

Ask HN: From programmer to business - bbcbasic

Who has made the leap from programmer to running a business? Any tips, advice, good stories?<p>I am not necessarily talking about a &#x27;start-up&#x27; aiming for the moon.<p>Recently I started looking at selling on eBay and importing goods as a way to build up a small income on the side which I could expand. It is more aimed to be a lifestyle business so I can eventually make more money with fewer hours, work from any location etc.
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jcr
It depends on what kind of "business" you want to create, and if you can code,
creating a software business is your best bet.

I checked your HN user profile and you're fairly new here, so I'd suggest
reading the posts of HN user 'patio11' [1,2] (otherwise known as Patrick
McKenzie ;-) and his blog posts [3]. Though his "training" site might seem a
bit too promotional [4] the content he sends through email (and archives on
the web) is surprisingly good [5]. You can literally take just about any his
blog posts or training urls, plug them into the Algolia HN Search at the
bottom of HN pages, and you'll find the relevant discussions.

[1] h1ttps://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=patio11

[2]
[https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=patio11](https://news.ycombinator.com/threads?id=patio11)

[3] [http://www.kalzumeus.com/blog/](http://www.kalzumeus.com/blog/)

[4] [https://training.kalzumeus.com/](https://training.kalzumeus.com/)

[5]
[https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/enterpris...](https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/enterprise_sales)

~~~
bbcbasic
Thank you.

I have read a lot of Patrick's stuff. It is very good and I would be happy to
create something even half as successful as BCC as the first stepping stone.

I am attracted to doing something away from programming to get into the
mindset of finding out what people want. I am too tempted to get hung up on
frameworks and shiny objects on a programming project. Maybe I just need to
change that.

Also it seems more like something I can get up an running more easy in the
spare time (I have a full time job, a 2 year old and another one coming, full
time working wife), so spare time may be average of 4-5 hours a week.

With software you have to build the product AND market it, so that is two
jobs. Selling stuff on an established market place may not be as profitable
but seems more doable. And frankly I find it hard to code for hours after work
doing the same, but I find it easy to do practical things or lower-grade
computer work.

Having said that if I have a good idea I could take a day off work and MVP it.
I have seen people who made $2k-$3k in a weekend doing that on blogs but I am
not clear on how they got the customers. It was build it and they came magic.
I presume they had a good email list or blog following and sold to them.

~~~
mdnormy
Then maybe you would prefer something like micropreneur where the mantra is
"start small stay small".

I myself have small food business and also hosting business. Nothing fancy
that HNer would be interested in, but its a nice side income to have. I spend
2-3hours a day on this.

patio11 always said that "there's always money in small niche market". No
truer words were ever spoken. Most small business are tackling niche problem
anyway.

~~~
bbcbasic
I like start small stay small. That is my goal initially. In addition it
should be a business where I can scale down the hours while keeping the
earnings, and semi-retire early.

I was looking at ebay. But having spent some time on the Terapeek free trial,
ebay.com.au and Alibaba looking at many products it seems to me that ebay
sellers are making razor thin margins, or in some cases outright losses. I
don't get it. I think the ones making good money are established stores who
use ebay as an additional channel. They are trying to acquire new customers,
so can take a hit on the first sale, offering free postage or whatever. I
don't fancy competing with that.

So I am now leaning more towards the sensible suggestion in this thread to
stick to what I know. IT/Programming.

My current idea is a simple one. To give 1 hour free consultation to a small
business to see if I can help them save time/labour using automation.

If I can then I give them a quote for a solution, otherwise walk away. Even if
I spend hours and don't sell anything, I get a lot of market research and new
ideas, so it won't be wasted.

