Ask HN: How do I start earning money online? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: How do I start earning money online?

23 pointscyberwork15 comments

Hi, I'm a college senior graduating in December with a CS degree from an engineering school. I'm home for the summer and can't find work. So my question is simple. How do I start earning money online?

I have programming skills, graphic design skills, web design skills, and experience in lots of other areas like audio production. I'm a quick learner and good problem solver. So where can I get started?

Has anyone actually started on a freelancing site and had any success? I tried oDesk, and felt hopelessly outmatched by overseas groups with hundreds of projects under their belt. Is there other work for hire that is simpler to start with, or more guaranteed?

Or should I just go all out and do a startup? I have been daydreaming of starting my own online business for a year or so now, but I have no idea where to jump in. I see webapps that make money, and some are so simple that I would have though the market would be 100% saturated, like apps for client billing for web developers or time management. Others seem based on things I don't have the resources for (iPhone/Android development, "location aware" services, large information directories, online backup). I'm not ready to try to start a business on credit or a loan either.

Additionally, if any of you who are lucky and talented enough to already have your own startup going need a grunt developer, email support guy, web designer, or anything like that, please let me know. =)

Thanks for reading!

Some tips:

1) Build a presence- Comment here, go to local meetups, blog online about smart things, find every connection you can,etc.

2) Peacock- Build something as a sample that is really interesting + will garner attention. It shouldn't have the intention of being a real startup. It should just be a shiny demo to show you can design + think creatively together.

3) Show them what they're missing- Find people in your area if you're trying to stay local that have absolutely horrible presences online. Give them a taste of what you can do. Example of what 37signals used to do- http://37signals.com/better

4) Can't beat em, join em- There are a lot of small eloquent freelance design shops. They could certainly use a good hand if you're good. They won't pay you a lot probably, but it's a hell of a start. It could also turn into something else.

5) Wordpress Designing- Ask patio11 re: what he did with st patricks day wordpress template. People pay good money for things like that and other Wordpress services.

6) Have a client fund a startup idea- We originally did this with Publictivity. PR firm wanted what we were thinking of making, we collaborated, and they gave us 10k. That let us build the app and got them a license for life. On the flip side: this can turn into a fucking scope creep nightmare.

7) Join haystack- They seem to be really top notch and have a lot of people finding designers off of there.

8) Carve out a niche- Is it android? Is it iphone (has to be more specific)? Is it rails? Define yourself and carve out a niche. Wordpress could also be thrown in here.

9) Being Here Is Already a Win- there are thousands of startups that frequent here monthly. If you do any of the above and seem even remotely good, you will probably get some level of interest. There isn't enough good talent to meet the demand it seems.

Being Here Is Already a Win- there are thousands of startups that frequent here monthly. If you do any of the above and seem even remotely good, you will probably get some level of interest.

How does simply being on HN help? I suppose you meant it in the case of a person who regularly makes smart/insightful comments related to the work they're trying to get into. This is not something I do myself, unfortunately.

if you know drupal and or wordpress, you can make some money by setting up themes for customers. Many times they want something as simple as buying a theme off one of the theme sites and setting it up for them. It's real low hanging fruit but it can pay pretty well ($120-$200hr), if you get fast. Just take out some adds on with adwords for things like "wordpress developer" don't just do "wordpress" you will get killed by the cpm. If you have a niche interest try adding that to the search to find people looking to develop something that you are passionate about. They will hear it in your voice when you talk about the project with them. Hang out on niche boards that you are interested in, offer valuable input, put your info in your profile, if they will let you, don't violate there terms of service.

OK now on to the prerequisites:

You have a blog / website right? (I am guilty I don't have one either. Just do as I say not as I do)

You have a linkedIn profile right?

You have a Facebook account right? (neither do I, I am afraid of what might crawl out of the woodwork)

Twitter? and you plan to tweet about your projects that you complete?

Does this help? Making Money Online in your Spare Time: 50 Ways & 150 sites http://bighow.com/news/making-money-online-in-your-spare-tim...

Show us some for your work (homepage, graphics, audio samples, anything), so that we can better judge you and offer you guidance. That's also a better way of attracting possible recruiters.

Recently I haven't had much time to do web design, or any clients. The summer before last I designed and launched http://mariettaoh.net/about for a city government as part of my internship there. Other things I have designed are basically personal or for somewhat private groups. As far as audio production, I spend (kill?) a lot of time making electronica music, and so have experience with editing and cutting apart sounds of all kinds, as well as a good deal of knowledge about mastering and converting and other parts of audio technology. The rest of the time I spend on classwork or doing grunt IT work for my university. I do have a resume at least, which isn't quite the same, sadly.

here is a good article on using the social sites to drum up business:

http://freelanceswitch.com/finding/how-to-use-social-network...

I have some work for you. Might lead to things later down the road, what's your email?

brianfarr (at) gmail (dot) com

Do you have a portfolio ?

I did a few years ago, (where does the time go?) but it is probably not something I would want to show off today. Most recently I built a city government website at http://marriettaoh.net, but by recent I mean Summer 2008. I do have a resume at least.

Just a heads up, the page doesn't work without appending a route (like /index) to it.

Silly typo on my part, its http://mariettaoh.net , with only one R. If you get a page with some combination of marriettaoh.net/index then its probably to do with your browser using a search to find a page that works, or something even stranger. Sorry about that though. I wonder if the city is losing hits to to the misspellings though, now that I think about it.

I don't have work for you, but I have ideas. Contact me and let's talk.

I sent you an email at your justsay.on address. Thanks!

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