Ask HN: Best way to generate recurring income Looking to learn some new skills and make some money. What do I have the best chance of making real money (say $50/day) with? - Apps: iPhone/Android/WinMo/Ovi/Mac App Store/iPad - Web apps: like most of the things that come up on HN. (Appt Reminder, for example) - Digital content: ebooks on easy to learn and write about topics. Think long spammy testimonial pages |
For example, last year I created a couple of jQuery premium plugins, I putted a price tag on them and offer user support. Some of people said "no way, your plugin will make it, there will be free version of it anytime soon".
Guess what ? Almost one year has passed, there aren't any full featured alternatives and I'm making a $xx bucks on a daily basis. I'm not making $50, but it's close tho. For the effort I've put into it I pretty happy with the outcome. Clients appreciate the fact that I offer support, and the best thing is, I haven't yet give any support because none of my clients have request it so far.
In a nutshell, my best advice for you is: - Start by doing small quality things. - Create a solid client base, keep them happy and show them what you are doing currently
Soon enough your will start see some profit.
Making about $40/day extra would help a lot currently and I'm not bad with jQuery. I can probably hack together some simple yet usefull php scripts too. Wonder if those would sell?
Like I said, keep it simple and launch it. Agile way ;)
Think about your current skill set versus what you would like to learn that would help your career and future earning potential. Balance those two items to help you choose.
If you have an interest in all three develop all three ideas over time.
For the short term I would pick the area that you are most skilled in so you have the best chance for success.
Digital content probably has the best chance for success depending on your knowledge base and target audience. An e-book could be put together fairly quickly. Pick something you are passionate about and put one on the market and see how it goes.
Web Apps are great for reoccurring revenue, the software as a service model is one of the best business models out there. Find a problem and solve it with a web application.
Apps would be the most difficult to break into and have a money maker the first time. It's definitely a high demand skill and something you should develop for the future if you have an interest.
Recommended listening for inspiration:
A lot of the content on the web today is getting much attention from smartphones, so there is a ton of potential out there.
Hope this helps
This can provide some very interesting options (and lucrative, affiliate) revenue streams; possibly generating passive income for years to come.
People (read super aff marketers) have written eBooks on this very topic i.e. how to build long-term, passive income streams with eBooks - if you scout around a bit, I'm sure you'll find a few.
HTH
From my experiences, they make you create terms of service for every web app no matter how tiny. Are there ways around this and what do you suggest?
For something with almost no delivery cost (digital content), as long as you're clearing transaction charges, you are still making money, right?
Maybe money isn't in charging for the apps at all? What about ads? Lead gen? Affiliate Programs?
Alternatively: $50 seems to me like a pretty reachable number, while still being large enough that it's not immediately reachable.
Though I won't presume to know the OP's motivations.
So, the why is important for me to suggest to you how :)