How do I make $10k (What are you guys doing?)

[b_mutea]

I’m trying to figure out how to make around $10k, but honestly, I’m stuck on where to even start. I see people pulling things off and I genuinely want to understand how you’re doing it.

Up until last year, I was working as a technical writer in ML/AI. Those roles basically 'disappeared', so I spent most of last year upskilling and trying to pivot. I’ve attempted a few app MVPs, but none of them really stuck, and now I’m at a point where I can’t even afford tokens to keep experimenting properly.

I’m broke, no way around it, but I still want to build something, or at least get involved in a project or startup where people are building things that actually make sense. I’m not looking for handouts (but that would help), just momentum and a place where I can contribute and grow.

I’m six months behind on rent, just managed to buy time after my first eviction notice, and I’m trying to get back into building without constantly worrying about when the next one shows up.

So yeah, what are you guys building? If there’s something interesting going on and you need help, I’d love to get involved.

[ben_w]

The hard part with business has always been finding what problem needs to be solved, something that's under-served in the marketplace. Asking on a public forum like this is, unfortunately, a great way to give identical inspiration to a lot of other people, at which point the winner is immediately (at best) a lottery.

For example, if I were to say "I want to improve my German, make me a personalised tutor" and you thought that sounded good, 300 other people who lurk here without commenting will immediately go "ooh, interesting" and also make the same app (and as everyone will be vibe-coding from almost the same prompt, most of them really will be the exact same app down to the style choices and the number and names of achievements).

This was already a problem before LLMs, where copy-cat apps sprung up the moment anything new got famous and interesting. Clones of Flappy Bird and Wordle, even Apple did this with Sherlock and Microsoft with Internet Explorer.

So, my advice here, is to think small-scale. Find individuals and small businesses near you who are willing to pay for the work of a day to a fortnight, where the hard part is talking to them and learning what their needs are, not individual big projects that bring in $10k all at once. (For a fortnight sized project, you might get lucky and find someone who's up for $10k, but don't count on it).

[b_mutea]

This makes so much sense 'Ben' and is spot on. The problem I find becoming hard is the survival part, I just have to keep trying, because I have noticed these roles are not coming in easy especially in this era and given the field I am into. Seems like everyone can do whatever with AI right now.

[grugdev42]

You might laugh, but selling cheap marketing websites is an easy $10,000.

Selling ten $1,000 websites to small businesses is easy. It isn't fun or exciting, but it works.

It's 50% sales, 30% chasing people, and 20% building.

Find small local businesses with bad websites, or better yet no website. They honestly do exist.

Resist the urge to make your own anything. Just use Squarespace or Wix!

You don't need to hide SS or Wix from the client. Tell them you just charge for your time to set it all up. If they complain then move onto the next customer, they would likely be a pain anyway.

People will say "small marketing websites are dead with SS or Wix about", but it's not true. Most small businesses just don't want to learn how!

If you cold call all week I bet you can have a couple of deals done by Friday! Good luck.

[ProjectVader]

This is spot on. I run a small agency, and the number of clients coming from Wix or Squarespace is surprising—especially considering those platforms are marketed as “easy.” I’d recommend using your LLM to research businesses that need websites and start reaching out by email or phone. After that, it becomes a numbers game. Most business owners eventually realize they need professional help in this space. Skip the penny-pinchers and focus on quick wins, and delegate if the margins are there.

Lastly, most of the advice you'll get around here will be technical, but every now and again a gem will popup that sort-of 'fills in the blanks' when it comes to the other part of this, which is sales and marketing. It's not easy, but it's not all hard. I recommend this thread if you want to read more about it, the Op gives some good advice on how to get leads, and eventually customers. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46661167

[atmosx]

Friend of mine develops and runs eshops. Through word of mouth he runs like 60-70 right now. Big and small. He sells setup, etc and takes care of hosting and patching and developing new features.

The most money and the easiest ones come from hosting ;-) it’s like X amount per year so that they don’t have to worry about it. He runs two huge servers, and makes pretty good money at are going to increase over time.

But he had patience and will to do the dirty work early on. Now he is riding the wave.

[Luke7492]

How do you convince a small business or individual that $1k is a good price for their website? As someone that has learned web development as a hobby many years ago, I’ve helped build sites for several people through word of mouth but I can never seem to ask much for the work I’ve done for some reason. I work really fast, it’s easy, and even fun for me. This idea sounds great and I even have access to create unlimited sub-accounts on a CRM platform paid for by my real job. I can make full websites with storefronts, blogs, forms, galleries, email/sms flows, you name it. My issue is knowing how to convince others how valuable the work is. Any suggestions?

