Ask HN: How to Make $20K a Month

[boredyeti]

OK, so me and a friend had enough of being employees and we want to leave and create a company of our own. My friend is a very talented developer and I’m more of the jack-of-all-trades type with lots of experience in product, business, marketing, copywriting, etc.

The thing is, though, that we’re not young anymore (40ish) and we’ll need to make around $10K monthly each, pretty quickly (let’s say in 6 months time).

So I know these types of questions are getting asked a lot, but I thought we can all brainstorm together again and come up with interesting directions.

Thanks!

[tucaz]

It is simple but not easy.

Let’s assume you want to reduce risk of capital investment and also risk of operations so we’ll rule out physical products.

That leaves us with digital products and services.

You need a business that you can sell to 20,000 people at $1 each, to 1,000 people at $20 each, 20 people at $1,000 each or 1 company at $20,000.

If you are going for the cheap value you have to mass market it somehow. Either by generating massive quality content or spending money in ads. 6 months is enough to generate leads to provide that A big enough following if you put effort into it.

If you want to go to the top bracket you will probably be in the B2B market. Since 20k is not pocket change you’ll most likely be playing the procurement game and each sale on this game can take anywhere from 3 to 12 months.

Pick your poison and good luck!

[roosgit]

You could buy an existing business https://feinternational.com/buy-a-website/. Of course, you would need $600K-$800K, but you'd have a profitable business right away and it might be easier to grow faster than when starting from scratch.

Another route could be freelancing. By doing this you would get paid and you might meet clients for a future product. You might also get ideas for a future product by observing the problems of the businesses that contract your services.

[sharemywin]

you could look into SBA loans and put less down.

[minblaster]

Do you want to manage a company, or do you simply want financial freedom?

If it’s the latter there are easier ways. Real estate and index fund investing. Google FIRE.

[perl4ever]

$20K/month = $11.5 million in a total market index fund.

I guess that could give you a benchmark - figure out how to create over $10 million in value for other people.

[solution-finder]

Off the topic, curious how you calculated valuation using monthly income?

[pacificenigma]

Not original commenter, but the S&P 500 has recently been paying roughly 2% dividends [1]. So $11.5M gives circa $230K/pa or $19,166/m.

[1] https://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/071616/history...

[adreamingsoul]

What problem, need, or challenge currently exists that would be valueable to 1000+ potential paying customers?

Obviously you can simplify or modify that question, but ask as many people you can. However many customers you hope to have, try to collect at least 10x in responses.

Start with your local network, ask everyone you know, people at events, attend networking events, travel to the surrounding cities and repeat.

[mc3]

Freelancing? I can see this as a route to getting cash in quickly while transitioning from employment to business. With two of you, one can focus on delivery/support, the other on biz-dev/sales.

From there, see if the freelancing clients need anything that would lead you to a recurring revenue, in such a way that you could easily find similar clients to sell the same service to.

[smarri]

Making $20k net in 6 months - I would consider B2B sales, in a space with minimal compliance and regulatory overheads, such as B2B software which solves a manual process or cumbersome issue (e.g. taking anything that people do on excel and automate it). Get version 1 out asap.

[maxwin]

1. Save enough money to last longer (1 to 2 years) Or 2. Save and invest until you have enough passive income to put food on the table for your family Or 3. Moonlight and try to get some traction and sizable investment first before you quit.

[saluki]

Don't quit your day job yet.

Start listening to StartUpsForTheRestOfUs.com the archives.

Rob and Mike have lots of great advice.

Also check out tinyseed it's by Rob from SUftRoU.

I'm 40+ and working the first SaaS app of my own. It's doable.

Good luck, enjoy the journey.

[certera]

Are you looking to start a business? SaaS, consultancy, etc.?

[sharemywin]

I wouldn't quit until you have revenue coming in.