

Ask HN: What can I do to earn money? - twocentswanted

(This is an alternate account for purposes of anonymity. I've read and commented at HN for a couple of years now.<p>I submitted this once and got no traction, so I'm trying again as I think my situation is applicable to many others.)<p>The advice I need is about earning a decent annual income given my constraints.<p>While my dream is to build something that matters at scale, I've learned that I need a trade as a stepping stone, a domain to master and a steady way to earn money. I've picked that pat and am going to school this fall to gain a necessary credential.<p>However, at this point, I just need to earn some money to pay bills and buy food for my wife and I.<p>I am a deeply flawed mortal occupying the lowest rung on the HN ladder -- I'm neither strong enough to be an entrepreneur nor did I have the foresight to pick a trade. As the amount of noise on the subject of how to make money is staggering, I'm turning to HN.<p>My confidence is low on this subject, but I'll state my goal plainly anyway -- I'm seeking to earn $27,500 annually working part-time while attending graduate school. At the moment, I'm doing whatever work I can get, but a change of course will be needed to reach my ultimate goal.<p>As for context and details, my skill-set and my personality have resulted in my being a generalist, mostly of soft skills. I'm excellent at analytical thought and problem-solving, understanding people (especially collective groups of people), creativity, and written and verbal communication. As for personality, I struggle with consistency and discipline without structure when I'm doing something extrinsically motivated, but I work tirelessly when part of a team or environment or when working on something interesting. Because of those skills and my disposition, I've dabbled in sales, business strategy consulting, copywriting, editing, marketing, SEO, coaching, and tutoring through either corporate employment or freelance work. I've had strong to moderate success in each of those areas for sustained periods as long as one year or as short as one client. I've also made a few ultimately limp efforts at (solo, bootstrapped) entrepreneurship which, of course, failed. In summary, I'm intelligent (in the traditional sense of the word) and those I've worked with would almost universally attest to specific benefits realized from my contributions of analytical thought, understanding of people, creativity, and communication, but I've bounced around so often (for reasons I've now come to terms with and addressed) that I lack focus, a meaningful track-record, or any valuable hard-skills aside from writing/editing.<p>I'm willing to do whatever it takes, but as I have the above-mentioned track-record when it comes to willpower around sticking with work, what I will does not always come to pass. As a result, I think it prudent to try to align with my natural tendencies as best as possible so that I can meet a smaller number of challenges with sufficient energy and focus. This means, for instance, that I'd be willing to learn a skill if it suited my personality or willing to force a given aspect of my personality into submission if something fit my skills, but of course, it would be preferred to avoid tempting too many simultaneous aspects of my historical patterns and failings.<p>If HN can give me a constructive reality-check as well as some pointed feedback given the details of my situation, it will help steel my confidence to have a solid source at the very least, and it may even provide me with a key understanding or idea to focus on and translate into action.<p>Thank you for reading.<p>-twocentsneeded
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metachris
Learn how to code. I think the best start would be to do a couple of fun
websites (in Python or Ruby) or a few fun mobile apps (Android, iPhone).
Eventually you'll get better and better ideas, and something will stick.

PS: Your post is way too long. Try to convey that information in a third of
that -- it would surely get more traction.

~~~
twocentswanted
If you'll excuse the question, is coding really a good idea for part-time
money? It was a given that someone on HN would suggest learning to code.

Are websites and mobile apps high-probability enough to pursue with limited
time?

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noahc
You sound exactly like me. What I've found useful is getting in front of as
many people as possible. I know that if I sit down and talk with someone I
will be hired to do something.

What I would do is find people to talk to, listen to their problems, and then
relate how your experiences can help them solve their problems.

I've had getting to know you meetings where people have said, "We have a job
for you. Come back in two weeks and we'll know more"

~~~
twocentswanted
I've been doing this, and it's gotten me a handful of gigs, some one-offs, and
some odd jobs. At the moment, that's my best angle on finding work, and I'm
going to keep at it unless I find something steady and high-paying.

