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Ask HN: Those making $500/month on side projects in 2026 – Show and tell

15 points by selmas58 9mo ago

bwb 9mo ago
I've got two going :) https://shepherd.com/ https://shepherd.com/ Building a really unique book recommendation platform to help readers find books they might not otherwise know about. We just started working on a full book app that will be a private book diary, along with recommendations and insights based on your Book DNA. Think Goodreads, but rebuilt for readers who want a private space to track what they read, keep notes, and get truly personalized book recommendations (like Pandora or Spotify for books). https://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ https://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ This is a fun one I do with a good friend. Basically, to see if a website is down, or if it is just you, along with reported reasons from the community. We are working to add user accounts so you can create your own custom lists of websites/services to track.
- endorphine 9mo ago
  I'd be interested to know how the first one makes money. Is it through Memberships (https://building.shepherd.com/author-membership/ https://building.shepherd.com/author-membership/)?
  - bwb 9mo ago
    Yes, 80% of our funding comes from our 800 members, a mix of readers and authors. Readers - https://building.shepherd.com/membership-for-readers/ https://building.shepherd.com/membership-for-readers/ Authors - https://building.shepherd.com/author-membership/ https://building.shepherd.com/author-membership/ The other 20% is affiliate revenue from book sales across the website, via Amazon and Bookshop.org. I work for free, so it is still pretty bootstrapped.
- alexgotoi 9mo ago
  Just subscribed to the shepherd - the Book DNA is pretty cool, it either recommended books that I’ve read or I have on my to read list. What I can’t figure out is how I highlight a book for to be read? Do I need to purchase a membership before being able to do this?
  - bwb 9mo ago
    Sweet, thank you! No, you are right, that isn't built yet. We are building the full app now. The rough beta is coming at the end of this month for early testers (hit me up at ben@shepherd.com if you want to be on it). It will include the TBR, logging, and search pieces. It won't have website integration yet, but we will keep fixing bugs and adding features. Aiming for a full public launch end of this year, but that is very rough.
alexgotoi 9mo ago
I’ve been running a job board for remote Human Resources roles since 2019. In 2022 I started generating some revenue by referring traffic to large job aggregators on a cost per click model. I still do everything manually from curating the jobs to daily uploads but it has become a good routine for me. You can see it here: https://www.hrjobsremote.com/ https://www.hrjobsremote.com/ It now grosses around 1,000$ per month on average. Money left after taxes and fixed costs (~650$) I put in a all world index for retirement. Recently I also started a newsletter built on top of Hacker News that curates a weekly roundup of AI links and the discussions around them. I am not sure whether it will be monetized at some point but that is how I started the job board too. It is a side project to keep me occupied during evenings and weekends. The latest issue is here if you are interested: https://eomail4.com/web-version?p=df548fb0-e8b0-11f0-97f9-35afc9c82550&pt=campaign&t=1767453196&s=3fdd65baa79adcdcdf6e2d5f2a737bf75fded91e46464a98e07698ec3b270fa2 https://eomail4.com/web-version?p=df548fb0-e8b0-11f0-97f9-35...
- bwb 9mo ago
  Nice, did you have to make custom deals with them to get paid per click? Or is that something they advertise?
  - alexgotoi 9mo ago
    Most of them have out of the box partnerships models. Basically they give me a big xml of jobs, esch job has a price (cpc) specified, and I select the ones applicable to my site (remote). The usual suspects in this space are Adzuna, Jooble, Joblookup, etc.
    - bwb 9mo ago
      Oh nice, that is a cool setup! Thanks for sharing that as I was always curious :)
- xcubic 9mo ago
  How do you find jobs to post? Mostly from the same sources or from everywhere? How long until you got 100 visits per day? How many jobs do you add per day? Why not build more in adjacent industries?
SRMohitkr 9mo ago
I am building an startup.If you interested then answer me!
codingdave 9mo ago
We just had this conversation a few weeks ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46307973 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46307973
- SinisterAlex 9mo ago
  How can you have a convo for 2026 two weeks ago :D
websku 9mo ago
building https://actordo.com https://actordo.com as a work assistant for busy professionals. doing more than $500 currently, however have issues with churn rate now.