[quickthrowman]

You can charge a lot more than you think. IMO, $1,000 for a website is too low. I provide commercial electrical services and $1,000 would get you one of my electrician’s labor for six hours, which does not include material. For specialized electricians who do things like work on generators and do switchgear testing, $1,000 only covers around 5 hours.

[Luke7492]

This has also always irked me when thinking about switching to web development full time, knowing how much to charge. I've never been able to get a clear answer on how much is enough or too little for projects. OP suggested $1k for a small business site and honestly this seems pretty fair to me, although I think I just interpreted their other comment to have meant $1k annually... I think I'd rather have an initial project fee and then a monthly for any maintenance or changes, but then how much should that be?

[grugdev42]

Well the first point is don't ask for payment after the work is done. No one will pay because you've already solved their pain. You're in a weaker position at that point.

Tell them how much you charge before you start work and ask if they want you to start work. It can only go one of two ways.

The easiest way to convince them is to compare it to sales. If they are an electrician with an average job of $500, that website only needs to earn them two extra jobs per year to break even.

But the easiest way is to be a sociopath and not care. Ask the question and they will either say yes or no. No one is going to assassinate you for pitching a marketing website to them.

If they say yes, do you care where the money has come from? Would it matter if that was their last $1k? If they're loaded would you feel more confident? What if you do a great job and then it turns out that money came from illegal sources?

What about if they say no? Will you stay awake at night worrying that their business is losing work because people think they're weird for not having a website? What if your marketing website lands them a big client because of the "authenticity factor" of having a professional marketing website?

None of these things actually matter. But getting paid $1k feels good, especially if you've done a good job and earned it. :)

[Luke7492]

Thank you for the new perspective! I was looking at it the wrong way. They're not paying for the website, they're paying for new customers. I think I can manage taking a bit of time to understand their business a bit and then explain how a site will be valuable to them.

EDIT: Did you mean $1k annually or just for the initial project?

[grugdev42]

It's been a while since I did these, but I used to charge $1k to get it set up, then $500 per year to keep it going.

I will say I was very cheap though. But I made my money on quantity. I would do two a month on the side of a full time job.

They were very simple websites though. But most of the time that's all people need.

[creshal]

> People will say "small marketing websites are dead with SS or Wix about", but it's not true. Most small businesses just don't want to learn how!

Even if they want to, they have approximately 500 other problems to deal with that are more urgent.

Just figure out how you handle support after the initial project phase: It's a lot easier to get a small business to spend $1000 on a website than to get them to spend $100/year for the constant trickle of small changes they'll inevitable need later.

[throwaway920102]

Nurse aide? Housekeeping for a hotel, retirement home/nursing home, hospital? patient care tech, lab assistant, phlebotomist, medical courier, etc Substitute teacher? Bus driver? Amazon warehouse worker?

If you need guaranteed work immediately, software is not it. If you want to maximize salary, and can take plenty of time trying and failing, it can be. It doesn't sound like you have that time.

If you are worried about homelessness, you need a radical mindset shift. You should not be thinking about software dev in the slightest.

[b_mutea]

:)

[Ir0nMan]

Right now, you need a guaranteed paycheck, not a speculative project.

A side hustle might replace your income one day, but it won’t move fast enough to solve a six-month rent deficit. Focus 100% of your energy on securing a job first; once your housing is stable, you can use your off-hours to build that $10k idea.

[mixmastamyk]

In general yes, but there are no regular jobs now. Only gaslit interviews, if you can even get a response.

[throwaway920102]

Are you talking about tech jobs, or -any- job?

If you are six months behind on rent, you just go find a job cleaning shit and fatbergs out of sewers if that's what is available IMO.

[mixmastamyk]

Tech jobs gaslight. You would be surprised, was recently ghosted on a local job, $700 a month in CA to sweep a large apt complex. Restaurants don’t respond either.

The fewer skills required the more people you need to compete with.

[aristofun]

Build a career or build a business.

Nothing new under the moon in the last few centuries. There is no magic pill or secret ingredient.

Each path has its trade offs.

I’ve tried both. Reaching 10k in software engineering salary took longer but easier and more predictable. My first profitable business attempt was a tiny bootcamp school (about software engineering obviously) and it never reached 10k of my own income due to lack of business experience and motivation.