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triviatise
have you taken a meyers briggs or similar personality test? Surprisingly those
things are really accurate. They can definitely help to identify what you
might be good at. For example I am an INTP. This means that I love to invent
systems, but am not that decisive. I also am not good at repetitive stuff.
"Architect" is the archetype. Many/most hackers are INTPs which is also a
pretty rare type. My wife is an ESFJ, she loves tradition and maintaining a
social calendar. If it werent for her I would stay in my room and program day
and night and wouldnt have any friends.

I know it seems dumb but it isnt. The hardest thing to do in life is to "find
yourself", these tests can actually help to understand yourself better.

The one at pesonalitypages.com is pretty good for the interpretation but they
are now charging for their test. Here is one at
<http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp> which should work ok.

By the way our admin makes 40K + benefits so dont sell yourself short.

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twocentswanted
I've taken the Meyers-Briggs and other personality assessments. I am INTP as
well. I'm also into systems, struggle with decisiveness, and dislike too much
consistency in my activities and schedule.

I've settled on psychology as the career of choice, and that's why I have to
go back to school. Thanks for the thoughtful response.

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buckwild
When I was an undergrad (about 2 years ago), I'd teach guitar. $30 for a half
hour lesson. I had close to 20 students at any one time and would rake in
roughly $500 a week with that gig. That ends up being around $24,000/year.
Plus it was an easy way to meet pretty girls :-)

There are plenty of ideas out there. Just figure out what all of your goals
are and try to align them into one gig.

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twocentswanted
I studied music in college, but my instrument is an orchestral one of limited
appeal. I did teach middle school and high school students during college - I
wonder if that's not something to revisit. Thanks for the encouragement and
comment.

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michaelpinto
To make money you need to do something that you love, my advice is to talk
with a good career counselor. You need to match your skills/interests to what
the market is looking + what's required to hone your skill set. By the way a
great podcast is "48 days to the work you love" if you can't afford a career
counselor.

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kin
If you've been lurking on HN for a while I suggest taking the many resources
you've seen and hastily get into mobile app development. Of course my real
advice is to just follow anything you're passionate about. If you love what
you do you'll inevitably be good at it and people pay for things others are
good at.

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imechura
I would suggest a job in sales. That way you can learn the selling process and
work in multiple industries.

Either way, you need to get your shit together. IMHO, paying bills for wife
and kid > entrepreneurial dream.

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petervandijck
Soft skills get you jobs at big companies.

Hard skills get you well-paying consulting jobs.

You need the latter.

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twocentswanted
I agree. Any specific hard-skills that you would recommend as a good path to
consulting dollars?

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petervandijck
iOS development is a good bet for the next few years.

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amourgh
You can teach Math for high school students,Marketing,build static websites
for companies

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rdouble
You can make $50/hr tutoring rich but dumb high school kids.

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TheSOB88
Fuck grad school. You're just putting off learning something useful. Learn you
the basics of some trade you like - programming, plumbing, piñata making, what
have you - and apply for jobs. Network.

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rgbrgb
"something useful"

That's quite subjective. Most past figures who's contributions to society I
would deem useful, who have fundamentally changed our lives and the ways we
think, have been well educated. Yes, grad school is probably not the path the
maximum monetary wealth but there are greater glories.

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haploid
Why did you go through the expense of marriage, to a woman you have to
support, when you can't even support yourself?

This is not a troll, I genuinely don't understand why so many people make life
choices like this.

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noahc
Another possibly more plausible explanation is that he could support her at
the time, and now due to circumstances can't.

I applaud his efforts in trying to figure this out, and while it's not ideal,
I'd encourage him to not to worry about justifying his marriage.

At the end of the day life choices are just that life choices and we have to
live with the consequences of them, not justify them to others.

~~~
twocentswanted
That's exactly what happened. Also, it's not so much that she requires
supporting, more that it's something I want to do as thanks for allowing me
the freedom to explore and then pursue a more rewarding career path.

