
Ask HN: How do I make a lot of money quickly? - makufiru
I&#x27;m a 22 year old software developer with nearly 2 years of experience in full-stack software development.  I&#x27;m pretty proficient in both frontend and backend technologies, and have built full web systems through to completion that are in production use today.<p>I have a lot of free time.  I&#x27;m young and single with no interest in relationships right now.  I&#x27;m looking for a way to make large amounts of money very quickly, and I need some ideas here.<p>Note: I do make pretty good money already, but my expenses&#x2F;standard of living are also pretty high. :&#x2F;<p>TL;DR : What are some good or creative ways to make a decent amount of money ($5k+) in a short amount of time? (1-3 months)
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smoyer
It's easier to keep the money you earn than to earn more, and the discipline
will provide long-lasting benefits. You'll be surprised to find that you can
live with far less expenses without decreasing your standard of living. It
will however require thought.

~~~
thenomad
_" It's easier to keep the money you earn than to earn more"_

That's true in some cases and some circumstances, but not all. Apart from
anything else, if there are things you want or need that cost more than you
currently earn on a per-month basis, then it's definitely easier to earn more
in order to be able to afford them.

There are also a number of circumstances where it's far easier to make more
money than make more savings - for example, the very common "freelancer
drastically undercharging" or "exemplary, beloved full-time employee who can
probably get a raise just by asking" ones.

 _" the discipline will provide long-lasting benefits"_

Depends how you do it. In general I'd agree with you, but being excessively
frugal can be just as damaging to your health and happiness, and that of your
family, as being spendthrift.

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seiji
_I 'm looking for a way to make large amounts of money very quickly, and I
need some ideas here._

You've come to the right place.

 _I 'm pretty proficient in both frontend and backend technologies_

This is where you fall down. It's possible you are very amazing and nobody
knows it yet. If so, you have an advantage — you can create something new and
crush competitors before they know you're a threat. It's also possible you're
in the "overestimating abilities" phase of a career. The best case here is to
have _someone else_ tell you how good you are.

 _What are some good or creative ways to make a decent amount of money ($5k+)
in a short amount of time? (1-3 months)_

Put all your money into Apple stock during rumor season.

Read and execute on affiliate marketing.

Read and execute on ebook publishing for in-demand niches.

Bake bacon fudge and sell it on the street corner for a profit.

Bake cake pops and sell them to offices for a profit.

Busk.

Get hired at a place with a sign-on bonus then flee the country after they pay
it out.

Sell organs (yours and/or others).

Dance like nobody's watching, put it on youtube, enable ads.

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CPLX
Are you handy with chemicals? Happen to own an RV?

~~~
makufiru
Good suggestion, but I'm looking for something a little more wholesome. Like a
hired hitman.

~~~
gspetr
You came to the right place. Why not raise a round with YC to disrupt the
assassination industry?

I always thought they were making a killing.

If only you could take out the competition.

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floor__
I hear the lottery pays out well. To make a lot of money quickly requires a
lot of money to begin with. You have no interest in relationships? Some would
say a relationship and the experience is worth far more than any amount of
money.

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andreasklinger
I know you write "no relationships" but maybe reconsider this.

Imo combine:

* low cost of living / fixed costs

* remote work for SF/Bay based companies (biggest delta in budgets vs talent available)

People tend to recommend "project based contract" work. Imo those attract
people who want to pay less. Look for people who actually look for quality
employees and are happy to pay global salaries. Combine this with a low cost
of living and you have a good place to start with to save money.

eg $5k+ saving for a few months sounds reasonable if you compare it with
"global salaries"

[https://angel.co/jobs#find/f!%7B%22locations%22%3A%5B%22Sili...](https://angel.co/jobs#find/f!%7B%22locations%22%3A%5B%22Silicon%20Valley%22%2C%22San%20Francisco%22%5D%2C%22remote%22%3Atrue%7D)

apart of that: you have a job that works in your resume and you might end up
working on a project that becomes a big learning experience

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Mandatum
Seems to be a lot of no-content responses here which is a shame.

Realistically your best bet is to do consultancy/contracting work. With 2
years experience you could easily pick up a Jnr or Intermediate role at
$40-80/hr. Over a month you'll have your 5K.

Pull 80 hour weeks on in-your-own-time contracts and you'll make it in a week.

You also need to cut living costs out entirely. If you wanted to go extreme,
sell everything you own and live in your car, and take a free 7-day trial at
every gym in your area over the next few months.

I did this before moving overseas for a few months, once a month I'd stay at a
friends place for the weekend - definitely not for the faint of heart.

~~~
aspdotnetvan
I don't know if I am being ripped off, I am currently working at a small
company in BC, Canada, doing ASP.NET with some front-end (recent college grad,
working full-time 9-5). My salary is ~37k/year. "With 2 years experience you
could easily pick up a Jnr or Intermediate role at $40-80/hr" \- is it in the
Valley?

~~~
miguelrochefort
Two years of mobile development (iOS and Android) experience in Montreal. I
make less than you do.

Surely that's a Valley thing.

~~~
Mandatum
The pay in my city is relatively low compared to other cities worldwide.

I'd expect at least 50K USD in a major city if no longer junior-level,
anything less and I would prefer to contract/bootstrap.