15 points by selmas58 9mo ago

bwb 9mo ago

I've got two going :) https://shepherd.com/ https://shepherd.com/ Building a really unique book recommendation platform to help readers find books they might not otherwise know about. We just started working on a full book app that will be a private book diary, along with recommendations and insights based on your Book DNA. Think Goodreads, but rebuilt for readers who want a private space to track what they read, keep notes, and get truly personalized book recommendations (like Pandora or Spotify for books). https://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ https://downforeveryoneorjustme.com/ This is a fun one I do with a good friend. Basically, to see if a website is down, or if it is just you, along with reported reasons from the community. We are working to add user accounts so you can create your own custom lists of websites/services to track.

endorphine 9mo ago
I'd be interested to know how the first one makes money. Is it through Memberships (https://building.shepherd.com/author-membership/ https://building.shepherd.com/author-membership/)?
- bwb 9mo ago
  Yes, 80% of our funding comes from our 800 members, a mix of readers and authors. Readers - https://building.shepherd.com/membership-for-readers/ https://building.shepherd.com/membership-for-readers/ Authors - https://building.shepherd.com/author-membership/ https://building.shepherd.com/author-membership/ The other 20% is affiliate revenue from book sales across the website, via Amazon and Bookshop.org. I work for free, so it is still pretty bootstrapped.
alexgotoi 9mo ago
Just subscribed to the shepherd - the Book DNA is pretty cool, it either recommended books that I’ve read or I have on my to read list. What I can’t figure out is how I highlight a book for to be read? Do I need to purchase a membership before being able to do this?
- bwb 9mo ago
  Sweet, thank you! No, you are right, that isn't built yet. We are building the full app now. The rough beta is coming at the end of this month for early testers (hit me up at ben@shepherd.com if you want to be on it). It will include the TBR, logging, and search pieces. It won't have website integration yet, but we will keep fixing bugs and adding features. Aiming for a full public launch end of this year, but that is very rough.

alexgotoi 9mo ago

I’ve been running a job board for remote Human Resources roles since 2019. In 2022 I started generating some revenue by referring traffic to large job aggregators on a cost per click model. I still do everything manually from curating the jobs to daily uploads but it has become a good routine for me. You can see it here: https://www.hrjobsremote.com/ https://www.hrjobsremote.com/ It now grosses around 1,000$ per month on average. Money left after taxes and fixed costs (~650$) I put in a all world index for retirement. Recently I also started a newsletter built on top of Hacker News that curates a weekly roundup of AI links and the discussions around them. I am not sure whether it will be monetized at some point but that is how I started the job board too. It is a side project to keep me occupied during evenings and weekends. The latest issue is here if you are interested: https://eomail4.com/web-version?p=df548fb0-e8b0-11f0-97f9-35afc9c82550&pt=campaign&t=1767453196&s=3fdd65baa79adcdcdf6e2d5f2a737bf75fded91e46464a98e07698ec3b270fa2 https://eomail4.com/web-version?p=df548fb0-e8b0-11f0-97f9-35...

bwb 9mo ago
Nice, did you have to make custom deals with them to get paid per click? Or is that something they advertise?
- alexgotoi 9mo ago
  Most of them have out of the box partnerships models. Basically they give me a big xml of jobs, esch job has a price (cpc) specified, and I select the ones applicable to my site (remote). The usual suspects in this space are Adzuna, Jooble, Joblookup, etc.
  - bwb 9mo ago
    Oh nice, that is a cool setup! Thanks for sharing that as I was always curious :)
xcubic 9mo ago
How do you find jobs to post? Mostly from the same sources or from everywhere? How long until you got 100 visits per day? How many jobs do you add per day? Why not build more in adjacent industries?

SRMohitkr 9mo ago

I am building an startup.If you interested then answer me!

codingdave 9mo ago

We just had this conversation a few weeks ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46307973 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46307973

SinisterAlex 9mo ago
How can you have a convo for 2026 two weeks ago :D

websku 9mo ago

building https://actordo.com https://actordo.com as a work assistant for busy professionals. doing more than $500 currently, however have issues with churn rate now.