

Ask HN: What's your side project and how much recurring income does it generate? - coffeecodecouch

Try to be descriptive in your comments. When you started, what you&#x27;ve done, challenges you&#x27;ve faced, methods of earning revenue, we want to hear it all!
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mkal_tsr
TheSquatRack.com - workout tracking, analysis, as well as ( macros, body
measurements, workout-journals, data-export options, import options, etc.).
Current features being deployed include workout routines that span weeks and
months, with progressions and deloads of weights, macronutrients adjust up or
down (you can have customizable targets like <=10g carbs or >= 1.5g/lb bw
protein, etc), adding/removing sets or reps, etc. Also allowing you to
schedule workout repetition patterns or meta routines, where you're routine
responds to the data logged (use case: your FitBit logged less than 5 hrs of
sleep, today's workout should be pushed back a day), and you automatically see
that in your dashboard. Of course, all the routines are in a database anyone
can review and rate. And since the workout schedule is known, it can log it
for you, or just keep it scheduled. more info -
[https://thesquatrack.com/soon](https://thesquatrack.com/soon) . I've taken it
from idea to approaching-sustainable living income on my own. Started in
August 2012 as a shits-n-giggles side project, got a bit more serious in
October, did a lot from Jan-May, took a couple months off, started back up,
decided to go all in, and quit my job at Intel doing preboot storage drivers.
Now I'm getting a decent subscription rate considering private-beta (I'm sure
that'll change once it's public), but I have no true idea how it's going to
scale ... so that'll be fun.

The hard part has been managing burnout, stress, backlog stuff, and generally
just everything ... there's so much non-programming stuff that goes into a
business. Once I can get someone to manage all that stuff, it'll be
interesting to see what I can do with all that extra time, haha. That and
revenue/funding. I'm completely bootstrapped and solo on this, no cofounder,
nothing ... what a pain in the ass, why can't someone just manage the business
stuff and marketing stuff.

As far as revenue, I've gone with a subscription model. I tried to split the
features so that as a free user, you have no ads and you can manually
everything. Subscribers get power-user-esq tools like slice-n-dice analytics,
soon the routines and auto-logging, etc. As far as managing the users, I just
try to be honest and transparent with them, and actually take their feature
requests into consideration. A lot of times it's userA wants feature ABC and
userB wants XYZ, clearly not the same, but if you step back you realize the
just want special-use cases of '123', see if there's a couple other cases for
it, and build it if it fits with the direction of the site. Sometimes features
take a long long time to get implemented, but I get to them because I have
several more pre-reqs to do first, I just try to weave them into the pipeline
as logically as I can because it'll be a different problem to solve and help
the users so why not.

How's that for a response? Any questions or anything? I try to be open and
honest about myself and TSR because I want to be proud of what I made, it's
like digital legos.

~~~
not_paul_graham
How much recurring income does it generate?

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edwardy20
I run [https://rrandomize.com](https://rrandomize.com) (it ships random items
to you). It's currently earning about $150 a month or so. Most of the money
comes in through one-time payments, since I pocket the change after purchasing
an item for the user. The idea is simple, so it didn't take much work coding
at all. I'm still pretty new to web development so this was a chance to
practice execution and security.

~~~
coffeecodecouch
That's awesome, I was about to ask if it was inspired by the xkcd before
reading your about page. How many people currently have the "adventurer" or
"conquistador" plan? Can you provide examples of items you've bought in the
past? Actually, you should probably put that info on your homepage.

~~~
edwardy20
Around 50 people have those plans right now. Some recent items that have been
shipped are: a solar powered cockroach, bacon candy canes, and a pedometer. I
was planning on building a live stream of items being ordered, but I'm waiting
on more users to sign up before implementing that feature.

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rk0567
My side project [http://assembleyourpc.net/](http://assembleyourpc.net/) (pc
builder tool) is now generating around 200-300 USD per month from adsense and
affiliate programs. I started this an year ago. I've made few improvements
(added new features, improved UI etc) over the year (0-6 hours of work per
month) and I'm going to add some new features this week, automate few backends
works or so.

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neutralino1
I run [http://releas.io](http://releas.io). It generates download cards for
physical music releases (typically vinyl). It yields around 400€ per month but
I don't do any biz dev. I don't think it's a viable project (beyond a side-
project) so I didn't try to make it full-time.

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snailmailworks
I created this side project : www.snailmailpics.com and
www.snailmailpics.com/DropBoxHome

for printing photos using text message and through DropBox.

We generate around $100-$200 every month..mostly through our DropBox
application

~~~
snailmailworks
www.snailmailpics.com

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WriteYourRep
I have [https://writeyourrep.org](https://writeyourrep.org) I started it in
January and the total revenue is $800 or so. We've sent about 500 letters to
congress so far.

~~~
ajones
This is a very interesting idea. After the cost of stamps, paper, ink, etc.,
are you making ~1 dollar per letter sent? What inspired you to build the site?

~~~
WriteYourRep
It comes out to less than $1/letter.

I built the site because the only way to get what you want is by voicing that
you want it. It's especially important presently due to an increasing
disconnect between Congress and citizens. Our system of government functions
best with a politically active population. Otherwise the will of the people is
impossible to express and the laws become the will of the few.

I've mailed several letters to lawmakers and it's a tedious process, but
ultimately necessary as letters actually stand out, while email blends into
the noise. Removing the encumbrance of mailing the letter enables
participation in government, something I believe in very strongly.

~~~
TheRealmccoy
Hello !

Have you thought about extending this to say city councils or mayor's office
also.

There are tons of local small problems, which can be sorted out by city
offices, only if they are pointed out in a positive manner, but people do not
do so.

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NameNickHN
I run a couple of disposable email websites like
[http://www.fakeinbox.com/](http://www.fakeinbox.com/) and in the last thirty
days together they generated about $110.

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parth21shah
My side project is mahasherpa.com. A script turned into website I wrote to
find myself a job after getting laid off back in november. Have not made any
money out of it yet

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amac
[http://octopus.org](http://octopus.org). I'm still building it - trying to
figure out what people want in many ways.

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Golddisk
My side project is thesurge.net. It's not generating much, but it's only 2
months old at this stage.

~~~
coffeecodecouch
Could you be a bit more descriptive? I've updated my post to be more clear as
to what kind of responses I'm hoping for.

~~~
Golddisk
Sure. I started this in January, but put more time into it starting in
February. It's a website that provides news about tech and entertainment. One
of the more significant challenges I've faced is finding time to keep up with
it, as I'm a full time college student and will soon start working a summer
job as well.

Reoccurring income is pretty low, usually less than a dollar a day. All
revenue comes via advertisements.