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ineedhelpwmath
I would think the best way would be to start out with a large sum of money and
invest it conservatively. If the initial sum is large enough, your investments
will yield a lot of money quickly.

Do you have access to a large sum of money?

~~~
makufiru
If I did, I probably wouldn't be asking how to make money quickly.

~~~
ineedhelpwmath
Well you should have stated that clearly in the initial prompt, I'm not in the
business of making assumptions.

~~~
makufiru
You're correct. I meant my response as tongue in cheek, though that didn't
really translate well in text, my apologies.

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kleer001
> "I'm looking for a way to lose large amounts of money very quickly"

Fixed that for you.

Any scheme to maximize wealth over time with minimal risk has already been
exploited. When you open yourself up to large gains in a short time you also
take on large risks. Ain't no rewards without risk. And if there are they get
drained really quickly.

Sorry if it sounds age-ist or judgmental, but at 22 maybe you haven't quite
realized how long human civilizations and markets have been around, how many
smart people have worked their whole lives to maximize their reward versus
risk ratios.

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brightball
Reduce your cost of living. Simplest and most direct approach that is easy for
you to control. Penny saved is a penny earned and all that.

~~~
HeyLaughingBoy
This can be a good approach, but it's fundamentally limited. If your living
expenses are $X/month, the biggest increase you can get by reducing expenses
is $X/month.

OTOH, if you focus on producing something, you can potentially achieve
$X*BIGNUM/month

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mkozlows
Bet on the winners of sporting events.

(Note: This works best if you have previously picked up a sports almanac from
the future.)

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thenomad
What you're suggesting is perfectly doable, apart from the "very quickly" bit.

Making $5k a month shouldn't be too hard, but almost all of the ways to do it
have ramp-up time. Becoming a specialised contractor, starting a business of
one kind or another, going down the usual Internet Marketing routes (which
_do_ work if you put the time in) - they'll all get you considerably beyond
$5kpm, but none of them are really doable in a 3 month window.

If you're really serious about doing this, commit a year at least and start
learning.

(BTW, you have read "The Four Hour Work Week", right? If not, definitely have
a read.)

~~~
aliston
Could you expand on the "usual" internet marketing routes? What would be some
good places for a beginner to start?

~~~
thenomad
SEO, paid traffic affiliate marketing, infoproducts, SaaS, viral / social
media-led stuff, paid blogging - those are the usual routes that spring to
mind. Some cross over.

Good places to start learning:

"Four Hour Work Week", as mentioned, and Tim Ferriss' blog. "The $100 Startup"
\- book. Smart Passive Income - blog Viperchill - blog ProBlogger - blog.
Ignore the guest posts, read stuff by the founder Darren Rowse.

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taphangum
There are literally millions of micro-niches online where spending x will
yield x per month, fairly consistenly. Just find these, and scale.

For example: Udemy courses. I have one that does $3,500 a month on the high
end, and about $500 a month on the low end. I know a guy who gets about the
same average but has created roughly 40 courses. He, as you can imagine, makes
a little more than $5k a month.

Btw, my investment in the course was no more than $200 total. Plus of course
about 20 hours of my time.

~~~
Rainymood
What are the courses on? Could you elaborate a bit more on what you provide
for the X / month? Do you make 20 videos and then put them on? Do you have to
grade their homework?

~~~
thepredestrian
I too would am curious to know

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HockeyPlayer
Pick up some local nights & weekend work on Craiglist. You want $5k in 2
months, that means you need to charge $50/hour and work 15 hours/week for 7
months.

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zyncl19
Switch jobs. About 2 years experience is a good time for a switch. You
probably won't find a $5k/month raise, but you might get a $5k/3 month raise.

~~~
Mandatum
Seeing as this is his/her first job, it'll likely be a 50%ish pay bump.

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vrnut
I think you should probably clarify how much you don't want to work a regular
job (Seems like the simplest way to make that amount of money in that time)

~~~
makufiru
Actually I'm looking for the income in addition to my regular job.

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ianstallings
I remember this feeling. If I could go back and teach myself anything it would
be the power of saving. You already said yourself you make good money.

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oliv__
Rent a place and airbnb it.

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thfuran
Do contract development work for contractor pay.

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beamatronic
Negotiate for a signing bonus, this used to be very common and $5k is not
unreasonable, though you may need to increase that to account for your tax
situation.

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bradhe
Get a job and live minimally? $5k take-home is about $75k/yr.

~~~
makufiru
Have a job, struggle to live minimally when I have about $2k in expenses that
I'm locked into.

~~~
smlacy
This sounds like a choice. Get out of that situation. Sell your car. Pay off
debt. Get roommates. Stop eating out.

For someone your age, reducing fixed costs should be fairly easy, but still
require some life changes that will be uncomfortable at first.

~~~
makufiru
Actually the reason I'm looking to make money is to get out from under this
car lease that I mistakenly took on, and have enough for first+last months
rent and a security deposit at a new, more affordable place.

------
vishalzone2002
do freelancing. offer to build MVPs. Build some websites and try selling them

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CaiGengYang
Speculate in stocks and commodities

~~~
ktdrv
That's also a great way to lose a lot of money quickly.

~~~
CaiGengYang
Yup , thats true ... The stock market is basically like a casino. You can go
broke or get fabulously rich speculating in stocks like George Soros

