9y ago
        I've also heard: there shouldn't be any grantee for market as a whole to go up.
    - loco5niner 9y ago
      Hmm... this is that Pharmaceuticals guy who got arrested for securities fraud. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Shkreli https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Shkreli Not saying that's bad or good... just interesting.
  - Abdur91 9y ago
    same here.I have been saving my salary since day first but dont know where to invest :(
- quidzach 9y ago
  The biggest hole in this premise is that it assumes you own your home/place to live, or are willing to live in a cardboard box. Sadly, most of us do not own or want to live in a cardboard box.
  - baccredited 9y ago
    'The average pay for a Software Engineer is $80,825 per year.' http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Software_Engineer/Salary http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Software_Engineer/Sa...
    - kahrkunne 9y ago
      'The average salary for a Software Engineer is €41,227 per year.' Not everybody is American, you know
  - toomuchtodo 9y ago
    How about an Airstream or a sailboat? http://www.bumfuzzle.com/us/ http://www.bumfuzzle.com/us/ You are doing yourself a disservice if you think you must live in a high COI area to have a well paying job. Also, if you think you need to live in traditional housing to have a high standard of living or to be socially accepted.
    - jfoster 9y ago
      For some people perhaps, but I think there's quite a large portion of the population who are pretty happy with more traditional forms of housing and would like something simple & secure but also affordable.
gesman 9y ago
Build something to solve your own problem. Last time i did (wrote real time data backup and mirroring tool) - it brought about $200k in "side cash" :)
- pshendry 9y ago
  Your own problems as a programmer tend to be shared by other people who are equally motivated to—and capable of—solving them. By picking a programmer's problem, you're picking an oversaturated market. If the goal is really to make a reliable profit, then you should specifically look for problems programmers don't relate to. Make something for parents, old folks, hikers, knitting clubs, etc. They may not be as avid software consumers as programmers, but when you service is the first solution they've found, it's an easy sell.
  - a1exyz 9y ago
    Interesting. Ive run into this issue before. How do you get around it? I am not a parent, old person, hiker or knitter (a generalization but you know what I mean). Thus how can I solve their problems and solve my own problems at the same time? Basically is there a way around this inconvenient truth?
    - Jtsummers 9y ago
      What hobbies, activities, or interests do you have? What problems do those near you have? Maybe your "problem" is that you don't know tech stack X very well. You're a competent (or good) programmer, you can come up with something good but need a motivator to further develop that skillset.
  - shanecleveland 9y ago
    But it worked for gesman ...
    - fosco 9y ago
      https://m.xkcd.com/1827/ https://m.xkcd.com/1827/
austenallred 9y ago
Write a book. I pull in an extra $2,000/month from https://secretsaucenow.com https://secretsaucenow.com
- pattrn 9y ago
  Your link and some brief review of reviews just netted you another sale. I'll bite. Halfway through your book -- it reminds me of "Traction" by the DuckDuckGo founder, except it offers significantly more tactical advice. The two books complement each other. Thank you for the link and for your succinct writing style. I'm ramping up marketing for an app right now, and this was a perfect find. If my app's churn rate doesn't kill it (kidding), you may have a new testimonial soon.
  - austenallred 9y ago
    Oh wow, thank you!
carlmungz 9y ago
This blog post: http://ryanluedecke.com/ideas-for-startup/ http://ryanluedecke.com/ideas-for-startup/ has a ton of useful info, especially idea #14 which explains how you can turn popular “how to” blog posts into a service or product. That's partially what I did for my https://citybreakflights.com https://citybreakflights.com service

71 points by redxblood 9y ago

Im currently working no more than 6-7 hours per day, which leaves me with a lot of free time during the evenings. What kind of side project could I start to make some extra money?

tmaly 9y ago

There are tons of opportunities out there. Checkout indiehackers.com for some ideas. OppsDaily newsletter is another good one. They send out daily problems that people are willing to pay for.

kamphey 9y ago

Nugget.one has a daily idea. Note: you're going to get broad answers. If we had some details about your experience or hobbies or skills... you might get some fantastic suggestions.

jv22222 9y ago
Direct url: https://nugget.one/daily https://nugget.one/daily

baccredited 9y ago

Learn how to invest your surplus dollars and start saving for financial independence. A simple Warren Buffet blessed approach is 90% VOO and 10% BND. Save 25 times your annual spending and never work again. Think of your extra dollars as employees and put them to work for you. http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-simple-math-behind-early-retirement/ http://www.mrmoneymustache.com/2012/01/13/the-shockingly-sim...