Choose a field where 1. There is enough capacity to reach the number with just a hard work (software engineering, finance, law, real estate etc)

2. You feel comfortable and genuinely longterm interested in (most important criteria).

What else do you expect to hear on a forum like this?

I bet LLM would give you similar answer :)

[b_mutea]

Makes sense :)

[fdgd555]

> Nothing new under the moon in the last few centuries

Really? Seems like large scale grifts are in and basically legal now, starting with crypto.

> I bet LLM would give you similar answer :)

Wow! You think that is something to be proud of!? That is...just, wow.

[Archelaos]

Get a sustainable job first. (Almost) Whatever it is. Then improve from there.

[b_mutea]

Thanks

[stumpyfr]

Step 0: Stop aiming for 10k, aim for enough to live (for now).

Then decide between option1 or 2.

Option 1: Start by taking a "random IT integrator/service job" to keep your flat and food on the table, stop even thinking about building and "vibing" something. Just take a job, large "consulting" companies are easy to join as entry-level and will give you enough to survive, but far from your 10k dream.

Stabilise your finances, take time to refine your ideas and plan the next step without the stress to not knowing if you will be homeless or hungry next month.

Option 2: Play the local lottery and tomorrow, GOTO option 1

[b_mutea]

Thanks, that is exactly what I have been doing, I'm trying to get some jobs relentlessly right now just to get some traction. I think it just that one stressfull thought of homelessness that it eating me up.

[dzonga]

let's be honest option 1: is non-viable in this economy - those places are not hiring & most places are not hiring.

only viable option in an economy that's not hiring is to hire yourself - but don't swing for the fences - just small scale stuff e.g 250 people paying you $40/month

[dzonga]

this means getting into non sexy things - i.e ecosystem e.g PHP / Wordpress / Shopify etc

not as sexy as ML etc that HN raves about but you will survive

[wilkommen]

Too many people try to find work in competitive fields where there are fewer jobs than applicants and spend years tearing their hair out trying to make it happen without success, and all for nothing. Go where you're wanted, especially if you're already broke. Find a job in construction, they'll hire anyone who can show up on time every day and can work hard, or is smart, and the pay isn't even bad. Join the union if you can, and figure your path out from there. Maybe you'll make it back to tech, maybe not, and maybe it's ok either way.

[mixmastamyk]

These jobs are often locked up, good luck.

[y42]

First lesson: Don't fall for the Survivorsip Bias.

If you see people pulling things off, what you don't see is: People not pulling off. And they are the vast majority. They invest money and time and nothing happens.

To be more "philosophical": It's a mix of luck, talent and dedication where one can substitute the other to a certain degree.

(Sorry, I know not helpful in your current situation, but I was triggered to answer the first part of your post - best of luck however!)

[b_mutea]

:)

[pickleglitch]

> Up until last year, I was working as a technical writer in ML/AI. Those roles basically 'disappeared'

Ouch, hoisted by your own petard. Start a Substack positioning yourself as a reformed AI enthusiast who now rails against the economic havoc the technology leaves in its wake. I'm only half joking. A lot of folks on Substack are pretty hostile toward AI, and they would probably eat that up.

[b_mutea]

Thanks. Substack is hostile, trust me I have had a Substack for about an year. You really need to standout with a lot of convicing to even have atleast 1 person even pay to read your newsletter.

Another reason, Substack payments channels are not available in some regions which means you can't have some premium posts and again just redirecting to a lets say Buy Me Coffee page does not always work to a majority of people there.

Maybe you could have some tips on how to approach this in your experience

[alexb87]

I run an innovation agency. We solve difficult problems (or at least we try). We have money but we need people with a different mindset (struggle until you find a way). We are trying to find people that have developed a lateral thinking model instead of vertical one. Where do you stand here ?

[b_mutea]

I’m comfortable working without a clear path. If you’re open to it, I’d be curious to hear about what kind of problems you are currently stuck on or struggling to make progress with?

[alexb87]

Please give some LinkedIn profile, we shall continue there

[b_mutea]

https://www.linkedin.com/in/brian-mutea

[hu3]

First thing I would do is to get any job. And I mean any job.

Painting walls. Fastfood. Construction helper. Anything.

Only then start thinking about meaningful jobs.

Career is a steep ladder for us mortals that don't have rich families to lift us to the 100th floor with their financial and network elevators.

