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Hi everyone, blog post author here. Over the last 18 months I've learned an incredible amount from the users here on Hacker News, and I figured that it's about time I started giving something back.

None of my web apps make serious money, but they bring in enough to make a difference to life, and I'm hoping that my articles will help others get on the same path - if not somewhat more successfully! ;)

Please feel free to ask me any questions. I'm aiming to have the next part written and live by early next week.



Thanks for writing this article. Looking at the timeline and the slowish traction really gives balance to the i-built-a-5000-a-day-app-in-three-days-in-my-PJs articles that tend to dominate the news. It's a good look at building an actual product that shows it's not all roses and hockey-stick adoptions.


Thanks for your thanks! :) That's why I wrote this - as I said, it's not a huge amount of money, but it's an enjoyable hobby, and great that it pays for a few meals out a month. The question on my mind is - can I do ten of these and make some real money? ;)


Agreed, it was nice to see you speaking in terms of months, and not days-or hours.


I agree, and it's the dark hours that make the learning lessons explicit, rather than implicit or looking like luck.

Looking forward to the rest.


Thanks for writing it up. I enjoy reading "success stories for the rest of us" sorts of things by people who aren't already famous, backed by VC's, etc...

Rob Walling's book, "Start Small, Stay Small" has some pretty good advice for those of us in that boat: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YH9MMI?ie=UTF8&tag=...


I read that book by Rob Walling earlier on this year, excellent advice and, like you, I recommend it as well :)


please don't split your articles.

however, it was a good read. thanks.


Splitting isn't a huge deal to me. It's hard to write sometimes, and getting a bit out there helps you get the rest out there.

Now, paginating articles (you know, it's not like there isn't infinite vertical space). That is a different story.


While i agree that it can be annoying, i think the point is to get users to subscribe to his blog, which i did, but only because i think the majority of the overall blog content will be interesting to me.


he did mention "part I"


Have a couple of questions for you (unrelated to twittemachine):

Do freelancers sites bring enough jobs/money to work on it full time and make a living?

Is it a positive experience?


Do freelancers sites bring enough jobs/money to work on it full time and make a living?

I guess it depends on where you live, but for here in Poland, sure :)

And whilst freelancing can be somewhat of a lonely business, I found it very satisfying :)


Thank you for sharing your experience.

Btw, couldn't you earn more money by lowering the price? I personally find it too high.


Btw, couldn't you earn more money by lowering the price? I personally find it too high.

I'll mention something about that in part II ;)


Awesome article - I'm looking forward to Part II. We're in a similar place!




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