5 ms·

I expected something more interesting, to be honest. For example, to be wary of obligations like being on-call, because if you're sick or need a vacation, no o

by nicbou 3y ago

I expected something more interesting, to be honest. For example, to be wary of obligations like being on-call, because if you're sick or need a vacation, no one is there to do them. Or to avoid overengineering tech, because you're the only user and you can fix quirks as needed. Or to learn to outsource things if it lets you focus on what matters. I don't know, anything that makes me feel like I wasn't tricked into hearing about what's promoted at the end of the page.

jimbokun 3y ago
Sounds like you should write a follow up article!
- nicbou 3y ago
  Another one: don't follow every sensible idea while ignoring every other sensible idea in your backlog. Sometimes you just gotta do less...
- simultsop 3y ago
  peer pressure at its finest
AndrewKemendo 3y ago
Or as I found out: Don’t start something that requires physical labor - even if it’s as low intensity as say 3D modeling - if you don’t have a temp stand in available. If you get hurt, even a little, everything stops completely and you lose repeat business immediately
- nicbou 3y ago
  I'd even abstract it to "don't start something that ties your income to hours worked". If you're working alone, you will need time off, and no one can cover for you. It's easier to take time off if your project can survive a few weeks with minimal work. If something comes up in your personal life, you can set the business aside and sort it out. I learned my lesson early on. I was making websites for small businesses in college. If a client's site had issues, I could not tell them "sorry, I'm preparing for a very important exam". I had to drop everything and fix that right now.
- cinntaile 3y ago
  That's just part of being a 1-man show and not something you can really avoid. If you hurt your hands you can't write code either so it doesn't save you.
  - sowbug 3y ago
    I think it's more subtle than that. If you're in a service industry, and you can't serve, your cash flow stops. But if you're selling a product, then the product can keep generating income as long as it's valuable. Obviously, you can think of yourself as being in the service of building a product, but that doesn't nullify the distinction. In fact, it can strengthen it: devote your initial efforts to building the sellable part of the product, so that you can actually sell it as soon as possible. (This is the "capital" part of capitalism. Use labor to build capital, then profit off the capital.)
- jermaustin1 3y ago
  My side gigs almost always involve a little physical labor. Everyone writes code, but how many people do small-scale manufacturing of wood products? Its hard to compete with bigger shops, but selling on platforms like Etsy (so long as you are willing to bet on yourself) can be semi-lucrative. Running the numbers this morning since a friend asked, in the past 117 since I started my latest side-hustle selling wooden things, I've done 245 orders, selling 251 items for a total gross revenue of $5,612.19. It isn't retire to a private island money, but it covers the costs it is supposed to (mortgage & utilities). I usually let these hustles go a year before deciding to give up or invest more time and energy.
  - nasmorn 3y ago
    $5612 after expenses and tax cover your mortgage? Was this per month or per year?
    - Brian_JM 3y ago
      A modest home, in a LCOL area, purchased in the 90s or early 2000s, could have an annual mortgage in this range. Post 2020 may be higher (on the same mortgage) with insurance rate increases.
balaji1 3y ago
why not let him sell haha... rest of the article is decently written.
OJFord 3y ago
This is exactly the kind of submission that I tend to be more interested in the comments than TFA. Or that I'd submit myself evem having not liked it so that I could (hopefully) get to read the comments. That is, people (like you - thanks!) are going to offer their own suggestions, and it's going to be more varied, more interesting, quite likely some bigger names or monetarily success stories, etc.
- waprin 3y ago
  Since you’re interested in more opinions I’ll toss mine in as someone full time focused on building a one person software business. First, I think entrepreneurship is a bit like music genres. There’s a lot of different styles. If you’re trying to start a pop punk band, the guy in the successful jazz quartet probably has a lot of good advice , but also a lot of advice that’s less relevant to your goals. It’s good if you can filter between the two. I hang out in dvassalos discord which is filled with people trying to do 1 person business, about half SWEs and half creators / influencers. The creators seem to be crushing the SWEs. It’s just way easier to build an info product people will pay for than an app people will pay for. The info products also have the advantage that , content creation is both the product and the marketing work. But in pure SaaS, product development and marketing are completely different. I’m working on a few different “bets” but the project I’m most optimistic about making money is www.livepokertheory.com . I still want to do SaaS since I’m a SWE at heart and think there’s more long term upside. But this project is a hybrid info product/ SaaS since I’m creating content on how to understand game theory solvers and creating a SaaS to make it easier to study and retain the content. Poker is a niche I enjoy plus it’s quasi-b2b since there’s an ROI on the content. If you’re looking for credibility I have very little as I’ve only made a bit. I had an iOS app that made a little more but it was too controversial (very unfairly so, but it was too much controversy to build a business around, it’s in my post history here). But I’ve made a little plus I’m making money myself with my own content. I’ve been a little MIA on my blog and twitter but hoping to build in public a bit more once I get ducks in a row. Anyway, I think there are certain formulas and playbooks that get trotted out because they often work well. But they don’t guarantee success nor do alternative playbooks guarantee failure. I think what’s more important is to look at high level strategic reasons why certain playbooks exist and let the high level strategy guide you rather then rigid adherence to specific tactics (which, incidentally, is also good advice for understanding the articles on my poker blog).
pesfandiar 3y ago
I'd love to know how one gets out of being on-call, when almost all software systems need to be up 24/7.
- moffkalast 3y ago
  Don't make SaaS systems then?
- Destiner 3y ago
  There are things that mostly just work (e.g. static content), and then there are things that require constant attention (infra, PaaS, tech heavy APIs).
matheusmoreira 3y ago
> anything that makes me feel like I wasn't tricked into hearing about what's promoted at the end of the page That's why I read the comments here on HN first and decide whether to spend time reading TFA later. Chances are anything of substantial relevance will be directly quoted here. The discussion will probably be more interesting anyway.

