

Ask HN: How can I add 10-15k to my annual income this year? - nahcub

I&#x27;m looking for something external that uses my programming skills. A new job with a higher salary would be great, but that&#x27;s not feasible for me right now.
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BruceIV
I don't know why you want another 10-15k, or what your current situation is
(though it sounds like you're a programmer making okay money), so this might
not be useful advice, but you can get a surprising amount of mileage out of a
good budget, with surprisingly few trade offs.

Cars are often huge money sinks. Also, people tend not to examine their
housing situation for efficiencies (I have a number twenty-something friends
in small towns who own houses with rental properties that cover nearly all
their mortgages) - also, you can generally move closer to work and bike or
take transit (assuming you're not a consultant and "work" is a fixed place);
this goes back to cars being money sinks and commuting really being terrible.
You can eat really well quite cheaply if you want to put in some time and make
your own food (a bagged lunch over eating out at work could save you $1000 a
year, and that's just one thing). Anyway, the Internet is full of useful tips
to save money, but you can get a bunch done by just mapping out your monthly
spending and looking for places to trim the fat. Maybe that won't cover the
whole 10-15K you're looking for, but it's a good start.

------
hodgesmr

      1. Build something on the side that creates recurring revenue
      2. Build something on the side that you can sell for $10-15k
      3. Build multiple things that, when combined, sell for $10-15k
      4. Negotiate a raise at your current job
      5. Start doing freelance work
      6. Get lucky in the stock market
      7. Get lucky in a casino
      8. Get lucky in a lottery
      9. Inherit some money
    

Why do people in tech think we work in some magically beloved industry that
has shortcuts to success? Oh right.. Aaron Sorkin movies.

~~~
threetincans
No. 1 is the easiest. See my more detailed comment below.

~~~
lnanek2
You have to multiply by the chance of it working to get the expected value.
It's easy to write an app or a service and just never get the customers to
even break even on your time. Contracting is much more likely to pay back
since you just have to complete the project and the employers has to keep
their word to pay.

~~~
lgas
Yeah, if you're going to talk about what's easiest in the "whats the least
work" I'd say #9 would be the easiest. Chances of it working are probably
pretty low for most people though.

Contracting at $100/hr will gross you $10k in 100 hrs (or about 2.5 weeks
worth of work). You probably meant net so double it and you're somewhere in
your ballpark.

Almost anyone that is a competent professional programmer should be able to
find and execute on this much side work at a similar rate. If you're
particularly good, have a particularly specialized skillset, a clearence, etc
you can easily command a substantial multiple of this rate and accomplish your
goal in even less time.

And you're chance of it working are very high.

------
porter
Create a presentation on what non-technical founders need to know about
programming, before they start a start up. Promote this webinar via facebook
ads and make it 30 minutes long and packed full of super useful stuff. Then at
the end point them to your blog with lots of helpful resources. Finally,
mention that you are available for one on one coaching, for a select group of
people (and have a web form using stripe ready for taking payment in exchange
for scheduling a one-on-one call with you). Offer a money back guarantee as
long as they demonstrate that they did the action items you suggested.

This will be way easier than building a SaaS app. Trust me.

EDIT: No idea why this is getting downvoted. Any insight would be appreciated.

------
saturdayplace
"The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is
now." \- Chinese proverb.

"Don't end the week with nothing" \- Patio11
[https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/do-not-
en...](https://training.kalzumeus.com/newsletters/archive/do-not-end-the-week-
with-nothing)

Start building something you can sell. It could be a book, an app, a SaaS. You
might not (probability won't) get it to +$15k this year. That shouldn't stop
you from beginning. If you make something thst _people are willing to pay for_
, you should be able to EVENTUALLY get to +$15k (and more!)

------
xauronx
It's not always easy/fun, but I've found that a) working like a fucking maniac
(12+ hours a day), b) never turning down a chance to talk about a job, seem to
help. You brothers girlfriends aunt wants a website for her garage sale this
year? Yeah, not going to get you $10k, but talking to her, being awesome and
giving some advice (even if you don't actually help, and do a "favor" by
pointing her to ebay or something). You'll end up making a connection, and she
might tell her wealthy relative about a really awesome developer (you). I've
gotten a few well paying jobs this way. For me, it seems that not being a
greedy presumptuous asshole seems to have paid off well. Also, did I mention
working really hard?

------
Sekhmet
[http://www.mikeperham.com/2013/10/01/how-to-make-100k-in-
oss...](http://www.mikeperham.com/2013/10/01/how-to-make-100k-in-oss-by-
working-hard/)

