5 ms·

Ask HN: Those making $1,000+/month on side projects – what did you make?

52 points by tagabek 12y ago

It can be a SaaS app, a mobile app, or any side project that is netting you recurring revenue.

gamechangr 12y ago
I would guess that not many are making a $1,000 a month on side projects. Most of my friends have side projects where they make $100-$300, but when they get to over $500 they consider making that the primary project. Some games make that but you have to continue to update them or they loose their ability to continue to sell, so it's misleading when people say "I make $1500 a month from my games" they should also say "I spend a couple hours a week making sure they are updated to the new versions". But you may already know that. I will follow you're question to see if you get much response. I would love to be surprised!
galooph 12y ago
There was a thread about this not so long ago - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8844083 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8844083
- vijayr 12y ago
  Like the hiring/looking for jobs threads, may be this should be a monthly thread.
Osiris 12y ago
I wrote a battery laptop monitor : http://batterybarpro.com http://batterybarpro.com . I get about 1k uniques a day and net about $1500/mn in sales of the Pro version.
- CyberDildonics 12y ago
  How do you get the word out on a utility like this?
  - Osiris 12y ago
    I started with a free version that I posted on various freeware software sites and as many forums about laptops as I could find. I also watched referral URLs can tried to engage users. Eventually users started spreading the word themselves. I've tried AdWords a few times but the ROI hasn't been great.
- Jayd2014 12y ago
  What stack did you use?
  - Osiris 12y ago
    It's written in C# with PInvoke code to call the underlying Win32 APIs for the battery status.
eonw 12y ago
I have a few games on the iOS store that still generate some money each month. My main side project income comes from simple sites I build using public data and my SEO skills. Essentially its all ad sales.
dangrossman 12y ago
This same thread from two weeks ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9423592 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9423592
sgnelson 12y ago
Money?
bemmu 12y ago
There's an ebook written by HN user riskish on this topic: http://www.sideprojectbook.com/ http://www.sideprojectbook.com/
gtheme 12y ago
I built Premium Ghost Theme marketplace http://www.gtheme.io/ http://www.gtheme.io/ to sell premium ghost themes. I designed most of the themes because I have chicken and egg problem. Now I get about $100-$300/m revenue. Most people still dont know what is Ghost https://ghost.org/ https://ghost.org/ yet. It is CMS that like Wordpress, but built on NodeJS. EDIT: Added what is Ghost
- CyberDildonics 12y ago
  A ghost theme market place you say? I went to the site and sure enough, it's ghost themes. Premium ghost themes in fact. I still have no idea what the fuck ghost themes are though.
  - gtheme 12y ago
    Most people still dont know what is Ghost https://ghost.org/ https://ghost.org/ yet. It is CMS that like Wordpress, but built on NodeJS.
dturnbull 12y ago
I wrote a book about the Meteor JavaScript framework, which is available for free, but I also sell a video training series that's based on the book: http://meteortips.com http://meteortips.com
gordonzhu 12y ago
I made a video course that teaches you how to build apps with AngularJS. http://angularcourse.com http://angularcourse.com
- glitch273 12y ago
  How did you do the reddit quote thing? Custom made or is there a website that formats it for you?
  - mattchamb 12y ago
    Looking at the source, its an iframe for this site: //www.redditmedia.com/r/angularjs/comments/2f7ziz/i_quit_my_job_to_teach_you_how_to_launch_a_full/ckbhk0m?embed=true&context=0&depth=1&showedits=true&created=2015-05-04T04:25:24.511Z&showmore=false
  - gordonzhu 12y ago
    Click embed under a comment and it will generate embed code for the comment. Example: http://www.reddit.com/r/angularjs/comments/2f7ziz/i_quit_my_job_to_teach_you_how_to_launch_a_full/ck7sar0 http://www.reddit.com/r/angularjs/comments/2f7ziz/i_quit_my_...
    - glitch273 12y ago
      Interesting, thought it looked pretty cool. Something to keep in mind for future projects. :)
- alaskamiller 12y ago
  I used this last winter to learn AngularJS! Make a React course if you can!
  - gordonzhu 12y ago
    Oh wow small world. That's awesome. Email me at gordon[at]watchandcode[dot]com. Would love to get your feedback on what I can improve and what other things you'd like to learn! BTW This is the fourth time today someone has asked if I'm doing a React course. I am thinking about it :)
siquick 12y ago
$2-300 per quarter from affiliate sales from a vinyl record shop that is linked to from http://soundshelter.net http://soundshelter.net It's completely automated so any time spent on it is time I want to spend (other than a few user queries). Should really put up some Adsense but don't want to piss of the loyal users.
- danuker 12y ago
  You could place Adsense if the IP/user/user agent is one you've never seen before (or seen rarely).
andersthue 12y ago
I (still) make >1000 on my watermarking windows program at www.watermark-image.com - yes an old skool installer that you dowbload :) I am using the money to stairstep (as Rob Walling talks about) into the SaaS world with my sleep and happiness improving way to work called TimeBlock (http://timeblock.com http://timeblock.com)
adzeds 12y ago
I generated a football betting algorthm > http://betalyst.com/ http://betalyst.com/ Gained a decent user base that gives it a strong MMR from ads etc
- adzeds 12y ago
  Sorry, Meant to put Monthly Revenue not MMR
- tixocloud 12y ago
  It's a brilliant idea. Just curious but which data sources do you use? Was diving into football analytics awhile back but was having trouble getting beyond the usual statistics (e.g. goals, wins, losses, games played, etc).