[b_mutea]

Thanks

[Bluescreenbuddy]

Your only goal right now should to get any kind of employment. Literally anything. Then you can move on to finding how to get $10k

[b_mutea]

Exactly what I am doing. Thanks

[trilogic]

Step 1: Change current location (results show it may be toxic :)

Step 2 If you know ML/AI then send 10000 applications this weekend for job positions (whatever you may like).

Step 3 Wait till Monday.

[b_mutea]

Thanks. Step 2 has been my job especially this month.

What about step 1? I seem not to get the 'may be toxic part'

[trilogic]

Usually is the location and the surrounding environment (sometimes "friends etc") that leads a person in a certain situation. A radical change may help as may make things worse (but it can´t be much worse then an eviction notice I guess). A new location can offer less stress, fresh start, maybe cheaper accommodation and lifestyle, but most importantly motivation and new opportunities. The 10k are in the range of a company owner instead of employment. Some states/countries facilitate the startup and if you did it once you can do it again.

Good luck.

[b_mutea]

That makes sense. Thanks

[peter_d_sherman]

>I’m six months behind on rent, just managed to buy time after my first eviction notice, and I’m trying to get back into building without constantly worrying about when the next one shows up.

Why not create a broker website between people who are getting eviction notices and Lawyers who specifically help people who are getting eviction notices?

That is, use what you are...

Or rather (phrased another way),

use the set of circumstances you are in, to turn around the set of circumstances that you're in.

It may sound meta, but if you individually are having a problem -- then so are a ton of other people as well!

If solving that problem has value to you, then such a solution is worth money.

If many people are also having that problem, then solutions to that problem are also worth money to them!

Sure, a legal solution, for example, finding an appropriate Lawyer to extend the point in time before eviction for say, 1-2 months (or whatever can be done) may be a suboptimal partial solution (in an ideal world, you'd like your rent to be free forever, as would everyone else), but the thing is,

even suboptimal partial solutions are worth money, if only a little bit of money...

Phrased another way,

there's money to be made by acting as a broker between people with eviction problems and the subset of Lawyers who specialize in that field, who could potentially ameliorate that problem if only a tiny amount, if only a little bit...

There's also money to be made in books and online reports... "What to do if you get an eviction notice".

Which such a book or report might not be worth the price of rent (obviously if someone had the rent money they'd pay it, problem solved), that information may be worth $19.95, or something in that ballpark...

Scaled across thousands of people with the same problem -- and we're looking at some decent money!

It probably won't make you rich or anything... but (and this is going to sound "evil" -- but it is not intentionally so!) it might make you enough money to pay your rent! :-)

use what you are

use the set of circumstances you are in, to turn around the set of circumstances that you're in.

Education, Knowledge, and Experience are everything...

Money, if it exists, if it exists at all, exists relative to, as an effect of these things...

Do you know everything possible about every single Landlord/Tenant Law and every single possible way to resolve an eviction notice?

If not... then I'd suggest that you are in one hell of an opportunity to learn everything you can about the matter!

Expertise (in any subject matter) translates to being sought, to being paid (sometimes very highly!) by others in return for advice, in return for knowledge, in return for communicated experience...

Money will naturally follow you with this learning once you have it, and once you monetize it -- although this will probably not happen today or tomorrow -- but it will in the future, if you can see the opportunity and capture it!

use what you are

use the set of circumstances you are in, to turn around the set of circumstances that you're in

Wishing you well in this... experience!

(You know, for lack of a better term! :-) )

[ada1981]

This is going to increasingly be a problem for many people.

For me, getting a Skoolie and subletting my apt in NYC gave me a great foundation

1. I was able to sublet my furnished place in nyc for $1k more than rent and make money while traveling.

2. I was able to work remote visiting clients and spending time in nature.

3. It provided a certain kind of daily challenge that was great for me.

4. The adventure was incredible and I fell in love with the road. I thought I’d spend a month or three cruising around but it ended up about over 3 years.

5. I followed my heart and the weather to hot springs Arkansas to watch the total eclipse and met a woman who I just got engaged to (while in Antarctica at an AI conference).

6. My business has been the best it’s ever been and put me into a top 1% income.

I wasn’t broke when I started but it was amazing to have a sense that even if I was I could buy a big bag of beans and rice, head to a gorgeous piece of free federal BLM land, run my laptop on solar and use my cell WiFi to figure it out.

Beyond that, figure out what problem you want to solve for the world and go find people working on that problem and help them.