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Careful with your terminology. "Successful" has different meanings for different people. By my definition, for example, I run the most successful single-perso
by jasonkester 9y ago
Careful with your terminology. "Successful" has different meanings for different people.
By my definition, for example, I run the most successful single-person business that I'm aware of. But it doesn't make millions, so it might not meet your definition at all.
My goal was to replace my day job with a software business that required as close to zero attention as possible, so that I could have time to spend on the things that actually matter to me.
The business brings in the equivalent of a nice Senior Developer salary, which is not what most people think of when they imagine a successful Startup. But it lets me work with a bunch of cool tech when I want to, and, more importantly, is automated to the point where Customer Service involves a quick 30 second - 10 minute email sweep over morning coffee. For me, that's a lot more valuable than a few more million dollars in the bank.
The cool thing about running your own business is that you get to decide on your own definition of success.
EDIT: I wrote a bit about how I got into this position, in case anybody is interested. It's not actually all that hard to do:
http://www.expatsoftware.com/Articles/guy-on-the-beach-with-a-laptop.html http://www.expatsoftware.com/Articles/guy-on-the-beach-with-...
- dbancajas 9y ago> brings in the equivalent of a nice Senior Developer salary Can you give ballpark? I hate it when people do this as senior dev has different range depending on location. 80-100K or 100-150k/year?
- muse900 9y agoThank you. You are an inspiration, and I do agree, quality of life doesn't come with millions of $. As we speak am in a 6 months transition, while leaving London and a good salary, to go back to my home-country and reside by the beach. Will be a tough one but certainly worth it! Glad to see that some people like you have achieved it!
- nathan_f77 9y agoI just want to point out that for all intents and purposes, having millions of dollars is equivalent to owning a software company that brings in 6 figures of passive income. If you invested $4 million in index funds, you could safely withdraw $120k per year (3%, accounting for inflation).
- jaxn 9y agoIn reality it takes more than $4m to live off the returns, but that is a common dream. You can't pay your bills with a 10 year average. There are down years.
- nathan_f77 9y agoA 3% withdrawal rate is extremely safe, and a 2% withdrawal rate is almost guaranteed to last forever (that would give you $80k per year). These rates account for both inflation and down years. More information: https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/wiki/faq#wiki_how_much_do_i_need_to_save_to_retire.3F https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/wiki/faq#wiki...
- brianwawok 9y agoThis is very false. Run some simulations. 4% is safe to withdrawl.
- icedchai 9y agoThe down years are why you only withdraw 3 to 4% max.
- jaxn 9y agoAnyone down voting actually have $4m in an index fund? Or are you just keeping the dream alive?
- Qub3d 9y agoSeriously, though. I would love to hear from someone who does this.
- ericd 9y agoThe average dividend rate on the total market index is currently around 2%. If you want to be extra safe, you could just live on the dividends and never touch the principal. 80k would be enough for most people to "live off the returns".
- user5994461 9y ago>> a nice Senior Developer salary This has a lot of meanings for different people. That ranges from $500 to $20000 per month depending on the location.
- jasonkester 9y agoI've found that it really doesn't vary much at all if you're actually senior and know how to negotiate. I've certainly never taken a pay cut when living in a more sensible and sunny part of the world. But that's a whole other discussion. Tack on "on the US West Coast but not at Facebook or Google" if it matters. (But of course the entire point of the original comment is that it doesn't :)
- thegeomaster 9y agoThousands of developers in developing countries beg to disagree.
- JohnnyConatus 9y agoEh. I hire developers overseas on the regular. Senior devs, or people who can pass for one, are making ~$30/USD/hour regardless of location if they have conversational level english skills. Yes, having skills I want as an employer is important. There's no free lunch. Let's assume their fill rate is only 50% of their total time. That's still ~$32k USD / year. This is great money even in a developed country like Russia where the median income is ~$5k/USD/year.
- ryanwaggoner 9y agoJust because you're hiring allegedly [1] senior devs for $30/hr doesn't mean they couldn't charge a lot more, or that you just aren't exposed to the ones charging $150 because they avoid lowballers. 1. Yes, I'm skeptical, having worked with (or worse, after) a lot of overseas devs who charge in that range, or more. None were truly "senior".
- 9y ago
- waibelp 9y agoBam, that's it! We've got the same definition of success. Thank you for sharing your story!
- greens231 9y agojust got to this point. it almost feels wrong how i can get done with "work" in 30 min on a good day and a couple of hours on a bad day, and then have all this time to myself while everyone i know is working in an office till evening. this has also given me the luxury of being up till morning and then waking up by lunch time
- el_benhameen 9y agoIf you're willing to share more, I (and I suspect others) would be interested in hearing about the job you've created for yourself.
- sixQuarks 9y agoSame boat here, I only have to work about 2 hours per week to maintain $500K annual profit. I'm the biggest procrastinator in the world and don't know how to program (although I'm now learning just for fun).
- cacarr 9y agoKnowing something about how you managed that might be interesting.
- sixQuarks 9y agoBasically content marketing. Researched an industry very, very deeply and summarized the important concepts, tactics, and strategies one should follow to save money or save time within that category. Make the content free - attracting a large audience, and recommend the best online services that help with that particular vertical (affiliate marketing/lead generation). The 2 hours per week is just summarizing anything new that happened that week. This is not a get-rich-quick thing, took almost 10 years to get to this point, and huge amount of focus on this one thing - and I've truly become one of the leading experts in this vertical.