by nicbou 3y ago

jimbokun 3y ago

Sounds like you should write a follow up article!

nicbou 3y ago
Another one: don't follow every sensible idea while ignoring every other sensible idea in your backlog. Sometimes you just gotta do less...
simultsop 3y ago
peer pressure at its finest

AndrewKemendo 3y ago

Or as I found out: Don’t start something that requires physical labor - even if it’s as low intensity as say 3D modeling - if you don’t have a temp stand in available. If you get hurt, even a little, everything stops completely and you lose repeat business immediately

nicbou 3y ago
I'd even abstract it to "don't start something that ties your income to hours worked". If you're working alone, you will need time off, and no one can cover for you. It's easier to take time off if your project can survive a few weeks with minimal work. If something comes up in your personal life, you can set the business aside and sort it out. I learned my lesson early on. I was making websites for small businesses in college. If a client's site had issues, I could not tell them "sorry, I'm preparing for a very important exam". I had to drop everything and fix that right now.
cinntaile 3y ago
That's just part of being a 1-man show and not something you can really avoid. If you hurt your hands you can't write code either so it doesn't save you.
- sowbug 3y ago
  I think it's more subtle than that. If you're in a service industry, and you can't serve, your cash flow stops. But if you're selling a product, then the product can keep generating income as long as it's valuable. Obviously, you can think of yourself as being in the service of building a product, but that doesn't nullify the distinction. In fact, it can strengthen it: devote your initial efforts to building the sellable part of the product, so that you can actually sell it as soon as possible. (This is the "capital" part of capitalism. Use labor to build capital, then profit off the capital.)
jermaustin1 3y ago
My side gigs almost always involve a little physical labor. Everyone writes code, but how many people do small-scale manufacturing of wood products? Its hard to compete with bigger shops, but selling on platforms like Etsy (so long as you are willing to bet on yourself) can be semi-lucrative. Running the numbers this morning since a friend asked, in the past 117 since I started my latest side-hustle selling wooden things, I've done 245 orders, selling 251 items for a total gross revenue of $5,612.19. It isn't retire to a private island money, but it covers the costs it is supposed to (mortgage & utilities). I usually let these hustles go a year before deciding to give up or invest more time and energy.
- nasmorn 3y ago
  $5612 after expenses and tax cover your mortgage? Was this per month or per year?
  - Brian_JM 3y ago
    A modest home, in a LCOL area, purchased in the 90s or early 2000s, could have an annual mortgage in this range. Post 2020 may be higher (on the same mortgage) with insurance rate increases.

balaji1 3y ago

why not let him sell haha... rest of the article is decently written.

OJFord 3y ago

This is exactly the kind of submission that I tend to be more interested in the comments than TFA. Or that I'd submit myself evem having not liked it so that I could (hopefully) get to read the comments. That is, people (like you - thanks!) are going to offer their own suggestions, and it's going to be more varied, more interesting, quite likely some bigger names or monetarily success stories, etc.

waprin 3y ago
Since you’re interested in more opinions I’ll toss mine in as someone full time focused on building a one person software business. First, I think entrepreneurship is a bit like music genres. There’s a lot of different styles. If you’re trying to start a pop punk band, the guy in the successful jazz quartet probably has a lot of good advice , but also a lot of advice that’s less relevant to your goals. It’s good if you can filter between the two. I hang out in dvassalos discord which is filled with people trying to do 1 person business, about half SWEs and half creators / influencers. The creators seem to be crushing the SWEs. It’s just way easier to build an info product people will pay for than an app people will pay for. The info products also have the advantage that , content creation is both the product and the marketing work. But in pure SaaS, product development and marketing are completely different. I’m working on a few different “bets” but the project I’m most optimistic about making money is www.livepokertheory.com . I still want to do SaaS since I’m a SWE at heart and think there’s more long term upside. But this project is a hybrid info product/ SaaS since I’m creating content on how to understand game theory solvers and creating a SaaS to make it easier to study and retain the content. Poker is a niche I enjoy plus it’s quasi-b2b since there’s an ROI on the content. If you’re looking for credibility I have very little as I’ve only made a bit. I had an iOS app that made a little more but it was too controversial (very unfairly so, but it was too much controversy to build a business around, it’s in my post history here). But I’ve made a little plus I’m making money myself with my own content. I’ve been a little MIA on my blog and twitter but hoping to build in public a bit more once I get ducks in a row. Anyway, I think there are certain formulas and playbooks that get trotted out because they often work well. But they don’t guarantee success nor do alternative playbooks guarantee failure. I think what’s more important is to look at high level strategic reasons why certain playbooks exist and let the high level strategy guide you rather then rigid adherence to specific tactics (which, incidentally, is also good advice for understanding the articles on my poker blog).

pesfandiar 3y ago

I'd love to know how one gets out of being on-call, when almost all software systems need to be up 24/7.

moffkalast 3y ago
Don't make SaaS systems then?
Destiner 3y ago
There are things that mostly just work (e.g. static content), and then there are things that require constant attention (infra, PaaS, tech heavy APIs).

matheusmoreira 3y ago

> anything that makes me feel like I wasn't tricked into hearing about what's promoted at the end of the page That's why I read the comments here on HN first and decide whether to spend time reading TFA later. Chances are anything of substantial relevance will be directly quoted here. The discussion will probably be more interesting anyway.