52 points by tagabek 12y ago

It can be a SaaS app, a mobile app, or any side project that is netting you recurring revenue.

I would guess that not many are making a $1,000 a month on side projects. Most of my friends have side projects where they make $100-$300, but when they get to over $500 they consider making that the primary project. Some games make that but you have to continue to update them or they loose their ability to continue to sell, so it's misleading when people say "I make $1500 a month from my games" they should also say "I spend a couple hours a week making sure they are updated to the new versions". But you may already know that. I will follow you're question to see if you get much response. I would love to be surprised!

galooph 12y ago

There was a thread about this not so long ago - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8844083 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8844083

vijayr 12y ago
Like the hiring/looking for jobs threads, may be this should be a monthly thread.

Osiris 12y ago

I wrote a battery laptop monitor : http://batterybarpro.com http://batterybarpro.com . I get about 1k uniques a day and net about $1500/mn in sales of the Pro version.

CyberDildonics 12y ago
How do you get the word out on a utility like this?
- Osiris 12y ago
  I started with a free version that I posted on various freeware software sites and as many forums about laptops as I could find. I also watched referral URLs can tried to engage users. Eventually users started spreading the word themselves. I've tried AdWords a few times but the ROI hasn't been great.
Jayd2014 12y ago
What stack did you use?
- Osiris 12y ago
  It's written in C# with PInvoke code to call the underlying Win32 APIs for the battery status.

eonw 12y ago

I have a few games on the iOS store that still generate some money each month. My main side project income comes from simple sites I build using public data and my SEO skills. Essentially its all ad sales.

dangrossman 12y ago

This same thread from two weeks ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9423592 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9423592

sgnelson 12y ago

Money?

bemmu 12y ago

There's an ebook written by HN user riskish on this topic: http://www.sideprojectbook.com/ http://www.sideprojectbook.com/

gtheme 12y ago

I built Premium Ghost Theme marketplace http://www.gtheme.io/ http://www.gtheme.io/ to sell premium ghost themes. I designed most of the themes because I have chicken and egg problem. Now I get about $100-$300/m revenue. Most people still dont know what is Ghost https://ghost.org/ https://ghost.org/ yet. It is CMS that like Wordpress, but built on NodeJS. EDIT: Added what is Ghost

CyberDildonics 12y ago
A ghost theme market place you say? I went to the site and sure enough, it's ghost themes. Premium ghost themes in fact. I still have no idea what the fuck ghost themes are though.
- gtheme 12y ago
  Most people still dont know what is Ghost https://ghost.org/ https://ghost.org/ yet. It is CMS that like Wordpress, but built on NodeJS.

dturnbull 12y ago

I wrote a book about the Meteor JavaScript framework, which is available for free, but I also sell a video training series that's based on the book: http://meteortips.com http://meteortips.com

gordonzhu 12y ago

I made a video course that teaches you how to build apps with AngularJS. http://angularcourse.com http://angularcourse.com

glitch273 12y ago
How did you do the reddit quote thing? Custom made or is there a website that formats it for you?
- mattchamb 12y ago
  Looking at the source, its an iframe for this site: //www.redditmedia.com/r/angularjs/comments/2f7ziz/i_quit_my_job_to_teach_you_how_to_launch_a_full/ckbhk0m?embed=true&context=0&depth=1&showedits=true&created=2015-05-04T04:25:24.511Z&showmore=false
- gordonzhu 12y ago
  Click embed under a comment and it will generate embed code for the comment. Example: http://www.reddit.com/r/angularjs/comments/2f7ziz/i_quit_my_job_to_teach_you_how_to_launch_a_full/ck7sar0 http://www.reddit.com/r/angularjs/comments/2f7ziz/i_quit_my_...
  - glitch273 12y ago
    Interesting, thought it looked pretty cool. Something to keep in mind for future projects. :)
alaskamiller 12y ago
I used this last winter to learn AngularJS! Make a React course if you can!
- gordonzhu 12y ago
  Oh wow small world. That's awesome. Email me at gordon[at]watchandcode[dot]com. Would love to get your feedback on what I can improve and what other things you'd like to learn! BTW This is the fourth time today someone has asked if I'm doing a React course. I am thinking about it :)

siquick 12y ago

$2-300 per quarter from affiliate sales from a vinyl record shop that is linked to from http://soundshelter.net http://soundshelter.net It's completely automated so any time spent on it is time I want to spend (other than a few user queries). Should really put up some Adsense but don't want to piss of the loyal users.

danuker 12y ago
You could place Adsense if the IP/user/user agent is one you've never seen before (or seen rarely).

andersthue 12y ago

I (still) make >1000 on my watermarking windows program at www.watermark-image.com - yes an old skool installer that you dowbload :) I am using the money to stairstep (as Rob Walling talks about) into the SaaS world with my sleep and happiness improving way to work called TimeBlock (http://timeblock.com http://timeblock.com)

adzeds 12y ago

I generated a football betting algorthm > http://betalyst.com/ http://betalyst.com/ Gained a decent user base that gives it a strong MMR from ads etc

adzeds 12y ago
Sorry, Meant to put Monthly Revenue not MMR
tixocloud 12y ago
It's a brilliant idea. Just curious but which data sources do you use? Was diving into football analytics awhile back but was having trouble getting beyond the usual statistics (e.g. goals, wins, losses, games played, etc).