~~~
pandemicsyn
The missing step in that post is: "Step 0: Write very popular and useful
thing"

~~~
Sekhmet
Isn't making money about doing something?

It's close imposible to get money without making something useful. If you are
programmer your treasure is coding, so if working for someone else as
freelancer is for somebody not good idea, because it won't make enough money
and you have already full-time job, probably only another way is making
something on your own.

------
tomwalker
I do not think that you have too many options. Part time job, develop an app,
start a SAAS project, contract work. All of these things are easier to type as
an answer to this question than they are to actually do.

If you cannot change jobs now, why don't you add to your skill set over the
next year with the view of using these enhanced skills when you can look for a
new job?

------
davidiach
It depends a lot on what your current income is.

------
joslin01
Are you a programmer? Try to find freelancing work..

~~~
nahcub
Isn't most freelance work a race to the bottom? This would be great, but most
online job boards seem to go to the lowest bidder (who normally works for
$10-12 an hour)

~~~
threetincans
Remote freelance work is a race to the bottom. A better way to earn some extra
money is to build a small service (SAAS) like OLark, or, Launchrock, and
charge $10/month. Support your customers with a passion, add customers slowly,
and before you know it, you will have 100 customers. That will earn you $12K
every year forever. It is far better than doing odd programming jobs for
others, there is no capital required, and, it is a far more certain way to
make extra money than developing an App for iOS or Android.

~~~
johnrob
If getting 12k/yr in annual in revenue is easy, then getting 1MM/yr is also
easy (after going from 0->100, just make two more hops: 100->1000 and
1000->10000). Since we know that building a MM/yr business is anything but
easy, one of our assumptions must be wrong. Which one is it?:

a) 0 -> 100 users is easy

b) 100 -> 1000 users is easy

c) 1000 -> 10000 users is easy

My gut feeling is that a) is actually the hardest step.

~~~
sheepmullet
There are plenty of niches where the total market is smaller than a thousand
users. It simply isn't worth a startup or existing businesses time.

For example I know a guy who sells detailed study guides for software
engineering subjects tailored to his university. Even if he captured 100% of
the market he would have maybe 300 paying customers.

Last time I spoke with him he was earning around 20k from the guides and
another 30k from tutoring the students. An extra $50k on the side as an
individual is massive but it's not really worth it to a growth focused
business.

------
swframe
1\. Switch to technical sales (typically you get a bonus based on the sales
quota; downside is you travel a lot)

2\. Post your resume and ask for 15k more

3\. If you're not in the SF Bay Area, move there but note your cost of living
will probably go up by 20k so you need to ask for $35k more than you currently
make.

4\. If you're in the SF Bay Area, see if your company will let you work
remotely, and move to a state that has no income tax.

5\. Marry/Date up (lawyer, doctor, programmer, executive :-)

~~~
tomek_zemla
#5 Since when dating somebody saves you money...?

~~~
swframe
The 'up' part is the key. If the person makes more than you do, I think it
should save you money. It does for the people I've dated anyway :).

------
hbbio
Arbitrage in any market you may know well (used cars, used laptops, domain
names, etc.).

------
3pt14159
Honestly it isn't that hard to save 7k and make an additional 7k. Do something
mundane, like write a craer that assembles vote data on different issues in
various municipalities in your state then sell it to a newspaper.

------
thejteam
You might find a few ideas in this similar thread from last year:

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6390709](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6390709)

------
alfredp
Tutor programming and math

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FollowSteph3
If it was easy everyone would only work 5-10 years ;)

~~~
lumpysnake
Nobody said it was gonna be easy.

------
jesusmichael
buy something... Sell it for more than you paid...