toomuchtodo 9y ago
Underrated comment.
vdnkh 9y ago
Do you have any good guides for beginner investing? I save most of my salary but have no idea where to get started with investing.
- akg_67 9y ago
  Start here https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Main_Page https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Main_Page
  - vdnkh 9y ago
    Awesome thanks!
- ptr_void 9y ago
  I'd advice against that, I don't think stock market is for beginners unless you are into gambling. Here's a good set of lessons, something that will give you enough info to know why you shouldn't put money into stock market: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK78nVl6dRdUemHszve34n0eb190K6FS8 https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLK78nVl6dRdUemHszve34...
  - ShinyCyril 9y ago
    Playing the stock market is just one facet of investing, and a widely-discouraged one at that (e.g. market timing). Long-term investments favour index trackers so that you can gain from the performance of the market as a whole.
    - ptr_void 9y ago
      I've also heard: there shouldn't be any grantee for market as a whole to go up.
  - loco5niner 9y ago
    Hmm... this is that Pharmaceuticals guy who got arrested for securities fraud. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Shkreli https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Shkreli Not saying that's bad or good... just interesting.
- Abdur91 9y ago
  same here.I have been saving my salary since day first but dont know where to invest :(
quidzach 9y ago
The biggest hole in this premise is that it assumes you own your home/place to live, or are willing to live in a cardboard box. Sadly, most of us do not own or want to live in a cardboard box.
- baccredited 9y ago
  'The average pay for a Software Engineer is $80,825 per year.' http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Software_Engineer/Salary http://www.payscale.com/research/US/Job=Software_Engineer/Sa...
  - kahrkunne 9y ago
    'The average salary for a Software Engineer is €41,227 per year.' Not everybody is American, you know
- toomuchtodo 9y ago
  How about an Airstream or a sailboat? http://www.bumfuzzle.com/us/ http://www.bumfuzzle.com/us/ You are doing yourself a disservice if you think you must live in a high COI area to have a well paying job. Also, if you think you need to live in traditional housing to have a high standard of living or to be socially accepted.
  - jfoster 9y ago
    For some people perhaps, but I think there's quite a large portion of the population who are pretty happy with more traditional forms of housing and would like something simple & secure but also affordable.

gesman 9y ago

Build something to solve your own problem. Last time i did (wrote real time data backup and mirroring tool) - it brought about $200k in "side cash" :)

pshendry 9y ago
Your own problems as a programmer tend to be shared by other people who are equally motivated to—and capable of—solving them. By picking a programmer's problem, you're picking an oversaturated market. If the goal is really to make a reliable profit, then you should specifically look for problems programmers don't relate to. Make something for parents, old folks, hikers, knitting clubs, etc. They may not be as avid software consumers as programmers, but when you service is the first solution they've found, it's an easy sell.
- a1exyz 9y ago
  Interesting. Ive run into this issue before. How do you get around it? I am not a parent, old person, hiker or knitter (a generalization but you know what I mean). Thus how can I solve their problems and solve my own problems at the same time? Basically is there a way around this inconvenient truth?
  - Jtsummers 9y ago
    What hobbies, activities, or interests do you have? What problems do those near you have? Maybe your "problem" is that you don't know tech stack X very well. You're a competent (or good) programmer, you can come up with something good but need a motivator to further develop that skillset.
- shanecleveland 9y ago
  But it worked for gesman ...
  - fosco 9y ago
    https://m.xkcd.com/1827/ https://m.xkcd.com/1827/

austenallred 9y ago

Write a book. I pull in an extra $2,000/month from https://secretsaucenow.com https://secretsaucenow.com

pattrn 9y ago
Your link and some brief review of reviews just netted you another sale. I'll bite. Halfway through your book -- it reminds me of "Traction" by the DuckDuckGo founder, except it offers significantly more tactical advice. The two books complement each other. Thank you for the link and for your succinct writing style. I'm ramping up marketing for an app right now, and this was a perfect find. If my app's churn rate doesn't kill it (kidding), you may have a new testimonial soon.
- austenallred 9y ago
  Oh wow, thank you!

carlmungz 9y ago

This blog post: http://ryanluedecke.com/ideas-for-startup/ http://ryanluedecke.com/ideas-for-startup/ has a ton of useful info, especially idea #14 which explains how you can turn popular “how to” blog posts into a service or product. That's partially what I did for my https://citybreakflights.com https://citybreakflights.com service