- cylinder 9y ago
- nathan_f77 9y agoThat's amazing, and I think we would all love to be in the same position one day. I would have to disagree with "that's a lot more valuable than a few more million dollars in the bank". Having a few million dollars in index funds (with some hedging) would also give you a Senior Developer salary, but would carry a lot less risk than running a software company. But I do understand what you're saying, and I certainly wouldn't complain if I had some passive income like that!
- rufugee 9y ago$2m at a conservative return of 6% would get you $120k but before taking capital gains tax. Let's say you're taxes at 15%... Now you're down to $102K. Not bad, but I'm sure you could make more as a senior developer. Assuming you've come up with a different strategy that's netting better returns, would you care to share? And what is your strategy for hedging?
- nathan_f77 9y ago6% would be extremely aggressive, so I was thinking more like $4M at 3%. And you're right, I suppose a senior developer would be making ~$150k, so you'd need around $5-$6 million. 3-4% is the typical withdrawal rate that people use on the /r/financialindependence subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/wiki/faq#wiki_how_much_do_i_need_to_save_to_retire.3F https://www.reddit.com/r/financialindependence/wiki/faq#wiki... My strategy would be to just put everything in a Vanguard Target Retirement Fund: https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/target-retirement/#/ https://investor.vanguard.com/mutual-funds/target-retirement... It's cheaper and safer than a financial advisor, and you don't need to worry about rebalancing. I'd also throw a little bit of money into angel investing, but no more than 3%, and I'd expect to lose it all. For hedging, I think once a year I would just buy some OTM puts for the S&P 500. A sane number might be something like 0.2% of your assets. If you're absolutely convinced that we're on the verge of a stock market crash, then you should still use 0.2%, because you're probably wrong.
- Tharkun 9y agoSounds like a nice US salary. Good luck netting half that in most of Europe.
- apatters 9y agoYou're a good writer, that was a fun read.
- SmellTheGlove 9y agoYou're a solid writer. I really liked the blog post. Your definition of success happens to align with mine. I have "enough" right now, and I'd be really happy to work less and maintain my current income level - I just haven't yet been able to pull away from the corporate life. Eventually. Anyway, had to ask, the one gap seems to be health insurance. I know you mentioned a cheap major medical policy, but what are folks doing to cover their families a little more comprehensively? At least in the US, this is the one big thing that makes it really hard to leave corporate life. I'm fortunate enough to have dual citizenship with a european country, so we could "just" relocate there, but ideally we'd do this while staying resident in the US. I still haven't solved the insurance issue.
- brianwawok 9y agoAn individual policy isn't that crazy expensive. A single 20 year old guy can get a good plan for $200 a month. A family of 4 with parents in the 40s can get a good plan for $1500-$2000 per month. Both are well within the realm of profits for a one man startup.
- 5_minutes 9y agoThis must be the harsh side of the US. In Europe, the differences are almost neglectable.
- slipmagic 9y ago*negligible
- 5_minutes 9y agoThanks
- SmellTheGlove 9y agoDepends on where in Europe. Insurance isn't cheap in Switzerland, for instance, it's just that wages largely support the rates and individual subsidies will make up the rest. However, the Swiss system is probably the most portable to the United States, at least in the short/mid-term.
- lamby 9y ago> "Successful" has different meanings for different people. Indeed: It's said that most at home traders fail, but this is incorrect: they fail at making money, but they are successful at feeling like a trader. That is the goal; the money is secondary, which is why they fail at making it. — The Last Psychiatrist, http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2014/03/who_can_know_how_much_randi_zu.html http://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2014/03/who_can_know_how_much...
- jboggan 9y agoI cannot recommend this blog enough, it has a lot of provocative and challenging content, very insightful. It's been three years since an update and I still check it occasionally.
- laughfactory 9y agoLove the content at that link, but holy hell, can't stand the overwhelming advertising (even on mobile!). Geezus, it makes it unreadable.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- toomuchtodo 9y agoYou're the S3stat guy! Thanks so much for that service! We used it years ago, and it did exactly what we needed. Hope you're enjoying the beach!
- jasonkester 9y agoThanks for that. I certainly enjoyed (and appreciate) all the beers you bought me while I was on that beach!
- bogomipz 9y agoThanks for sharing. I enjoyed reading that link. I have a question. How do you market your SaaS offerings so you grow the revenue from those?
- wolco 9y agoReally enjoyed the site. I've been on my own automation path over the last 15 years. It has allowed me to not manage income streams while working full time. Different goals same belief in automation.
- CalRobert 9y agoOne thing that rarely is discussed - how do people handle visas and work permits in this situation? It seems like there's a general attitude of not taking SE Asia immigration control seriously if you're wealthy and western but that seems like it would backfire.
- ge96 9y agoA reference to The Regular Show? haha >I don't mean to brag, I don't mean to boast Also I like/strive for the minimal attention online business too however I wonder how that is running a business when you travel regarding environment/tech... like that photo of the beach/shack looking place I don't know... I guess I always picture "skyscrapers" and fancy things as "success" (I watch too much tv)